On Holocaust Remembrance Day, fewer than 150,000 Holocaust survivors remain in Israel
The average age of the living survivors in Israel is 85.8 years
As Israel commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day beginning this Monday evening, an official tally indicates that 147,999 Holocaust survivors live in Israel.
Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day according to the Hebrew calendar – the 27th of the month of Nisan – one week before Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day.
The rest of the world recognizes International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, the day that the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz death camp in 1945.
The number of Holocaust survivors is dwindling because of their advanced age. In January 2022, 165,800 Holocaust survivors lived in Israel and several thousand died during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
The average age of the living survivors in Israel is 85.8 years, while about one-fifth of the survivors are over 90 years old and 1,161 are centenarians. Some 60% of the survivors are women.
The youngest Holocaust survivors today are about 76 years old. While they were born a year after World War II, they are considered survivors, as they were in their mother’s womb at the time of the Holocaust.
Some 63% of Israeli Holocaust survivors are of European origin, reflecting the European focus of the mass murder of 6 million Jews during WWII. Some 37% of Israeli Holocaust survivors were born in former Soviet Union republics. The remaining Holocaust survivors came from Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany.
In addition, some 37% of Israeli Holocaust survivors are Jews of North African and Middle Eastern descent. This group primarily consists of Jewish survivors from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Iraqi Jews who survived the Nazi-inspired Farhud pogrom, which targeted Jews in Iraq.
Ronit Rosin, the director of the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors, recalled his organization’s efforts to assist Israel’s Holocaust survivors.
“Over the past year, we have continued to expand our activities by making services accessible to survivors’ homes, with more than 16,000 visits, and we have also helped them to assert their rights in Israel and the rest of the world. Our mission is clear and urgent: to act quickly and sensitively in order to help survivors live in the well-being they deserve,” Rosin said.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
