A general view of the snow covered Holocaust memorial in Berlin, Germany, February 10, 2021. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

The German government has agreed to pay an additional 200 million shekels ($58 million) annually to Holocaust survivors in need of nursing care in Israel.

The additional funding, which will be allocated to about 14,000 survivors, comes after an agreement was reached Thursday between German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Israel’s Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen.

Cohen said that the “historic agreement” is of “utmost importance” and “ensures an additional 1,200 shekels ($348) a month to thousands of Holocaust survivors who are long term care patients.”

The agreement was signed in Berlin as the German government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (also known as the Claims Conference) held a commemoration ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the so-called Luxembourg Agreements in September 1952 – the reparations accord that made it possible for Holocaust survivors to receive financial compensation for their persecution by the Nazi regime.

“The well-being of Holocaust survivors in Israel is at the top of our priorities,” Cohen stated. “We work around the clock to increase the budgets that are transferred to survivors. For those who are in need of home nursing care, every hour of nursing help is literally a life saver.”

Cohen disclosed that over the past year a total of over 2.6 billion shekels ($755 million) was raised for the benefit of Holocaust survivors, both from budgets around the world through the Claims Conference, and from the Israeli government’s budgets.

The German government also announced Thursday that starting in January 2023, it would pay an additional $70 million in home care for survivors living outside of Israel who depend on in-home services to manage their day-to-day life.

An emergency aid fund of $12 million will be additionally distributed to 8,500 Ukrainian Holocaust survivors in the fall of this year, according to the Claims Conference.

“It took truly great and far-sighted leadership to sit down at the table only a few years after the Holocaust and negotiate the unimaginable,” stated Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider. “They laid the groundwork for the results we are announcing today of more than $1.2 billion in 2023 for compensation and social welfare services for Holocaust survivors.”