Rose Girone, widely regarded as one of the oldest known survivors of the Holocaust and a passionate advocate for the remembrance of Holocaust narratives, has passed away at the age of 113.

Her death was reported on Monday in New York by the Claims Conference, an organization focused on Jewish material claims against Germany.

“She was simply an extraordinary woman,” said her daughter, Reha Benicassa, during a phone interview on Friday. “She faced challenges with courage and had a spirit of adventure. She truly thrived.”

Born on January 13, 1912, in Janow, Poland, Girone relocated to Hamburg, Germany, with her family at age six, as she recounted in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation.

Reflecting on her aspirations prior to the rise of Adolf Hitler, she noted, “When he came to power in 1933, everything changed for everyone.”

Girone belonged to a group of approximately 245,000 Holocaust survivors still living in over 90 countries, as highlighted in a recent study by the Claims Conference. Unfortunately, this community is rapidly diminishing, with many survivors now elderly and often in fragile health, boasting a median age of 86.

“Rose exemplified resilience, but it’s now our responsibility to continue her legacy,” stated Greg Schneider, the executive vice-president of the Claims Conference, in a statement. “The lessons from the Holocaust must endure beyond the lives of those who experienced it firsthand.”

During the Holocaust, the Nazis, along with their collaborators, were responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and countless others from various minority groups.

“Her passing serves as a poignant reminder of the pressing need to educate others about the Holocaust while we still have living witnesses,” Schneider remarked. “As it transitions from memory to history, the implications of the Holocaust remain critically relevant, especially in today’s society.”

In 1937, Girone entered into an arranged marriage with Julius Mannheim.

At the time, she was nine months pregnant and residing in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) when Nazis came to detain Mannheim, taking him to Buchenwald concentration camp. They owned two cars, and she requested her husband to leave his car keys behind.

She recounted a chilling moment when one Nazi ordered, “Take that woman as well,” only to be met with a response: “She’s pregnant, leave her alone.”

The following morning, her father-in-law was also taken away, leaving Girone with only their housekeeper.

After the birth of her daughter Reha in 1938, she managed to obtain Chinese visas through relatives in London, which helped liberate her husband.

While in Genoa, Italy, when Reha was merely six months old, they boarded a ship to Shanghai, then occupied by Japan, armed with little more than clothing and linens.

Initially, her husband resold secondhand items to support the family. He eventually saved enough to purchase a car and started a taxi business, while Girone sold knitted sweaters.

However, in 1941, Jewish refugees were rounded up into a ghetto. The three of them were forced to stay cramped in a bathroom, surrounded by roaches and bedbugs.

Her father-in-law had arrived just before the outbreak of World War II, but he fell ill and passed away. Food was scarce, and they lived under the tyranny of a brutal Japanese commander known as the “King of the Jews.”

“The Japanese military committed horrific acts,” Girone recalled. “One of our friends was shot for not moving quickly enough.”

Information regarding the war in Europe was only communicated through whispers, as British broadcasting was heavily restricted.

After the war ended, communication resumed from Girone’s family in the United States. With their assistance, she and her family sailed to San Francisco in 1947, carrying only $80, which Girone cleverly concealed within buttons.

Upon reaching New York City in 1947, she eventually opened a knitting store with her mother’s help.

“Her perspective was always, ‘Don’t stress over trivial matters,’ and ‘anything you can remedy with money isn’t a true problem,’” her daughter reflected. “She possessed remarkable wisdom.”

In New York, Girone was also reunited with her brother, who had gone to France for school and became a US citizen by enlisting in the army. When she picked him up at the airport, it was their first meeting in 17 years.

Eventually, Girone divorced Mannheim and, in 1968, met Jack Girone on the same day her granddaughter was born. They married the following year, and he passed away in 1990.

In a 1996 interview, when asked what message she wanted to share with her daughter and granddaughter, she expressed: “There’s nothing so terrible that good can’t emerge from it. Regardless of the circumstances.”