Why Are Holocaust Survivors Poor?

Research shows that 1/3 of the 100,000 holocaust survivors that live in the United States, live in poverty. 50,000 of those survivors live in the New York Metropolitan are, and 52% of them are poor and their average income is $18,000. Hanan Simhon, vice president of Holocaust Survivor Services at Self-help, stated, “It’s a shocking statistic… They tend to be very isolated, losing their families during the war and then either did not or could not have children. Many started working in menial jobs because they did not have the language kills. Today they are in their 80s and 90s and it is beyond difficult to make ends meet.”