Almost 20% of COVID-19 deaths in Israel were Holocaust survivors
Some 900 of the 4,500 Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths in Israel were Holocaust survivors, a special report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics shows.
Mirjam Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, lights a torch in the ceremony marking the Holocaust Memorial Day in Yad Vashem with the participation of the President and the Prime Minister of Israel. Jerusalem, Apr 11, 2018.
A total of 5,300 survivors contracted the virus in the past year, and 17% died, similar to the percentage in their age group.
The report, published ahead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, shows that 179,600 Holocaust survivors live in Israel, including 3,000 who were recognized as survivors of the Holocaust during the past year.
All Holocaust survivors are aged 75 and over, of whom about 17% are over the age of 90.
Women make up about 60% of all Holocaust survivors, and men about 40%. The relative share of women increases with age.
Some 17,000 survivors passed away in 2020.
The majority of Holocaust survivors, 64%, were born in Europe. Eleven percent of Holocaust survivors are Iraqi natives who survived the Farhud pogrom in June 1941. Another 16% are natives of Morocco and 2% are natives of Algeria who experienced anti-Jewish restrictions in various areas of life during the Vichy regime.
The remaining 7% are from Tunisia and Libya.
About 40% of the survivors immigrated to Israel by 1951 in the first wave of immigration, and more than a third in the last wave of immigration in the 1990s.
About 63% of Holocaust survivors from Germany and Austria immigrated to Israel before the establishment of the state.
About 35% of the survivors were born during World War II, between 1939-1945, and are 75-81 years old at the end of 2020.
Another 48% of all survivors are aged 82-89, and the rest, 17%, are over the age of 90.
About 850 Holocaust survivors living in Israel at the end of 2020 have reached the age of 100 and over.
