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 8451
- Language spoken 2209
- Identity 6143
- Description of town 1924
- Education, school 5820
- Economics 6556
- Work 7739
- Love & romance 3893
- Leisure/Social life 3190
- Antisemitism 3544
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Major events (political and historical)
2109
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 1
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 7
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 67
- Invasion of France 7
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 19
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 172
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 13
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 1
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 73
- 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) 4
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 14
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 47
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 3
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 4
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 42
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 20
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 1
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 115
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 8
- Anschluss (1938) 58
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 38
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 5
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 11
- NEP 6
- Russian Revolution 87
- Ukrainian Famine 57
- The Great Terror 80
- Perestroika 82
- 22nd June 1941 268
- Molotov's radio speech 49
- Victory Day 55
- Stalin's death 135
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 52
- KGB 31
- NKVD 82
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 32
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 32
- 1956 revolution 55
- Prague Spring (1968) 53
- 1989 change of regime 142
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
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Holocaust
7510
- Holocaust (in general) 2372
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1104
- Mass shooting operations 244
- Ghetto 960
- Death / extermination camp 566
- Deportation 1001
- Forced labor 690
- Flight 1213
- Hiding 527
- Resistance 107
- 1941 evacuations 359
- 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 749
- Yellow star house 52
- Protected house 11
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 27
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 23
- Schutzpass / false papers 85
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 23
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 465
- Righteous Gentiles 263
- Returning home 774
- Holocaust compensation 96
- Restitution 91
- Property (loss of property) 482
- Loss of loved ones 1251
- Trauma 983
- Talking about what happened 1689
- Liberation 446
- Military 2038
- Politics 1872
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Communism
2936
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2011
- Anti-communist resistance in general 56
- Nationalization under Communism 136
- Illegal communist movements 91
- Systematic demolitions under communism 44
- Communist holidays 119
- Sentiments about the communist rule 594
- Collectivization 69
- Experiences with state police 275
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 194
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 434
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 308
- Israel / Palestine 1787
- Zionism 760
- Jewish Organizations 862
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.