Holocaust survivor Miriam celebrated her 105th birthday on March 25 in her home in Haifa, as sirens continued to sound throughout the North.
Luckily, the celebrations were not canceled by the sirens; Miriam simply moved to the shelter and celebrated there, along with her friends from the assisted living home for Holocaust survivors and volunteers from the Yad Ezer L'Chaver organization.
The group sang and danced together, and enjoyed a particularly delicious birthday cake. Israeli singer Regev Hod also attended, singing his new hit song, "Thank God."
Global Holocaust survivor population drops to about 196,000 worldwide, half in Israel, data shows
Approximately 196,000 Holocaust survivors are alive globally, with half of those living in Israel, data from the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany showed in January.
This is a decrease from the conference's January 2025 data, which estimated that approximately 220,000 survivors were alive at the time.
The conference broke down where the remaining survivors are believed to be living. Approximately half (97,600) are living in Israel; 16% (31,000) are in the US; 9% (17,300) are in France; 7% (14,300) are in Russia; and 5% (10,700) are in Germany. Other survivors are in countries including Ukraine, Canada, Hungary, Australia, and Belarus, all of which have over 1,000 survivors.