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 11492
- Language spoken 2959
- Identity 7695
- Description of town 2403
- Education, school 8302
- Economics 8626
- Work 11346
- Love & romance 4860
- Leisure/Social life 4051
- Antisemitism 4711
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Major events (political and historical)
4135
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 176
- Soviet invasion of Poland 26
- Siege of Leningrad 79
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 77
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 62
- 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) 113
- 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) 82
- 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) 58
- 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 129
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 55
- Russian Revolution 347
- Ukrainian Famine 197
- The Great Terror 278
- Perestroika 231
- 22nd June 1941 458
- Molotov's radio speech 112
- Victory Day 144
- Stalin's death 361
- 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
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Holocaust
9370
- Holocaust (in general) 2748
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1194
- Mass shooting operations 334
- Ghetto 1150
- Death / extermination camp 605
- Deportation 1018
- Forced labor 744
- Flight 1368
- Hiding 571
- Resistance 118
- 1941 evacuations 864
- 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 1065
- Holocaust compensation 107
- Restitution 106
- Property (loss of property) 583
- Loss of loved ones 1683
- Trauma 1024
- Talking about what happened 1793
- Liberation 543
- Military 3248
- Politics 2556
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Communism
4429
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2585
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 216
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 915
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 347
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 442
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 487
- Israel / Palestine 2140
- Zionism 815
- Jewish Organizations 1182
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.