Rose Girone, thought to be the oldest living Holocaust survivor, dies at 113
Rose Girone, believed to be the oldest living Holocaust survivor and a strong advocate for sharing survivors' stories, has died. She was 113.
She spent the last decade of her life in an assisted living facility in North Bellmore, on Long Island, New York, according to Patch, a local news outlet.
Claims Conference, a New York-based organization whose full name is the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, said Girone died Monday in New York.
"Rose was an example of fortitude, but now we are obligated to carry on in her memory," Greg Schneider, Claims Conference executive vice president, said in a statement Thursday. "The lessons of the Holocaust must not die with those who endured the suffering."
Girone was born on January 13, 1912, in Janow, Poland. Her family moved to Hamburg, Germany, when she was 6, she said in a filmed interview in 1996 with the USC Shoah Foundation.
When asked by the interviewer if she had any particular career plans before Hitler, she said: "Hitler came in 1933 and then it was over for everybody."
Girone was one of about 245,000 survivors still living across more than 90 countries, according to a study released by the Claims Conference last year. Their numbers are quickly dwindling, as most are very old and often of frail health, with a median age of 86.
Six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
"This passing reminds us of the urgency of sharing the lessons of the Holocaust while we still have first-hand witnesses with us," Schneider said. "The Holocaust is slipping from memory to history, and its lessons are too important, especially in today's world, to be forgotten."
Girone married Julius Mannheim in 1937 through an arranged marriage.
She was 9 months pregnant and living in Breslau, which is now Wroclaw, Poland, when Nazis arrived to take Mannheim to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Their family had two cars, so she asked her husband to leave his keys.
She said she remembers one Nazi saying: "Take that woman also."
The other Nazi responded: "She's pregnant, leave her alone."
The next morning, her father-in-law was also taken and she was left alone with their housekeeper.
After her daughter, Reha, was born in 1938, Girone was able to get Chinese visas from relatives in London and secure her husband's release.
In Genoa, Italy, when Reha was only 6 months old, they boarded a ship to Japan-occupied Shanghai with little more than clothing and some linens.
Her husband first made money through buying and selling secondhand goods. He saved up to buy a car and started a taxi business, while Girone knitted and sold sweaters.
But in 1941, Jewish refugees were rounded up into a ghetto. The family of three was forced to cram into a bathroom in a house while roaches and bed bugs crawled through their belongings.
Her father-in-law came just before World War II started but became sick and died. They had to wait in line for food and lived under the rule of a ruthless Japanese man who called himself "King of the Jews."
"They did really horrible things to people," Girone said of the Japanese military trucks that patrolled the streets. "One of our friends got killed because he wouldn't move fast enough."
Information about the war in Europe only circulated in the form of rumors, as British radios were not allowed.
When the war was over, they began receiving mail from Girone's mother, grandmother and other relatives in the U.S. With their help, they boarded a ship to San Francisco in 1947 with only $80, which Girone hid inside buttons.
They arrived in New York City in 1947. She later started a knitting store with the help of her mother.
Girone was also reunited with her brother, who went to France for school and ended up getting his U.S. citizenship by joining the Army. When she went to the airport to pick him up in New York, it was the first time they saw each other in 17 years.
Girone later divorced Mannheim. In 1968, she met Jack Girone, the same day her granddaughter was born. By the next year, they were married. He died in 1990.
When asked in 1996 for the message she would like to leave for her daughter and granddaughter, she said: "Nothing is so very bad that something good shouldn't come out of it. No matter what it is."
According to Patch, the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center (HMTC) said that, when asked in 2022 about her longevity, Girone said simply, "Don't get upset over nonsense."
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that between 2017 and 2019, portable space heaters were involved in 1,700 fires per year, with some of those fires resulting in deaths. "Let's say you connect (an extension cord) to a floor heater," Martinez says, "the plug melts and it starts a fire. That's why you can't use extension cords and/or power strips for any appliances, because they should be used for electronics only." Read more: Never Put a Space Heater in These 9 Places 5. Toasters and toaster ovens Although toasters are smaller kitchen appliances, they use a lot of energy and can also pose a fire threat if connected to an extension cord. Toaster ovens need even more power to operate with wattage ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 watts. "A lot of people don't have knowledge of extension cords," says Martinez. "If extension cords are 14-gauge and you're running an appliance with a heating element, (like) a toaster oven, microwave or dishwasher, a 14-gauge will not hold the amperage and can burn up the extension cord. And that's what causes fires in New York City." Fourteen-gauge and 12-gauge extension cords are some of the most common extension cords. A 14-gauge cord can handle up to 1,800 watts, or 15 amps, the same as a standard wall outlet in the US. But Martinez recommends any appliance that uses more than 1,500 watts should always be on a dedicated circuit.6. Refrigerators While refrigerators use less power -- about 300 to 800 watts -- than some other kitchen appliances, they're still not recommended for extension cord use because they are constantly running. Even if an extension cord doesn't cause a fire when attached to a fridge, there's a possibility the connection could cause the fridge to malfunction. While they are not as high-powered as the other kitchen devices, you should still avoid plugging refrigerators into extension cords.7. Air conditioning units AC units use a lot of power to keep your home cool so they need to be plugged into a wall outlet as well. Martinez also stresses the importance of purchasing the correct AC unit for your space. You can use an online BTU calculator to calculate the type you will need to effectively cool your space. "People just buy a 5,000 BTU air conditioner, because it's $99 on sale, and they think it's going to cool off (their home) and it does not," according to Martinez. AC units "are supposed to cycle on and off, so they don't pull that much energy. So if you undersize it, the compressor is going to work 10 times harder." This can result in your home never properly cooling off, a higher electricity bill and if the unit is connected to an extension cord, possibly a fire. It is important to determine what size air conditioner unit you need based on the size of the area you are trying to cool off. James Martin/CNET The bottom line on extension cords Martinez says the number one thing to keep in mind regarding extension cords is to never use them with any "appliances whatsoever." He says you should also remember to only pair power strips with electronics and that your average home extension cords shouldn't be used for anything above 15 amps (1,800 watts), regardless of where or how the device operates. For more home tips, here is the secret ingredient needed to clean a cast iron and expert tips on how to stop porch pirates.
