New research to help Holocaust survivors

The new study will gather information on the location, health and other factors for the estimated 250,000 survivors living in Israel.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
holocaust survivor 298.8 (photo credit: GPO [file])
holocaust survivor 298.8
(photo credit: GPO [file])
A new effort will be made to determine the number and living conditions of Holocaust survivors in Israel. The decision was reached in a meeting between Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan and Reuven Merhav, the director of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany at the Knesset on Wednesday. The new study, which will be conducted by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, will gather information on the location, health and other quality-of-life factors for the estimated 250,000 survivors living in Israel. "We decided on joint action to arrive at an agreed basis for the numbers, residential areas, economic situation and care needs [of Holocaust survivors," Merhav told The Jerusalem Post, "in order to properly determine the resources Israel and the Claims Conference will need to mobilize over the next 10 years." The research will update figures from 1999 and 2000 that are no longer reliable, Merhav said. "Now we will have full statistics, including about those living in areas coping with terror, so we can mobilize the proper aid and infrastructure," he said.