In the News

By Adam Kredo

Aug. 12, 2011

Local Jewish agencies could receive an influx of federal dollars to help ensure that Holocaust survivors age in their homes, rather than in an nursing facility or other institution, according to new legislation being considered by Congress.

The bill, which was introduced last week, would classify survivors as one of several groups that receive preferential treatment under the Older Americans Act, which was created in 1965 to ensure that social service agencies have the financial wherewithal to protect and serve the elderly.

Co-authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the Holocaust Survivors Assistance Act of 2011 is said to be one of the most comprehensive legislative efforts to protect the vitality and longevity of survivors in the U.S.

As the country's 127,000 or so survivors grow older, lawmakers realize that there won't be many more opportunities to prove they haven't forgotten "the mental and physical scars of the unconscionable trauma caused by the Holocaust," as the bill puts it.

Ros-Lehtinen, in a statement to WJW, put it this way:?"The sad reality is that every day, we have fewer Holocaust survivors among us to tell their tragic tales that remind us of the reality of evil. Many of these survivors have pressing medical and housing needs, and this bill seeks to address those gaping holes in social services."

In addition to redirecting federal grant money towards survivors, the bill would mandate that a government official - operating under the Administration on Aging - oversee all surviver-oriented initiatives. It also would create a grant program to "increase and improve" transportation services for survivors, according to the bill.

The measure, in large part, is designed to ease the surviver community's transition into "the twilight of their lives," explained William Daroff, a top lobbyist for the Jewish Federations of North America, which collaborated with Wasserman Shultz and Ros-Lehtinen, as well as with a handful of Jewish social services agencies, to craft the legislation.

"As Holocaust survivors age and there are less and less of them, this is truly the last chance that America has to show that they are not forgotten, that we are sorry we didn't do more to prevent the Holocaust or to care for them over the last 60 years," explained Daroff.

A disproportionate number of Holocaust survivors are living in poverty, and approximately two-thirds of them live alone, which means they are at risk of being relocated to a institution as they become less capable of caring for themselves.

Aging in place, Daroff explained, is particularly important for survivors because, "psychologically, institutions are more traumatic for them. It can hearken back to memories of their youth spent in [concentration] camps."

By staying put longer, survivors also will remain "visible to young Americans as living witnesses to" the Holocaust, noted Walter Reich, former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in the District.

To help survivors - about 75 percent of whom are over the age of 75 - remain at home, the bill would redirect already existant federal grant money towards particular programs and agencies that care for, or provide transportation, to survivors.

This means that, if the bill is passed, organizations such as the Jewish Social Services Agency and the Jewish Council for Aging, both headquartered in Rockville, would be eligible to receive federal dollars to help supplement certain programs.

And since the "funds are already out there,"?Daroff added, the bill would have a minimal impact on the national debt and deficit - an important consideration given Congress' current focus on spending cuts.

"Clearly, getting new money in this environment is tough, but we believe money can be reprogrammed from other places,"?Daroff said. "We have an obligation to make the end of this community's lives as comfortable and productive as we can."

Not everyone associated with the Holocaust survivor community, though, believes that this legislation makes sense. Esther Finder, co-founder of Generations of the Shoah International, said in a recent interview that, while she appreciates Congress' concern, the bill left her "scratching my head."

"There's a lot of confusion about what this does," Finder said. "Is there even any money for it?"

By and large, she added, survivors are a very proud group of Americans who "don't want to be perceived as a burden on the?U.S. taxpayer." While the survivor population certainly "has needs that aren't being met,"?Finder believes that funds should "be paid through restitution" by the German government, not the American taxpayer.

"There's so little money out there, I feel the survivors would feel bad about taking it from other elderly,"?Finder explained. "They're very proud and just don't want to be a burden."