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The organization that handles claims on behalf of jews suffered under Nazis said on Wednesday that Germany It has agreed to provide an additional $1.076 billion (923.9 million euros) for the home care of genocide survivors worldwide for the coming year.
The compensation was negotiated with the German Ministry of Finance and is the largest budget for home care of vulnerable and vulnerable Holocaust survivors in the organization’s history.
“This historic increase in home care funding reflects the complex and growing needs of Holocaust survivors around the world,” said Gideon Taylor, president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also known as the Claims Conference.
“While we are losing survivors at a faster rate every year, those who remain are older, weaker and more in need than ever before,” Taylor said in a written statement. “This Budget is vital in providing each of them the opportunity to grow old with the dignity that was stolen from them in their youth.”
The average age of survivors receiving home care through the Claims Conference Fund has increased from 86 in 2018 to 88.5 in 2024. data Data collected by the organization shows that survivors are facing more complex health needs and increased disability, with the number of survivors qualifying for full-time assistance due to extreme disability – such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia – nearly doubling during that time period.
Additionally, the Hardship Fund supplemental payment, which was previously guaranteed to be paid annually to eligible Holocaust survivors until 2027, has been extended to 2028 at the amount of €1,450 per survivor, affecting more than 127,000 Holocaust survivors globally.
The Claims Conference estimated in April that about 200,000 survivors were still alive, most of them living in Israel, the United States and Europe, but scattered around the world.
In addition, Righteous Rescuers – non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust – currently receiving monthly pensions from the Claims Conference will be eligible to receive home care similar to that provided to Jewish survivors, allowing them to live out their final years with dignity in their own homes, the group announced.
Colette Avital, a Holocaust survivor and member of the Claims Conference negotiating delegation, said that “It is deeply meaningful that, 80 years after liberation, the German government fulfills its responsibility towards those who suffered and survived.”
“Every survivor – and every rescuer – deserves to live with dignity and to be seen, heard and cared for,” Avital said.
Holocaust education funding was also extended to 2029, for a total funding of €175 million.
The funding comes at a time when knowledge about the Holocaust is declining and anti-Semitism is rising. The group said funding for education programs would include teacher training, academic research, and initiatives across mass-market mediums such as film, gaming and virtual reality experiences, which have greater potential to reach broader, more mainstream audiences.
Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, said, “It is imperative that we invest in the future of Holocaust education while we still have living witnesses who can share their first-hand testimony of survival.”
“This is our moral obligation to the survivors of the genocide and the six million people who were killed.”