Rosa Rein, World’s Oldest Jew, Dies at 112
Switzerland’s oldest resident, believed to be the world’s oldest Jew, died about a month shy of her 113th birthday.
Rosa Rein died Sunday in her sleep at an old age home near Lugano, Switzerland that was her residence since a fall in 2001.
Rein was born in Poland in March 1897. She married a German man and the couple immigrated to Brazil in 1938. Rein’s husband died after their arrival in Brazil.
Rein remarried in 1949. The couple moved to the outskirts of Lugano in 1964 for health reasons; she was widowed again in 1973.
Rein has been the oldest person living in Switzerland since Sept. 2003. She is believed to be the oldest Jew in the world.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
