Book Recommendations

85069 results

Centropa in Bulgaria

Approximately 47,000 Jews lived in Bulgaria before the Second World War and virtually none of the country’s Jews were deported to Nazi death camps. In Bulgarian-occupied Thrace and Macedonia, however, nearly 12,000 Jews were deported; almost none returned.

Approximately 45,000 Bulgarian Jews emigrated to Israel in the late 1940s-1950s. There was no real organized Jewish life until after 1989. The community today, although small, is well organized and quite proud of rebuilding its communal institutions.

Centropa’s Bulgarian interviews were carried out by a team coordinated by Nelly Rousseva of The Bulgarian Photographers’ Association and edited by Mihaylina Pavlov of Shalom, the Jewish Community of Bulgaria.

What you will notice in the pictures we’ve collected in Bulgaria is a high percentage of people dressed in traditional Sephardic costume.

The other great Balkan Sephardic communities of Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, and Bosnia were almost wholly wiped out during the Holocaust, so those family stories, and the images that go with them, are now lost to us.

That makes this particular collection all the more historically important.

Centropa in Bulgaria

What you will notice in the pictures we’ve collected in Bulgaria is a high percentage of people dressed in traditional Sephardic costume.

That makes this particular collection all the more historically important.

Centropa in the Czech Republic

More than 78,000 Czech Jews were deported to their deaths during the Second World War. In 1946 between 12,000 to 15,000 lived in the country. The community shrunk further with the coming of Communism in 1948, the Communist show trials soon after, and in the wake of the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. Today there are around 3,000 Jews live in today's Czech Republic.

Almost no religious Jews remained in the Czech Republic after 1948, and our family stories and their accompanying photographs reflect this. What we have, however, is a collection of stories and pictures of some of the most erudite and well educated Jews anywhere in Central Europe and their biographies make for fascinating reading. More than a few of these people remained in their country after 1948 because they strongly believed in Communism, and all of them became wholly disenchanted-if not during the anti-Semitic show trials of the early 1950s, then during the Soviet invasion of 1968.

We interviewed 73 elderly Jews in Prague, Brno and other cities. Dr Martin Korcok directs our team in the Czech Republic. We have been working in the Czech Republic since 2002, and we cooperate closely with The Federation of Czech Jewish Communities, The Jewish Museum of Prague, and with The Terezin Memorial.

Hide map

Off

Centropa in Former Yugoslavia

This short text describes our work in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia

There was no country called Yugoslavia before 1918, and this “Union of South Slavs” brought together lands that had spent centuries under Austrian, Italian, Hungarian and Ottoman rule. Some 87,000 Jews lived in this new land and they ranged from Sephardic Jews in Bosnia, Serbia and along the Adriatic to Ashkenazi Jews in most of Croatia and in the Hungarian-speaking parts of Serbia (Vojvodina).

Much to the chagrin of the other republics in Yugoslavia, Serbia dominated this interwar state, and when the Germans invaded in 1941, more than a few Slovenes and Croats saw them as liberators. Jews, of course, did not.

During the Second World War, citizens of Yugoslavia fought the invading Germans, Bulgarians, Hungarians and Italians and also fought each other. Although the Allies originally backed Serbian partisans, they switched their allegiance to Tito’s Communist partisans, who were clearly winning.

At war’s end, ten percent of the country’s population had died but over seventy percent of its Jews had been murdered. Yugoslavia then became a one party state under Tito, who, after breaking with Stalin in 1948, ruled the country until his death in 1980. His country would last just over another decade without him.

Before the break-up in 1991, some 6,500 Jews were living in the country and when Yugoslavia began its decade of wars they began fleeing the country for Israel, England and North America.

Even as of this writing, in 2019, it can be said with the economy continuing to languish (except for Slovenia), a great many of ex-Yugoslavia’s Jews have continued to leave. Very few remain today, although Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia all maintain lively, spirited communities, despite their miniscule size.

As for Centropa’s interviews: we have been lucky to work with Rachel Chanin in Serbia - an American who speaks excellent Serbian and who is married to Yitzhak Asiel, Serbia's chief rabbi. Aside from Rachel's extensive social welfare and cultural activities, she conducted interviews for us in Serbia and in Macedonia. Over the years, we have also managed to pick up a handful of interviews in Croatia and Bosnia.

In Croatia, Silvia Heim and Lea Siljak conducted two excellent interviews for us in Zagreb. We would also like to call your attention to a book published in 2013 called 1941: The Year That Keeps Returning, by Slavko Goldstein. Professor Goldstein, who died in 2017, was a publisher, Jewish community activist and writer. His memoirs are considered by many to be one of the finest personal stories published on the Holocaust in the past ten years.

For more information about the Holocaust in Croatia, read this article by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Here’s a brilliant set of pages about what happened in Serbia during the Holocaust

Regarding the Second World War in Bosnia, we highly recommend Emily Greble’s study, Sarajevo 1941.

