“Europe’s Jewish population down 60% since 1970, as low as it was 1,000 years ago”

This shocking headline caught my attention.  So much so, I stopped everything I was doing to read the entire article.  I did not realize the European Jewish population is down by 60%.  Wow.  As I continued to read the article in The Times of Israel, I was surprised at how a population can decline in just 30 years. 

What contributed to the decline?  The authors of the study (published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research) believe that “The demographics of European Jewry would have been “totally different” without the impact of the Holocaust.”  

The quote was a sharp reminder for me.  Seventy-five years later, the numbers continue to remind us of the Holocaust’s devastating effects.  With the rise of anti-Semitism in the world today, let us not forget the devastation from the past.