Jun 4, 2025

Honoring Holocaust Survivors in Jewish Miami

At 109 years old, Malka “Mollie” Horwitz is Miami-Dade County’s oldest known living Holocaust Survivor, and for the past 11 years has been able to live in dignity, thanks to the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program, a Federation-supported initiative operated by our partner Jewish Community Services of South Florida (JCS). Just 25 when Hitler’s forces invaded her homeland of Lithuania, Mollie spent four harrowing years imprisoned in a ghetto, lost her husband and was forced to separate from her young son for his safety. After the war, against impossible odds, they were reunited and fled to Cuba before immigrating to the US. Today, the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother lives in Miami Beach and receives compassionate in-home care, food assistance and case management through JCS. The program provides crucial help for more than 500 Holocaust Survivors in Miami-Dade County, with the average age of 94.5. “Mollie’s life is a powerful reminder that even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, the human spirit can endure,” said Natalie Herradon, Director of Case Management at JCS.