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 11600
- Language spoken 2981
- Identity 7729
- Description of town 2415
- Education, school 8385
- Economics 8691
- Work 11477
- Love & romance 4888
- Leisure/Social life 4103
- Antisemitism 4757
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Major events (political and historical)
4186
- 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 81
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 64
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 213
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 116
- 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) 84
- 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 348
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 282
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 463
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 145
- Stalin's death 363
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 145
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 37
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 80
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 172
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
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Holocaust
9491
- Holocaust (in general) 2764
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1207
- Mass shooting operations 334
- Ghetto 1164
- Death / extermination camp 619
- Deportation 1033
- Forced labor 761
- Flight 1387
- Hiding 573
- Resistance 118
- 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 68
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 35
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 24
- Schutzpass / false papers 92
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 23
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 509
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1075
- Holocaust compensation 108
- Restitution 107
- Property (loss of property) 590
- Loss of loved ones 1699
- Trauma 1025
- Talking about what happened 1794
- Liberation 547
- Military 3265
- Politics 2592
-
Communism
4448
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2589
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 218
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 922
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 348
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 447
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 490
- Israel / Palestine 2150
- Zionism 816
- 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.