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 11436
- Language spoken 2944
- Identity 7656
- Description of town 2394
- Education, school 8259
- Economics 8582
- Work 11278
- Love & romance 4837
- Leisure/Social life 4033
- Antisemitism 4694
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Major events (political and historical)
4096
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 174
- Soviet invasion of Poland 25
- Siege of Leningrad 79
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 36
- 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 127
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 53
- Russian Revolution 344
- Ukrainian Famine 194
- The Great Terror 275
- Perestroika 229
- 22nd June 1941 455
- Molotov's radio speech 110
- Victory Day 144
- Stalin's death 355
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 143
- KGB 59
- NKVD 150
- 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
9333
- Holocaust (in general) 2744
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1194
- Mass shooting operations 333
- Ghetto 1149
- Death / extermination camp 605
- Deportation 1018
- Forced labor 744
- Flight 1367
- Hiding 571
- Resistance 118
- 1941 evacuations 850
- 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 803
- 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 1058
- Holocaust compensation 107
- Restitution 105
- Property (loss of property) 582
- Loss of loved ones 1678
- Trauma 1024
- Talking about what happened 1779
- Liberation 541
- Military 3228
- Politics 2543
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Communism
4387
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2568
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 213
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 309
- Sentiments about the communist rule 901
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 345
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 431
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 478
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 483
- Israel / Palestine 2139
- Zionism 815
- Jewish Organizations 1177
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.