NY Holocaust Survivors Will Receive $2.6M For Health Care Services

NEW YORK CITY — A somber Holocaust Remembrance Day unfolded across New York City as officials pledged millions in support for survivors — and others warned of hate spreading online that imperiled their “never again” pledge.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced this week that $2.6 million will go to help enhance health care for the state’s 40,000 Holocaust survivors.

About 40 percent of those survivors live in poverty, according to a governor’s office release.

"Survivors of the Holocaust endured tragedy beyond the imaginations of the average person - we owe them a lifetime of care and with this funding we can ensure they receive just that," Hochul said in a statement. "In New York, we will never forget and we will do everything possible to honor the memory of the millions of lives lost, and ensure survivors will always be safe, protected, and supported.”

Hochul’s pledge of support was many actions and commemorations as Holocaust Remembrance Day began Thursday.

Mayor Eric Adams urged New Yorkers to reflect on the 6 million Jewish people who died in an unparalleled act of anti-Semitism by a government.

“As a city, we must stand united and say with one voice: never again,” he tweeted.

But as Adams tweeted the message, some warned that hate is spreading online.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams appeared Thursday with her colleagues and representatives from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to highlight a new study.

The “2022 Digital Hate Report” provided a report card on how online and social media platforms stop the spread of anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and more.

“Especially worrisome is the celebration of mass murderers, so whether it was the one in New Zealand who murdered 51 Muslims in prayer in two mosques, or the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue, and on and on - they’re presented as angels in a movement,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The study also noted worrisome trends of misappropriating and trivializing the Holocaust, such aspeople who compared COVID-19 mandates and vaccines to the Holocaust, including by the use of the Yellow Star of David.

“Most significantly, state actors such as Russia have weaponized false claims and parallels to the Holocaust to justify discriminatory, illegal activities, and war crimes targeting civilian population centers,” a study summary states. “For example, as a pretext for Russia’s invasion, President Putin has falsely mis characterized the Nazi Holocaust as a ploy to invade a peaceful neighbor and unleashed one of the worst humanitarian disasters of this century.”