30,000 Holocaust survivors are living in poverty in and around New York City

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last updated 20 May 2015

That's according to an unsettling story in The Wall Street Journal.

Experts estimate that about half of all living Holocaust survivors in the U.S. — about 60,000 — reside in New York and the three suburban counties. About half of that number live near or below the poverty line, according to a 2013 study by Selfhelp, a nonprofit group that assists Holocaust survivors.With family networks wiped out during the Holocaust, many survivors live alone, experts say. Others suffer from medical issues that can be traced to malnutrition and torture during the war. For some, their trauma has been revived by the Sept. 11 attacks and superstorm Sandy, which forced them to flee their homes. [The Wall Street Journal]

New York City used to provide services specifically for Holocaust survivors, but the program was scrapped after the 2008 crash. Now, a group of altruistic activists is lobbying the city for $1.5 million to help these survivors, though they concede that even this money "would be a drop in the bucket." Read more about their cause at The Wall Street Journal.