Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, survey reveals 25% of Israel's Holocaust survivors live in poverty, loneliness

An estimated 133,000 Holocaust survivors are living in Israel today

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The Foundation for the Welfare of Holocaust Victims published a survey last week revealing that a significant portion (25%) of Holocaust survivors in Israel live in abject poverty and experience loneliness, lacking the means to meet basic daily needs.

An estimated 133,000 Holocaust survivors are living in Israel today, with another 245,000 Jewish survivors living in over 90 countries worldwide.

According to the Foundation – a non-profit, NGO established by Holocaust survivors in 1991 to assist the community of survivors – one-quarter of Israel's Holocaust survivors “live below the poverty line and have difficulty living in dignity.”

The organization also noted that it typically receives 6,900 requests for assistance each month, with 81,000 survivors receiving assistance from the foundation every year.

The survey found that one-fifth of Holocaust survivors are confined to their homes and do not go out at all, while half responded that they would like to leave home more often but are unable to do so without assistance. Additionally, 12% of Holocaust survivors in Israel are unable to access all the rooms in their homes. Nearly 36% of Holocaust survivors live by themselves and 41% reported feeling lonely to some degree or another.

A significant portion of Holocaust survivors struggle to make ends meet, with 50% saying that they struggle to cover their monthly household expenses. The poll revealed that due to financial challenges, 30.8% of Holocaust survivors had to give up on buying cleaning and personal hygiene products, while 23.3% had to give up electrical goods, and about 16% needed financial assistance in purchasing a burial plot or a tombstone.

Financial struggles and mobility issues were also cited as reasons why more than a quarter of respondents said they struggle to buy food, with 36% indicating that they need significant assistance to purchase groceries.

Regarding challenges with receiving proper healthcare, about 39% of the Holocaust survivors polled said they needed help getting eye exams and fittings for eyeglasses at home. A little more than one-third said they needed help with dental treatments and 25% said they had to give up on medical tests or treatments, altogether. Another 20% admitted that they had to give up on medical aids and means of accessibility.

The quality of life for Holocaust survivors has declined even more since Oct. 7, according to 61% of the respondents. Of those surveyed, 50% attributed the deterioration to the psychological effect of the Hamas attacks on Israel, which included the brutal murder of more than 1,200 people, the taking of more than 250 hostages and over 10,000 rockets fired into Israel. Contributing to the psychological strain on Holocaust survivors is the fact that nearly 20% either have no safe shelter in their homes or cannot easily access a protected space due to mobility issues.