Greek Holocaust survivor and Sephardic Community member Lena Goren (Casuto) passes away at 96

Lena Goren Casuto z”L

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Lena Goren (nee Casuto) at the age of 96, one of only a handful of Greek Jewish Holocaust survivors from the city of Larissa, Greece. 

Lena was born in Salonika, Greece in 1930. Her family moved to Larissa when her father Haham Isaac Casuto became the Rabbi of the city. When she was nine years old, Italy and Greece entered World War II. Luftwaffe planes began dropping bombs on the city, and the mayor of Larissa warned Rabbi Casuto of the imminent deportation of Larissa’s Jews to German concentration camps. Lena’s family, with eighty-three others, fled to the mountains of Tzouma in the dead of night. They hid in an isolated monastery with no running water or facilities for the rest of the war, suffering from food shortages, illness, and confinement. Tragically, she learned at the end of the war that the entire rest of her family - cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts - died in concentration camps.

At the age of seventeen, Lena immigrated to the United States with her family. She married, raised three children, and, despite having only a third-grade education, earned a high school diploma. Lena worked as a seamstress, hairdresser, and a Greek and Spanish interpreter for the New York court system. She is a former Miss Senior America finalist, and leaves behind a brother, three children, and many wonderful grandchildren and friends. 

Ke Su Alma Repoze en Gan Eden - May her soul rest in the Garden of Eden.