Our Archive: The Library of Rescued Memories

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Biography Archive

We interviewed more than 1,200 Holocaust survivors in 14 European countries. Search their biographies by country, language, etc.

Country of interview

City of interview

Family name

Language

Country of birth

City of birth

Year of birth

Biography archive

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Oro Aroyo at a celebration in the Ma'abarot kibbutz

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.

Country

City

Family name

Year taken

Description language

People

Family and Friends (17976)
+
- Studio portraits of couples & families (3469)
- Studio portraits of individuals (4630)
- Informal family snapshots (7350)
- Friends together (1983)
- Other (519)
Social and Political groups (1209)
+
- Youth and Zionist groups (344)
- Work colleagues (578)
- Sport groups (148)
- Revolutionaries (7)
- Communist and affiliated organizations (74)
- Other (266)
School related (1101)
+
- Class portraits (487)
- Religion related education (51)
- Schoolmates (high school, university) (466)
- Other (232)
Religious figures (300)
+
- Rabbis (209)
- Cantors (85)
- Hebrew teachers (26)
- Other (37)
Special categories (1687)
+
- People dressed in Orthodox fashion (275)
- Fighting Hitler (6)
- Fleeing Hitler (2)
- Fleeing Hitler evac. (1)
- Sefardi (1414)
- Other (64)

Activities

Religious activities (1478)
+
- Religious study (30)
- Holidays & celebrations (409)
- Life cycle events (1059)
- Other (55)
Work related (853)
+
- Working in the office or the store (255)
- On the farm (89)
- Other (419)
Home & family related (5818)
+
- At home (1775)
- On the street & in the town (1756)
- Vacations & excursions (1687)
- At leisure (3280)
- Other (175)
Social, leisure & political activities (1785)
+
- Youth group activities (288)
- Professional & civic meetings (209)
- At play & leisure with friends (748)
- On holiday with friends (376)
- Sport activities (240)
- Political meetings (70)
- Other (225)
Special categories (17)
+
- Antisemitic incidents before and after the Holocaust (2)
- Other (8)

Places

Family and home related (2931)
+
- Pictures of homes, apartments & gardens (2463)
- Other (214)
Pictures of schools and workplaces (1328)
+
- Educational and health institutions (589)
- Offices (149)
- Stores (169)
- Farms (131)
- Other (248)
Jewish related (855)
+
- Cemeteries, monuments & memorials (238)
- Synagogues, shtibels & religion related (226)
- Jewish community related places (241)
- Jewish camps & recreational places (34)
- Other (114)
Special categories (3383)
+
- Landscapes & countryside (1445)
- City scenes (1800)
- Other (180)

Military

Austria-Hungary (1867-1918) (209)

Interwar Hungary (1918-1945) (34)

Pre-1918 Serbia (6)

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941) (14)

Pre-1878 Bulgaria (3)

Bulgaria (1878-1940) (39)

Czechoslovakia (1918-1939) (19)

Austria (1918-1938) (2)

Pre-1918 Romania (6)

Interwar Romania (1918-1940) (28)

Pre-1918 Ottoman Empire (4)

Interwar Poland (1918-1939) (12)

Tsarist Army (9)

Soviet Army (1922-1941) (14)

Soviet Army (1941-1945) (230)

Postwar military (all countries) (198)

Other (110)

Documents

Holocaust related (279)

Life cycle documents (335)

Educational related documents (180)

Personal letters & postcards (171)

Military related (medals & citations) (72)

Personal IDs (134)

Other (158)

Holocaust

Labor brigades & labor camps (197)

Jewish POWs during WWII (24)

Special protected houses (Budapest) (9)

Families who hid Jews (18)

Partisans (47)

Slave labor factories (14)

Ghettos (85)

Other (228)

Person's country of death

Person's place of death

Person's year of death

Photos & documents archive

The Centropa Collection at USHMM

The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.

Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC". Please contact collection [at] centropa.org (collection[at]centropa[dot]org).

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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.

