The world will lose 70% of its Holocaust survivors in the next 10 years and 90% over the next 15 years, according to demographic projections in a Tuesday Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany report, which the group said emphasized the need to utilize the time remaining to record and learn from their stories.
According to the report, Vanishing Witnesses: An Urgent Analysis of the Declining Population of Holocaust, the global population of Holocaust survivors is expected to be around 21,300 by 2040.
One of the last survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Pinchas Gutter, said in a press release that it was sobering to see how few Holocaust survivors were left.
“We have an important piece of history that only we hold and only we can tell. I hope in the time we have, we can impart the learning from the Holocaust so that the world will never again have to endure that level of hate,” said Gutter.
“I am a witness. Those of us witnesses still alive are working to make sure our testimonies are heard and preserved through any means possible. We are counting on this generation to hear us and future generations to carry our experiences forward so that the world does not forget.”
The study comes just ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Israeli commemoration of the Holocaust victims, and four months since the world marked 80 years since the liberation of victims from the Nazi death camps.
The projections were created based on the observed 2022 and 2023 mortality rates of over 250,000 survivors who received benefits, payments, or services through the Claims Conference.
As mortality rates differed across the world, different countries would lose their survivors to different degrees over the coming years. Israel is projected to lose 40% of its Holocaust survivors over the next five years, according to the Claims Conference, whereas the Former Soviet Union’s survivor population is set to decline by 50% over the next five years.
The report notes that Holocaust survivors largely reflect broader demographic trends in which advancements in medicine and living standards have extended longevity, but increased life spans come with chronic conditions requiring longer care.
Eighty years old or older
Of the last generation of Holocaust survivors, who were children when they were freed from camps and ghettos, or evaded capture, 98% are now 80 years old and older. The median age of survivors, according to the study, is 87 years old, and there are estimated to be 1,400 Holocaust survivors alive today who are over 100 years old.
Vladimir Shvetz, the son of 110-year-old Holocaust survivor Nechama Grossman, said that his mother had lived through the worst of humanity and she survived. She raised her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren with the message that unchecked hatred cannot win.
“We must remember her story, remember the Holocaust, remember all the survivors, and learn from it so that her past does not become our future,” said Shvetz.
109-year-old Holocaust survivor Malka Schmulovitz said in the press release that the fact that she is one of the older survivors alive told her that time was running out.
“We all have a testimony that needs to be shared. We all want to be sure that this generation of young people and the ones that come after them, hear and understand what truly happened during the Holocaust; if only so that we do not see it repeated,” said Schmulovitz.
Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor said that the report highlighted the urgency of Holocaust education efforts.
“Now is the time to hear first-hand testimonies from survivors, invite them to speak in our classrooms, places of worship, and institutions. It is critical, not only for our youth but for people of all generations to hear and learn directly from Holocaust survivors,” said Taylor.
“This report is a stark reminder that our time is almost up, our survivors are leaving us, and this is the moment to hear their voices.”