There are 192,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel

Last year 14,800 Holocaust survivors died, making it more important than ever to honor those we have with us.

By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS visit the site of the Auschwitz death camp, during ceremonies marking the 73rd anniversary of the camp’s liberation and International Holocaust Victims Remembrance Day, in Poland in January 2018.. (photo credit: KACPER PEMPEL / REUTERS)
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS visit the site of the Auschwitz death camp, during ceremonies marking the 73rd anniversary of the camp’s liberation and International Holocaust Victims Remembrance Day, in Poland in January 2018..
(photo credit: KACPER PEMPEL / REUTERS)
Some 14,800 Holocaust survivors died in Israel last year, bringing the total number living in the Jewish homeland down to approximately 192,000, recently released statistics have revealed.
Of the remaining survivors living in Israel, 64% were born in Europe, including 36% who came from the former Soviet Union, 18% from Romania, and 6% from Poland, according to figures released by the Survivors' Rights Authority at the Finance Ministry and reported by Channel 13. The figures were released ahead of International Holocaust Day, which is marked annually on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland.
Many of the non-European survivors had their roots in the Middle East where persecution was also rife. Some 18% were born in Morocco and Algeria, where Jews suffered under the French Vichy regime, overseen by Nazi rule.
A further 11% escaped Iraq after a two-day antisemitic pogrom in 1941 known as the Farhud, in which 180 Jews were killed and a thousand more injured, in scenes reminiscent of Kristallnacht. Some sources put the number of dead much higher; the Israel-based Babylonian Heritage Museum says a further 600 unidentified victims were buried in a mass grave, according to the BBC.
The Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority distributes in excess of NIS 4 billion in benefits and grants each year to around 59,000 Israelis who survived the Holocaust, each of whom can claim up to NIS 6,000 a month.
In addition to the direct payments, the authority also handed out NIS 415 m. worth of medicines, provided a further NIS 493 m. on nursing services, and funded medical treatments and equipment at a cost of NIS 132 m.
In recent years, the ministry has been working hard to ensure that survivors know their rights and entitlements. In the last two years, the ministry made more than 51,000 visits to survivors and sent out more than 40,000 letters to keep them informed, leading to claims totaling NIS 318 million.