Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress finds the following: During the Holocaust, which took place between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 6,000,000 Jews, as well as millions from other targeted groups, were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia estimates that more than 200,000 Jews found refuge in the United States from 1933 to 1945, and estimates that approximately 137,000 Jewish refugees had settled in the United States from 1945 to 1952. Jewish refugees continued to immigrate to the United States from Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union during the subsequent decades.
According to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany’s 2011 Worldbook: A Guide to Claims Conference Programs Worldwide, the Estimated Nazi Victim Population in the United States is 120,935, down from an estimated 127,300 in 2010. According to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany’s 2011 Worldbook: A Guide to Claims Conference Programs Worldwide, of Nazi victims currently residing in the United States, three in five are women, and the average age of a Nazi victim is 80, but nearly one-quarter are age 85 or over.
Holocaust survivors continue to live with the unique mental and physical scars of the unconscionable trauma caused by the Holocaust, and while institutionalized settings are beneficial for some, certain aspects of institutionalization may have particularly adverse effects on Holocaust survivors. For many Holocaust survivors, institutionalized settings produce sights, sounds, smells, emotions, and routines which can induce panic, anxiety, and re-traumatization as a result of experiences from the Holocaust.
According to Findings from the National Jewish Population Survey 2000–01, a Jewish Federations of North America Report produced in December 2003, Nazi victims are more economically and socially vulnerable, report poorer health and more health problems, and have somewhat greater social service needs. They also report poorer health and more disabilities that limit daily activities compared to nonvictims. Low-income Holocaust survivors are more reliant on social service programs than most other older Americans, and proportionally more Holocaust survivors need services such as personal care, home-delivered and congregate meals, transportation, counseling, and mental health support to promote health and quality of life.
Community organizations serving Holocaust survivors report that approximately two-thirds of Holocaust survivors live alone, and living alone is a risk factor for hospitalization and nursing home admission, poverty, falls, depression, poor nutrition, social isolation and loneliness which have been associated with poor health outcomes and an increased risk of death. According to Findings from the National Jewish Population Survey 2000–01, more than half of all Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union after 1965 have annual incomes beneath the Federal poverty threshold and constitute an extremely vulnerable at-risk population in the United States.
Community organizations serving Holocaust survivors report that transportation is vital to help Holocaust survivors attend medical appointments, shop and purchase necessary items, visit family and friends, and participate in cultural, recreational, or social events, such as congregate meals or religious services. As the general population of older adults increases and public or philanthropic resources remain constant, providers serving older adults including Holocaust survivors need additional capacity to cover the needed services.
The Administration for Community Living in the Department of Health and Human Services serves as the Federal agency responsible for increasing access to community supports, while focusing attention and resources on the unique needs of older Americans and people with disabilities across the lifespan. The mission of the Administration for Community Living is to maximize the independence, well-being, and health of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families and caregivers.
Many social service agencies that receive funding under the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.) for home-delivered or congregate meals serve diverse seniors with specialized dietary needs based on religious, cultural, or ethnic requirements, and the necessary special meals often cost more than nonspecial meals.
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