Milka Toya

This month we mourn the passings of Milka Kolonimos Toya, a survivor of the Holocaust, deported from the island of Corfu, and Lillie Marcus, the mother of our President, Marvin Marcus. Both in their 90s, both strong women who were witnesses to the passing of time and the changes in the world. Lillie was born and died on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, watching the small Romaniote and Sephardic Jewish world dwindle in size until only Kehila Kedosha Janina remained. Milka returned from the camps to find only a remnant of the Jewish community of Corfu remaining and became an outspoken eyewitness to the Holocaust.