Regarding Macedonia: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-holocaust-in-macedonia-deportation-of-monastir-jewry

Hide map

Off

Centropa in Israel

סנטרופה הינו אשנב מסעיר וחדשני להיסטוריה היהודית של המאה העשרים. הוא מציע מאגר חדש וייחודי של סרטים המגולל את סיפורם האישי של יחידים אשר חיו במרכז ומזרח אירופה בין שתי מלחמות העולם, בנוסף למדריכים מקוונים הנכונים לעזור לכם להעמיק בכל סיפור וסיפור.

מורים מישראל יכולים למצוא בסנטרופה סרטים בעברית ו/או עם כתוביות בעברית ביחד עם מדריכים מקוונים אשר מציעים לתלמידים מידע נוסף על תכנים היסטוריים אשר מוזכרים בסרטים.

בנוסף, סנטרופה כולל מאגר עצום של 1200 ראיונות מ- 15 מדינות אשר נלקחו מניצולים ששרדו את השואה והמלחמה וניאותו לספר את סיפורם האישי, כמו גם עשרות אלפי תמונות של יהודים שעברו דיגיטליזציה ומוצעות לקהל המורים והתלמידים.

בינתיים ניתן למצוא באתר שלושה ראיונות בעברית שנלקחו מיהודים אשר עלו מאירופה לארץ ישראל לפני או במהלך מלחמת העולם השנייה.

אתם מוזמנים לחוויה מרגשת של לימוד ההיסטוריה היהודית במאה העשרים ביחד עם הכרת חברים מרחבי העולם, על ידי הצטרפות והרחבת קהילתנו באמצעותBorder Jumping" ". כל שעליכם לעשות הוא לשלוח תמונות של בני כיתתכם ומקום לימודיכם, ביחד עם תמונות של אתרים יהודים המצויים בעירכם. בקהילה חברים בתי ספר מכל רחבי אירופה, צפון אמריקה וישראל.

סנטרופה הינו פעיל מאוד בישראל והוא עורך מדי שנה סמינרים בירושלים ובתל אביב בהם מורים ומחנכים לומדים על הדרכים הייחודיות שבהן ניתן להשתמש בחומרים של סנטרופה בשיעורי היסטוריה ואנגלית. הסמינר הבא יתקיים בתל אביב ב- 24-23 ביוני בשיתוף עם משרד החינוך עבור מורים המלמדים בעיר. מורים ומחנכים אשר ייטלו חלק בסמינר יילמדו כיצד ניתן להפיק סרטי וידיאו עם התלמידים מהחומרים הרבים אשר ניתן למצוא באתר האינטרנט של סנטרופה.

איש הקשר והמתאם של סנטרופה בישראל הוא גדעון ליפשיץ וניתן ליצור עימו קשר בכתובת המייל lifshitz [at] centropa.org (lifshitz[at]centropa[dot]org).

Hide map

Centropa in Israel

Hide map

Centropa in Serbia

This short text describes our work in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia

Before the break-up in 1991, some 6,500 Jews were living in the country and when Yugoslavia began its decade of wars they began fleeing the country for Israel, England and North America.

For more information about the Holocaust in Croatia, read this article by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Here’s a brilliant set of pages about what happened in Serbia during the Holocaust

Regarding the Second World War in Bosnia, we highly recommend Emily Greble’s study, Sarajevo 1941.

Regarding Macedonia: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-holocaust-in-macedonia-deportation-of-monastir-jewry

Hide map

Off

Centropa in Serbia

This short text describes our work in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia

Before the break-up in 1991, some 6,500 Jews were living in the country and when Yugoslavia began its decade of wars they began fleeing the country for Israel, England and North America.

For more information about the Holocaust in Croatia, read this article by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Here’s a brilliant set of pages about what happened in Serbia during the Holocaust

Regarding the Second World War in Bosnia, we highly recommend Emily Greble’s study, Sarajevo 1941.

Regarding Macedonia: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-holocaust-in-macedonia-deportation-of-monastir-jewry

Hide map

Off

Centropa in Slovakia

This Jewish community, devastated by the Nazis, was further depleted during the Communist decades. The few remaining Jews live primarily in Bratislava and Kosice.

Slovak Jews, many of whom speak Hungarian as their mother tongue, are more traditional than their Czech counterparts. While few are religious today, many of them grew up in deeply religious homes, and their biographies reflect this.

Less than 3,000 Jews live in Slovakia today but their positions in intellectual circles-in universities and teaching hospitals-casts a much larger shadow.

Our interviews in Slovakia are spearheaded by Dr Martin Korcok. Martin lectures frequently on Jewish culture, is employed as a curator at the Slovak Jewish Museum, and is a member of the International Task Force on Holocaust Education.

Centropa in Slovakia

This Jewish community, devastated by the Nazis, was further depleted during the Communist decades. The few remaining Jews live primarily in Bratislava and Kosice.

Less than 3,000 Jews live in Slovakia today but their positions in intellectual circles-in universities and teaching hospitals-casts a much larger shadow.