Germany to give more than $1 billion for Holocaust survivors' home care in 2026

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BERLIN (AP) — The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis said Wednesday that Germany has agreed to extend another $1.076 billion (923.9 million euros) for Holocaust survivors ' home care around the globe for the coming year.

The compensation was negotiated with Germany’s finance ministry and is the largest budget for frail and vulnerable Holocaust survivor home care in the organization’s history.

“This historic increase to home care funding reflects the complex and growing needs of Holocaust survivors worldwide,” said Gideon Taylor, the president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference.

“While we are losing survivors at a rapid pace each year, those who remain are older, frailer and in greater need than ever before,” Taylor said in a written statement. "This budget is critical in providing each of them the opportunity to age in place, a dignity that was stolen from them in their youth.”

The average age of survivors receiving home care through Claims Conference funding has increased from 86 in 2018 to 88.5 in 2024. Data collected by the organization show that survivors are experiencing more complicated health needs and increased disability, with the number of survivors who qualify for full-time assistance due to extreme disability — such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia — has nearly doubled during that time period.

Additionally, the Hardship Fund Supplemental payments, which were previously guaranteed to be paid annually to eligible Holocaust survivors until 2027, have been extended through 2028 at an amount of €1,450 per survivor, impacting more than 127,000 Holocaust survivors globally.

The Claims Conference projected in April that approximately 200,000 survivors are still alive, most of them living in Israel, the United States and Europe, but also scattered all over the globe.

Also, righteous rescuers – non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust - currently receiving a monthly pension from the Claims Conference, will be eligible to receive home care similar to that provided to Jewish survivors, allowing them to live their final years with dignity in their own homes, the group announced.

Colette Avital, a Holocaust survivor and member of the Claims Conference negotiation delegation, said that “it is deeply meaningful that, 80 years after the liberation, the German government maintains its responsibility to those who suffered and survived.”

“Every survivor — and every rescuer — deserves to live with dignity and to be seen, heard and cared for,” Avital added.

Holocaust education funding was also extended through 2029, for a total funding of €175 million.

The funding comes at a time when knowledge of the Holocaust is declining and antisemitism is sharply on the rise. The funding for education programs will include initiatives for teacher training, academic research and mass-market mediums, like film, gaming and virtual reality experiences that have a greater potential to reach a wider, more mainstream audience, the group said.

"It is imperative that we invest in the future of Holocaust education while we still have living witnesses who can share their firsthand testimonies of survival," said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Claims Conference.

“This is our moral obligation to the survivors of the Holocaust and to the 6 million who were murdered.”