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 11625
- Language spoken 2986
- Identity 7747
- Description of town 2416
- Education, school 8425
- Economics 8726
- Work 11524
- Love & romance 4906
- Leisure/Social life 4120
- Antisemitism 4776
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Major events (political and historical)
4210
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 178
- Soviet invasion of Poland 27
- Siege of Leningrad 84
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 82
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 64
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 215
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 118
- 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) 85
- 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) 59
- 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) 66
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 350
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 282
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 463
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 146
- Stalin's death 364
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 146
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 45
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 84
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 174
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
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Holocaust
9561
- Holocaust (in general) 2767
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1223
- Mass shooting operations 334
- Ghetto 1169
- Death / extermination camp 632
- Deportation 1046
- Forced labor 777
- Flight 1388
- Hiding 575
- Resistance 119
- 1941 evacuations 865
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 33
- 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 72
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 42
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 24
- Schutzpass / false papers 94
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 23
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 512
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1081
- Holocaust compensation 109
- Restitution 108
- Property (loss of property) 592
- Loss of loved ones 1704
- Trauma 1026
- Talking about what happened 1799
- Liberation 551
- Military 3274
- Politics 2605
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Communism
4457
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2591
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 219
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 924
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 348
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 448
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2157
- Zionism 821
- Jewish Organizations 1185
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.