The German government has agreed to allocate $1.08 billion in funds for home care for survivors for 2026, marking the largest budget for home care in its history of Holocaust reparations, reflecting the growing needs of an aging survivor population.
The funding, which was secured following negotiations with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, will now enable all Holocaust survivors currently on waitlists for home care to receive it, according to Stuart E. Eizenstat, who leads negotiations on behalf of the Claims Conference.
“We really believe now that, with the largest home care budget in the history of the Claims Conference’s negotiations with Germany, which go back to 1952, that we will be able to cover all those on waiting lists,” Eizenstat said in an interview.
Last year, Germany also set a record for Holocaust reparations, spending $1.5 billion overall. But as the survivor population ages, with the median age now at 87, the need for home care has become the dominant expense.
The negotiation also secured funding for a group the Claims Conference referred to as “Righteous Rescuers,” or non-Jewish people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
“It demonstrates that we care deeply about making sure they get all the benefits of the Jewish survivors that they helped save,” said Eizenstat.
