Love Of 'Dark Chocolate' Keeps LI Holocaust Survivor, 110, Going

MERRICK, NY — A local mother and daughter are both survivors of the Holocaust. Rose Girone, who turns 111 on Jan. 13, lives in a North Bellmore nursing home.

As the war broke out, Girone, who was affectionately referred to as "mother" by her 83-year-old daughter Reha Bennicasa, was living in Hamburg, Germany. It was decided she'd move to the former Breslaw, Poland, to avoid the Nazis.

The family did not stay clear of the Nazis for long. Bennicasa's father and grandfather were taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Upon her uprooting to Poland, Girone gave birth to Bennicasa, who lives in Merrick.

However, her housekeeper had to delicately seek a hospital that would accept Jewish patients. Six months later, her father was one of the lucky ones, permitted to get out of the concentration camp. The family had a short window to leave Poland.

"The only place left to go was China," Bennicasa told Patch. "The quota systems for all the other countries were filled and nobody would take us."

Bennicasa was a baby, but her family was among 18,000 people that called Shanghai home temporarily. Her family remained in China for several years; during that time, Bennicasa would get educated at a British school.

Once Japan got involved in World War II, Bennicasa and hundreds of others were taken into a ghetto, losing everything, in effect, twice. They lived in China until 1947.

"I'm sure it was nothing like the [ghettos] in Poland," she said. "We really were very lucky."

Arriving in America, Bennicasa would be reunited with her grandmother and great-grandmother, who got to the U.S. by way of London.

The family started their journey in California, but quickly moved to the East Coast via train through a charity based in Manhattan. They were put up in a hotel on the West Side. Her father became a taxi driver and her mother worked in Brooklyn. They would divorce and would head for Florida.

"Mother was always knitting. That's how she supported us," Bennicasa said.

As Girone approaches 111, the supercentenarian still converses with her daughter, and although her memory has faded, she still recognizes Bennicasa.

"Five minutes later she will have forgotten it," her daughter, who visits her daily, said. "She's not out of it, so that's a wonderful part.

As for her amazing longevity, Girone attributes it to her love of "dark chocolate" and her only child.

While old age is in the family's genes, Bennicasa conceded, "Not like this. She surpassed everybody."

Bennicasa knows how lucky she is to still have a parent.

"Who at 83 has a mother?" she said.