Only 66,250 Holocaust Survivors Expected to Remain by 2035, Report Predicts

A new report released by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany offers a stark and sobering forecast: by the year 2035, only 66,250 Holocaust survivors will remain worldwide. Titled Vanishing Witnesses: An Urgent Analysis of the Declining Population of Holocaust Survivors, the report serves as a powerful call to action underscoring that the time to hear survivors’ voices is running out.

Currently, there are an estimated 220,800 survivors spread across 90 countries. About half live in Israel, where their numbers are expected to drop from 110,100 to 62,900 by 2030 a 43% decline. The median age is 87, and 61% are women. A remarkable 1,400 survivors are centenarians.

“Now is the time to hear first-hand testimonies from survivors,” said Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference. “It is critical, not only for our youth but for people of all generations to hear and learn directly from Holocaust survivors.”

The decline is global. By 2030, 39% of U.S. survivors (from 34,600 to 21,100) and 54% of survivors in former Soviet countries (from 25,500 to 11,800) will be lost. By 2040, only 22,080 survivors are projected to remain worldwide.

“These numbers help us focus our collective attention on what really matters: ensuring that the voices, experiences, and lessons of the survivors are preserved,” said Greg Schneider, the organization’s executive vice president.

In 2025 alone, the Claims Conference estimates it will distribute $530 million in compensation and $960 million for welfare services to survivors around the world, supporting more than 300 agencies that provide critical care.

Amid the grim statistics, the testimonies of survivors themselves shine with clarity and urgency.

Pinchas Gutter, one of the last to survive the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, said: “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. I am a witness.”

Nechama Grossman, 110, living in Israel, is one of the oldest survivors alive. Her son, Vladimir Shvetz, reflected: “She lived through the worst of humanity, and she survived… Learn from it so that her past does not become our future.”

Leonard Zaicescu, 98, a survivor of the Iasi death train in Romania, declared: “As long as I am still alive and have strength, I will do everything I can so that future generations will learn what happened.”

The message from the survivor community is clear: time is running out. As their numbers dwindle, the world must seize every opportunity to record, share, and safeguard their stories. These living witnesses are not just remnants of the past they are guardians of truth, humanity, and hope.

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