Number of Holocaust survivors living in the Jewish State continues to dwindle

The state spends more than 4 billion shekels annually on helping the country’s Holocaust survivors, who are eligible to receive monthly benefits of up to 6,000 shekels.

By World Israel News Staff

Ahead of the upcoming International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority at the Ministry of Finance has released statistics on the current conditions of the survivors who are currently living in the Jewish State and the history of their persecution during World War II.

According to the study, approximately 14,800 of them died this past year, which leaves a total of some 192,000 survivors still living in Israel.

Of the living survivors, 74,000 (39%) of them are over the age of 85 and 839 are over 100.

In addition, 64% were born in Europe, including 36% from the former Soviet Union, 18% from Romania, and 6% from Poland. Among the non-European survivors, 18% are from Morocco and Algeria and suffered under the Nazi-sponsored rule of the Vichy French regime. Another 11% survived the 1941 anti-Semitic pogrom in Iraq called the Farhud.

The State of Israel spends more than 4 billion shekels annually on the country’s Holocaust survivors, who are eligible to receive monthly benefits of up to 6,000 shekels (approximately $1700).

Some 40 world leaders are confirmed to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by attending a two-day forum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Jan.22 and 23.

The foreign leaders and dignitaries are to include German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prince Charles, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among other senior figures. The American delegation will seemingly be headed by Vice President Mike Pence, although this has yet to be confirmed.

The heads of the worldwide delegations will lay wreaths at the base of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument in Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem in remembrance of the victims.

People worldwide will have the opportunity to watch the proceedings, which will be broadcast live via satellite and on Yad Vashem’s website and Facebook page. The broadcast will be translated simultaneously into six languages: English, Hebrew, French, German, Russian, and Spanish.