Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Justice Ministry’s Legal Aid Department said on Sunday that it opened about 2,500 cases over the past year for Holocaust survivors and those who fought the Nazis, in matters ranging from benefits and grants to debts, housing, wills, enduring powers of attorney, and guardianship.
According to the ministry, roughly 1,500 of those cases concerned the realization of legal rights tied to stipends and grants available to Holocaust survivors, while about 1,000 others involved broader civil matters, including wills, debts, claims, and ongoing legal arrangements. The assistance is provided free of charge.
The ministry said that during the past year, it continued handling claims by people who lived under the siege of Leningrad, following Germany’s 2021 decision recognizing their eligibility for a German pension supplemented by Israel. It also said requests continued to arrive from Holocaust survivors who immigrated from Tunisia after living there under Nazi occupation, some of whom, it said, are still unaware that they may be entitled to a monthly stipend rather than only an annual grant.
Survivors awarded monthly stipends, retroactive payments
As part of that push, the ministry highlighted several recent cases. In one, a Holocaust survivor born in Poland who had for years received only an annual grant was recognized, with legal aid representation, as entitled to a monthly stipend, in a move the ministry said yielded about NIS 300,000 from the date of her application.
In another case, Bela Yakubovitz, who was born in Poland and fled with her mother to Russia as a toddler while her father was drafted and later killed, received retroactive payments for three and a half years after an error in her original application had left her receiving only an annual grant despite later recognition as a Holocaust survivor, said the ministry.
A third case involved Shoshana Iluz, who immigrated from Morocco after living there as a child during the Vichy period. The ministry said that because she receives only an annual grant and not a monthly stipend, she may also qualify under the law for a three percent supplement to her monthly workplace pension. Following legal aid intervention, it said, the Tel Aviv Municipality began paying that addition.
Attorney Shari Vardi, the national supervisor for Holocaust survivor issues in the ministry’s Legal Aid Department, said the unit had received about 2,500 requests over the last year from survivors, fighters against the Nazis, and in some cases the spouses of those who had died, seeking legal help in exhausting their rights and in a range of civil matters.
“Survivors, fighters against the Nazis, or their family members are invited to contact us today for legal advice and representation free of charge,” she said. Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day this year begins on the evening of Monday with the state ceremony and is marked on Tuesday.