Germany Disburses IDR 17 Trillion For Holocaust Survivors, 1 Person Gets IDR 28 Million

The Auschwitz Museum of Germany shows hundreds of shoes that Holocaust victims used. (Unsplash-Edoardo Bortoli)

JAKARTA - The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews suffering under the Nazi regime said Germany approved the provision of additional USD 1.076 billion in aid or around IDR 17.8 trillion for home care for Holocaust survivors worldwide by 2026.

The compensation has been negotiated with the German Ministry of Finance and is the largest budget for home care for Holocaust survivors in the history of the organization named Claims Conference.

The historic increase in home care funding reflects the complex and growing needs of Holocaust survivors around the world, said Gideon Taylor, President of the Jewish Materials Claims Conference on New York-based Germany, Wednesday, October 29, quoted from AFP.

"Even though we lose survivors quickly every year, those left over are getting older, weaker, and more in need than ever before," Taylor said.

"This budget is very important in giving them the opportunity to age on the spot, a dignity that has been snatched away from them in their youth," he continued.

The average survivor who received this home care fund was 86 years old in 2018, but in 2024 he was mostly 88 years and 5 months old.

The data collected by the organization shows that survivors experience more complex health needs and increased disability, with eligible number of survivors getting full-time help due to extreme disabilities such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and dementia almost doubling during that period.

In addition, payments for "Added Difficulty Funds", which were previously guaranteed to be paid annually to eligible Holocaust survivors until 2027, have been extended to 2028 in the amount of 1,450 euros or around IDR 28 million per one survivor, impacting more than 127,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide.

The Claims Conference projected in April that around 200,000 survivors were still alive, mostly living in Israel, the United States, and Europe, but also scattered around the world.