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 7921
- Language spoken 2024
- Identity 5607
- Description of town 1719
- Education, school 5356
- Economics 5994
- Work 7125
- Love & romance 3566
- Leisure/Social life 2955
- Antisemitism 3291
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Major events (political and historical)
1985
- Armenian genocide 2
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 31
- First Soviet-Finnish War 5
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 67
- Invasion of France 7
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 18
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 160
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 13
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 71
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 11
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 4
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 14
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 45
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 3
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 4
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 42
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 20
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 1
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 114
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 8
- Anschluss (1938) 57
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 37
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 5
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 9
- NEP 6
- Russian Revolution 80
- Ukrainian Famine 56
- The Great Terror 75
- Perestroika 75
- 22nd June 1941 247
- Molotov's radio speech 46
- Victory Day 50
- Stalin's death 119
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 48
- KGB 29
- NKVD 77
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 21
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 32
- 1956 revolution 44
- Prague Spring (1968) 52
- 1989 change of regime 134
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
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Holocaust
6983
- Holocaust (in general) 2170
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1053
- Mass shooting operations 227
- Ghetto 900
- Death / extermination camp 535
- Deportation 940
- Forced labor 607
- Flight 1148
- Hiding 488
- Resistance 107
- 1941 evacuations 345
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 31
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 8
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 669
- Yellow star house 30
- Protected house 7
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 21
- Danube bank shots 5
- Kindertransport 22
- Schutzpass / false papers 78
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 22
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 429
- Righteous Gentiles 221
- Returning home 711
- Holocaust compensation 88
- Restitution 86
- Property (loss of property) 441
- Loss of loved ones 1117
- Trauma 808
- Talking about what happened 1481
- Liberation 414
- Military 1903
- Politics 1740
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Communism
2764
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 1892
- Anti-communist resistance in general 51
- Nationalization under Communism 127
- Illegal communist movements 88
- Systematic demolitions under communism 44
- Communist holidays 109
- Sentiments about the communist rule 552
- Collectivization 67
- Experiences with state police 254
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 183
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 414
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 294
- Israel / Palestine 1697
- Zionism 738
- Jewish Organizations 817
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.