Around 40,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel live below the poverty line. In April 2010, in cooperation with the Israeli aid organisation “Helping Hands”, the ICEJ set up a new home for Holocaust survivors in the northern coastal city of Haifa. The beginnings were humble. Shimon Sabag began to house survivors whom he had met in his soup kitchen. Shimon could not believe what he saw. Among those in the soup line were Holocaust survivors with numbers tattooed on their arms from Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Teblinka and other Nazi concentration camps. In 2009, Shimon approached the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem with a proposal to purchase the ground floor of a building next door in order to open a community kitchen for several hundred poor Holocaust survivors in the Haifa area. The ICEJ responded quickly with the needed funds and also proposed that the entire four-story building be purchased in order to house more survivors. Thus, the expansion of the Haifa Home began. This assisted-living facility with a warm family environment now offers a home to over 70 Holocaust survivors. Many of the residents were so traumatised by their terrible experiences that they couldn’t do any regular work. In old age, they often have to choose between food and medication because their sparse pension is insufficient. They are well looked after in the Haifa home and can now spend their retirement in dignity within the community. They feel that they and their fate will not be forgotten. There is a long waiting list. Hundreds of needy Holocaust survivors are still waiting for a place.

With support from the Haifa Home, we can now do something for the victims of the Nazis. Together, we can give even more Holocaust survivors a dignified retirement! With a donation or project sponsorship for the Haifa home, you can help the people affected in a practical manner and ensure that the residents are well looked after.