Around 150,600 Holocaust survivors currently live in Israel, the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority said this week in a report published ahead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.
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According to data, over 21% of the survivors have surpassed the age of 90, and about 1,100 are over the age of 100. In the past year, 15,123 Holocaust survivors died. Numbers also showed that 60% of Holocaust survivors in Israel are women, with an average age of 85.9
Sixty-three percent were born in Europe: 55,300 (37%) in the Soviet Union, 17,100 (11%) in Romania, and 7,800 (5%) in Poland. In addition, 37% were born in Asia or North Africa, including 28,300 from Morocco and Algeria who were also subjected to persecution.
Additionally, 16,500 survivors are originally from Iraq and were affected by the violent Farhud riots against the Baghdad Jewish community in June 1941. Another 10,200 were born in Tunisia or Lybia where they too were also discriminated against and sent to labor camps.
A third of survivors immigrated to Israel in 1989 during the major migration wave from the Soviet Union, with Haifa having absorbed the highest number of arrivals, followed by Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Netanya, Beersheba, Petach Tikva, and Rishon Lezion.
"The numbers speak for themselves," Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister's Office Uri Maklev said. "There remain tens of thousands of survivors .. and the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority makes every effort to provide the best service. As they aged, the services provided to the survivors became more geared toward personal, health, and community-related needs at the highest level.
"We will continue to see how to act for further improvements and to optimize the service provided to the survivors, who survived such atrocities," he said.
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