Interview Country

City

Period

Family name

Topics

Traditions (11784)
+
- Jewish traditions and religion (6701)
  +
  - Jewish traditions and religion (in general) (5240)
  - Orthodox (357)
  - Jewish Secularism (500)
  - Hasidic (81)
  - Neolog (158)
- Holidays (4499)
  +
  - Jewish holidays (in general) (2320)
  - Passover / Seder (1009)
  - Hanukkah (345)
  - Shabbat (1350)
  - Rosh Hashanah (374)
  - Yom Kippur (677)
  - High holidays (238)
  - Purim (362)
  - Sukkot (203)
  - Simchat Torah (62)
  - Tu bishvat (33)
  - Shavuot (32)
  - Other holidays (202)
- Synagogue/house of prayer (2400)
- Kosher (1369)
- Religious/Community leaders (828)
- Bar mitzvah (372)
- Bat mitzvah (34)
- Beliefs (1252)
- Dress (934)
- Cuisine (1299)
  +
  - Jewish cuisine (1219)
  - Recipes (314)
- Jewish funeral (609)
- Jewish cultural events (attending) (490)
- Relationship with the Jewish community (1702)
Language spoken (3031)
+
- Language spoken (in general) (2479)
- Ladino (also called Judea-Spanish) (366)
Identity (7827)
+
- Jewish identity (in general) (4099)
- Emigration (considering) (1396)
- Jewish-gentile relations (1892)
- Communicating/hiding Jewish identity (519)
- Finding out about being Jewish (2333)
  +
  - Jewish atmosphere at home (1323)
  - National sentiments (486)
  - Christianity (converting to) (298)
  - Assimilation (482)
- Change of names (267)
Description of town (2447)
+
- Description of town/Growing up in our town (2239)
- Jewish quarters (423)
Education, school (8528)
+
- Education (in general) (4246)
- Heder (571)
- Primary school (1211)
- Secondary school/High school (1548)
- Jewish School (929)
- Yeshiva (113)
- Trade school / Vocational school (705)
- University (1961)
- Other studies (736)
- Teachers (772)
- Illiteracy (64)
Economics (8795)
+
- Socio-economic situation (in general) (5142)
- Our house and living conditions (3715)
- Property and possessions (1854)
- Income and finances (2200)
- Helpers (maid, cook, Fräulein etc.) (766)
Work (11691)
+
- Profession & work (in general) (11522)
- Relationship with colleagues (775)
Love & romance (4936)
+
- Partnership (in general) (1518)
- Dating (781)
- Wedding (1374)
- Marriage (2890)
- Divorce (309)
Leisure/Social life (4168)
+
- Leisure/Social life (in general) (2498)
- Sports (361)
- Social/cultural organizations, (youth) clubs (807)
- Vacations (967)
- Arts (755)
- Summer camps (130)
Antisemitism (4839)
+
- Antisemitism (in general) (3119)
- Anti-semitic parties and movements (340)
- Anti-Jewish laws (1112)
- Pogroms (377)
- Verbal incidents (617)
- Physical violence (570)
- Exclusion from work/school (683)
- Standing up against antisemitism (275)
- Anti-Cosmopolitan Campaign (314)
- Anti-Israel Campaign (54)
Major events (political and historical) (4263)
+
- Armenian genocide (2)
- Doctor's Plot (1953) (178)
- Soviet invasion of Poland (31)
- Siege of Leningrad (86)
- The Six Day War (4)
- Yom Kippur War (2)
- Ataturk's death (5)
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) (35)
- First Soviet-Finnish War (37)
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 (83)
- Invasion of France (9)
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (65)
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) (36)
- First World War (1914-1918) (216)
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) (14)
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) (4)
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) (20)
- Hitler comes to power (1933) (127)
- 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) (94)
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) (7)
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) (26)
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) (43)
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) (61)
- Second Vienna Dictate (27)
- Estonian war of independence (3)
- Warsaw Uprising (2)
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) (147)
- Austrian Civil War (1934) (9)
- Anschluss (1938) (71)
- 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 (352)
- Ukrainian Famine (199)
- The Great Terror (284)
- Perestroika (234)
- 22nd June 1941 (469)
- Molotov's radio speech (115)
- Victory Day (147)
- Stalin's death (365)
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress (148)
- KGB (62)
- NKVD (154)
- 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)
Holocaust (9703)
+
- Holocaust (in general) (2794)
- Concentration camp / Work camp (1236)
- Mass shooting operations (337)
- Ghetto (1186)
- Death / extermination camp (647)
- Deportation (1063)
- Forced labor (792)
- Flight (1411)
  +
  - Flight (1046)
  - Refugee experience (523)
- Hiding (595)
- Resistance (121)
  +
  - Betrayal to the Germans (84)
- 1941 evacuations (867)
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht (34)
- 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 (74)
- Protected house (15)
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") (42)
- Danube bank shots (6)
- Kindertransport (26)
- Schutzpass / false papers (95)
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) (24)
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) (23)
- Helpers (521)
- Righteous Gentiles (269)
- Returning home (1090)
- Holocaust compensation (112)
- Restitution (109)
- Property (loss of property) (595)
- Loss of loved ones (1728)
- Trauma (1029)
- Talking about what happened (1812)
- Liberation (558)
Military (3322)
+
- Military operations (360)
- Conscription in Israel (6)
- Battles (267)
- Encounters with soldiers (367)
- Military service (2787)
  +
  - First World War (374)
  - Second World War (1547)
  - Other (762)
  - Paramilitary (137)
  - Escaping military service (119)
Politics (2646)
+
- Political affiliation (in general) (1720)
- Coup d’état (36)
- Anti-Fascism (247)
- Fascism (237)
- Party membership (1131)
Communism (4478)
+
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) (2598)
- Anti-communist resistance in general (63)
- Nationalization under Communism (221)
- Illegal communist movements (98)
- Systematic demolitions under communism (45)
- Communist holidays (311)
- Sentiments about the communist rule (933)
- Collectivization (94)
- Experiences with state police (350)
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule (451)
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights (484)
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) (493)
Israel / Palestine (2191)
+
- Relationship to Israel / Palestine (658)
- Creation of Israel (224)
- Travels to Israel (825)
- Aliyah (930)
Zionism (848)
+
- Zionism (in general) (674)
- Different zionist movements (285)
- Opposition to Zionism (59)
- Zionist celebrations (6)
Jewish Organizations (1204)
+
- Hakoah (22)
- Jewish organizations (in general) (932)
- Joint (62)
- Hesed (309)

