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 11110
- Language spoken 2858
- Identity 7507
- Description of town 2348
- Education, school 8008
- Economics 8376
- Work 10922
- Love & romance 4737
- Leisure/Social life 3931
- Antisemitism 4569
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Major events (political and historical)
3906
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 158
- Soviet invasion of Poland 23
- Siege of Leningrad 76
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 32
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 73
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 58
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 211
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 109
- 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) 77
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 22
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 42
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 52
- 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 123
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 50
- Russian Revolution 312
- Ukrainian Famine 174
- The Great Terror 252
- Perestroika 212
- 22nd June 1941 437
- Molotov's radio speech 101
- Victory Day 133
- Stalin's death 328
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 133
- KGB 56
- NKVD 147
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 34
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 72
- Prague Spring (1968) 69
- 1989 change of regime 170
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
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Holocaust
9155
- Holocaust (in general) 2708
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1177
- Mass shooting operations 325
- Ghetto 1123
- Death / extermination camp 598
- Deportation 1016
- Forced labor 736
- Flight 1356
- Hiding 566
- Resistance 116
- 1941 evacuations 807
- 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 799
- Yellow star house 61
- 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 504
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1028
- Holocaust compensation 107
- Restitution 103
- Property (loss of property) 572
- Loss of loved ones 1645
- Trauma 1015
- Talking about what happened 1762
- Liberation 525
- Military 3100
- Politics 2495
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Communism
4277
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2530
- Anti-communist resistance in general 61
- Nationalization under Communism 206
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 286
- Sentiments about the communist rule 873
- Collectivization 91
- Experiences with state police 341
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 422
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 476
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 468
- Israel / Palestine 2096
- Zionism 812
- Jewish Organizations 1141
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.