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 11379
- Language spoken 2924
- Identity 7638
- Description of town 2383
- Education, school 8220
- Economics 8543
- Work 11222
- Love & romance 4818
- Leisure/Social life 4020
- Antisemitism 4681
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Major events (political and historical)
4067
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 173
- Soviet invasion of Poland 23
- Siege of Leningrad 78
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 35
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 77
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 61
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 212
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 110
- 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) 81
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 24
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 55
- 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) 63
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 126
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 52
- Russian Revolution 339
- Ukrainian Famine 189
- The Great Terror 273
- Perestroika 227
- 22nd June 1941 453
- Molotov's radio speech 108
- Victory Day 142
- Stalin's death 351
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 143
- KGB 59
- NKVD 149
- 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
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Holocaust
9311
- Holocaust (in general) 2738
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1194
- Mass shooting operations 332
- Ghetto 1149
- Death / extermination camp 604
- Deportation 1018
- Forced labor 744
- Flight 1366
- Hiding 571
- Resistance 118
- 1941 evacuations 844
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 32
- 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 802
- Yellow star house 63
- Protected house 12
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 28
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 23
- Schutzpass / false papers 88
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 23
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 505
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1053
- Holocaust compensation 107
- Restitution 105
- Property (loss of property) 582
- Loss of loved ones 1672
- Trauma 1023
- Talking about what happened 1776
- Liberation 539
- Military 3211
- Politics 2537
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Communism
4377
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2563
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 212
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 306
- Sentiments about the communist rule 900
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 344
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 430
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 478
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 483
- Israel / Palestine 2129
- Zionism 815
- Jewish Organizations 1172
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.