Open topic-based search

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.

Country

City

Family name

Year taken

Description language

People

Family and Friends (17976)
+
- Studio portraits of couples & families (3469)
- Studio portraits of individuals (4630)
- Informal family snapshots (7350)
- Friends together (1983)
- Other (519)
Social and Political groups (1209)
+
- Youth and Zionist groups (344)
- Work colleagues (578)
- Sport groups (148)
- Revolutionaries (7)
- Communist and affiliated organizations (74)
- Other (266)
School related (1101)
+
- Class portraits (487)
- Religion related education (51)
- Schoolmates (high school, university) (466)
- Other (232)
Religious figures (300)
+
- Rabbis (209)
- Cantors (85)
- Hebrew teachers (26)
- Other (37)
Special categories (1687)
+
- People dressed in Orthodox fashion (275)
- Fighting Hitler (6)
- Fleeing Hitler (2)
- Fleeing Hitler evac. (1)
- Sefardi (1414)
- Other (64)

Activities

Religious activities (1478)
+
- Religious study (30)
- Holidays & celebrations (409)
- Life cycle events (1059)
- Other (55)
Work related (853)
+
- Working in the office or the store (255)
- On the farm (89)
- Other (419)
Home & family related (5818)
+
- At home (1775)
- On the street & in the town (1756)
- Vacations & excursions (1687)
- At leisure (3280)
- Other (175)
Social, leisure & political activities (1785)
+
- Youth group activities (288)
- Professional & civic meetings (209)
- At play & leisure with friends (748)
- On holiday with friends (376)
- Sport activities (240)
- Political meetings (70)
- Other (225)
Special categories (17)
+
- Antisemitic incidents before and after the Holocaust (2)
- Other (8)

Places

Family and home related (2931)
+
- Pictures of homes, apartments & gardens (2463)
- Other (214)
Pictures of schools and workplaces (1328)
+
- Educational and health institutions (589)
- Offices (149)
- Stores (169)
- Farms (131)
- Other (248)
Jewish related (855)
+
- Cemeteries, monuments & memorials (238)
- Synagogues, shtibels & religion related (226)
- Jewish community related places (241)
- Jewish camps & recreational places (34)
- Other (114)
Special categories (3383)
+
- Landscapes & countryside (1445)
- City scenes (1800)
- Other (180)

Military

Austria-Hungary (1867-1918) (209)

Interwar Hungary (1918-1945) (34)

Pre-1918 Serbia (6)

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941) (14)

Pre-1878 Bulgaria (3)

Bulgaria (1878-1940) (39)

Czechoslovakia (1918-1939) (19)

Austria (1918-1938) (2)

Pre-1918 Romania (6)

Interwar Romania (1918-1940) (28)

Pre-1918 Ottoman Empire (4)

Interwar Poland (1918-1939) (12)

Tsarist Army (9)

Soviet Army (1922-1941) (14)

Soviet Army (1941-1945) (230)

Postwar military (all countries) (198)

Other (110)

Documents

Holocaust related (279)

Life cycle documents (335)

Educational related documents (180)

Personal letters & postcards (171)

Military related (medals & citations) (72)

Personal IDs (134)

Other (158)

Holocaust

Labor brigades & labor camps (197)

Jewish POWs during WWII (24)

Special protected houses (Budapest) (9)

Families who hid Jews (18)

Partisans (47)

Slave labor factories (14)

Ghettos (85)

Other (228)

Person's country of death

Person's place of death

Person's year of death

Photos & documents search

Our Archive: The Library of Rescued Memories

The Centropa Collection at USHMM

Search biographies by topic

Browse Photos by Tags

The Centropa Archive by Country

Austria

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria

Croatia

Czechia

Estonia

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Israel

Latvia

Lithuania

Moldova

North Macedonia

Poland

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovakia

Turkey

Ukraine