Biography Archive
We interviewed more than 1,200 Holocaust survivors in 14 European countries. Search their biographies by country, language, etc.
Photos & Documents Archive
Over 25,000 privately held family photographs and personal documents. Use our advanced search engine to explore photos by theme, category, country and other options.
Search biographies by topic
To make our biographies even more useful as a research tool for students and scholars, we have annotated them using a tagging system of over 200 unique themes, relating to personal experiences and historical events, Jewish culture and more.
Click on a theme that interests you and read specific excerpts from the hundreds of interviews within our archive. Combine themes to narrow down the who, what, and where, and dive more deeply into history and the lives of our interviewees.
- Traditions 11543
- Language spoken 2973
- Identity 7710
- Description of town 2410
- Education, school 8352
- Economics 8663
- Work 11428
- Love & romance 4877
- Leisure/Social life 4082
- Antisemitism 4744
-
Major events (political and historical)
4164
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 176
- Soviet invasion of Poland 27
- Siege of Leningrad 81
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 81
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 64
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 213
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 115
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 12
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 7
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 19
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 84
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 59
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 1
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 147
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 9
- Anschluss (1938) 64
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 347
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 281
- Perestroika 232
- 22nd June 1941 463
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 145
- Stalin's death 362
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 145
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 34
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 74
- Prague Spring (1968) 72
- 1989 change of regime 171
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
-
Holocaust
9432
- Holocaust (in general) 2761
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1205
- Mass shooting operations 334
- Ghetto 1157
- Death / extermination camp 610
- Deportation 1026
- Forced labor 748
- Flight 1383
- Hiding 571
- Resistance 118
- 1941 evacuations 865
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 33
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 11
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 803
- Yellow star house 63
- Protected house 12
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 28
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 24
- Schutzpass / false papers 88
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 23
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 506
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1070
- Holocaust compensation 107
- Restitution 106
- Property (loss of property) 586
- Loss of loved ones 1690
- Trauma 1025
- Talking about what happened 1794
- Liberation 544
- Military 3260
- Politics 2576
-
Communism
4436
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2586
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 217
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 917
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 348
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 445
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 488
- Israel / Palestine 2144
- Zionism 816
- Jewish Organizations 1183
Browse Photos by Tags
Every photo in our database is tagged by content (what's in the photo). Click on a tag category to start browsing, then refine your search on the next page.