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European Jewish history

Aerial view of the excavation area and the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Rytis Tamulynas, Vilna Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf Research Project)
August 4, 2026, 10:22 pm
Buried for 70 years, Vilna’s Great Synagogue reveals heart of pre-WWII Jewish community
First-ever excavation of prayer house, which served as spiritual center of Lithuanian Jewry before being destroyed by Nazis and Soviets, uncovers platform for reading Torah and other remains
By Zev Stub
Participants in the Miszpucha Foundation trip for Polish Jewish emigrants and their descendants have lunch at the Jewish Community Center in Warsaw, Poland. (Adam de Kaminski via JTA)
June 13, 2026, 3:54 pm
13,000 Jews were driven out of Poland in 1968. Now, some are returning to tell their story
Decades after anti-Zionist purge virtually decimated what was left of post-Holocaust Jewish life, government-funded trip brings emigrants back for reunion with those who remained
By Shira Li Bartov
French artist Henri Matisse works on his 'Grand Intérieur Rouge' canvas in his Villa le Rêve studio in Vence, circa April 1948. (Louis FOUCHERAND / AFP)
April 18, 2026, 7:52 am
Was Henri Matisse’s sojourn in Vichy France de facto collaboration or quiet resistance?
In his new book ‘Matisse at War,’ Christopher C. Gorham explores the renowned artist’s troubled but prolific life under the Nazis during WWII, and his family’s role in the French underground
By Rich Tenorio
Hanna Solf gives testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, April 1947. (Public domain)
September 13, 2025, 9:05 am
In German high society, secret Nazi-hating rebels saved Jews, tried to end Hitler’s regime
Jonathan Freedland’s new book ‘The Traitors Circle’ examines the Solf Circle, a clandestine group including countesses, diplomats and politicians – and their betrayal and dark fate
By Robert Philpot
Robert Einstein's family, Nina, Lorenza, Paola, Cici, Seba and Luce in Perugia, Italy, in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Anna Maria Boldrini)
June 23, 2025, 1:58 am
With Albert Einstein safe in NJ, how vengeful Nazis hunted down his cousin Robert
Acclaimed British author Thomas Harding’s new book ‘The Einstein Vendetta’ focuses on brutal murders in a remote Italian villa during the final hours of the German occupation
By Robert Philpot
Young Hasidic men walk in an 18th century Jewish cemetery in the small Ukrainian town of Berdychiv, July 30, 2018. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
May 28, 2025, 6:36 am
Once a center of Jewish life, Berdychiv’s tiny community struggles amid Ukraine war
As conflict grinds on and funds are redirected to Israel in the wake of Oct. 7, religious survival is difficult for the few left in a town that was 80% Jewish before the Holocaust
By Theia Chatelle
Supporters cheer for Hitler in Germany on October 10, 1931. (AP Photo)
December 31, 2024, 10:20 am
In ‘Hitler’s People,’ a UK historian reveals rare bios of Nazis ‘disturbingly like us’
While humanizing the perpetrators of the Holocaust has long been considered taboo, the 20 portraits in Richard Evans’s new book are a stark reminder of humanity’s capacity for evil
By Robert Philpot
Left: Orthodox Jews congregate in Venice’s ancient Jewish ghetto. (Photo by Paolo Raccanelli); Right: Cover of 'Shylock’s Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice’s Jews and the Ghetto,' by Harry Freedman. (Courtesy)
October 26, 2024, 1:00 pm
Poetry, philosophy and a gambling rabbi: A colorful history of Venice’s Jewish ghetto
In ‘Shylock’s Venice,’ UK author Harry Freedman paints a vibrant picture of an oft-overlooked side of Jewish history that goes far deeper than the famous Shakespeare character
By Rich Tenorio
Jewish men seen outside the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, October 1, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 1, 2024, 5:40 pm
Trading one war for another, Israeli Jews stream to Ukraine’s Uman for Rosh Hashanah
Ignoring warnings from authorities about ongoing Russian invasion, over 14,000 pilgrims arrive for annual new year festival at grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
By AFP and ToI Staff
Katarzyna and Artur Goławski, co-managers of the Kuzmiuk Bakery, hold their signature cebularz, once called pletzel by Lublin's Yiddish-speaking Jews. (Shira Li Bartov/ JTA)
August 27, 2024, 3:39 pm
Owners of Lublin’s oldest bakery learn it had belonged to Jewish family killed by Nazis
Before 99% of the city’s Jews were murdered, the Kuźmiuk Bakery brought customers from near and far; the descendants of the family who took over only learned of its origins in 2017
By Shira Li Bartov
Bettina Farack, a research fellow at the Leo Baeck Institute in Jerusalem, speaks about the Library of Lost Books initiative during a launch event in Berlin in November 2023. (Courtesy Weiner Library via JTA)
July 6, 2024, 3:59 am
Amateur detectives invited to join search for lost Jewish library looted by Nazis
Researchers from the Leo Baeck Institute seek to virtually reunite 60,000 texts from the modern liberal Higher Institute for Jewish Studies in Berlin, destroyed in the Holocaust
By Shira Li Bartov
Rabbi Meir Shapiro sits in the library of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in a photograph taken between the yeshiva's opening in 1930 and his death in 1933. The fate of the yeshiva's library under the Nazis is a subject of mystery. (Courtesy Grodzka Gate-NN Theater Center)
May 6, 2024, 10:03 am
Thought to be destroyed by Nazis, books of the Lublin Yeshiva Library are turning up
Though story has it that the texts were burned in 1939, this is uncorroborated. Local Piotr Nazaruk has located and digitized 850 of them – the tip of the iceberg, he says
By Shira Li Bartov
Staff member Mrs. Walter at the Wiener Holocaust Library in 1952. (Wiener Holocaust Library)
February 13, 2024, 8:35 am
A Holocaust museum that predates WWII, London’s Wiener Library turns 90 this month
Founded in 1934 by Alfred Wiener, the museum exposed Nazis, helped the Allies battle them, and led to their conviction. Now it’s one of the world’s preeminent research institutions
By Robert Philpot
Holocaust survivor Naki Bega looks at her Auschwitz-Birkenau serial-number digits tattooed on her skin, as she poses at her daughter's home in Athens, Greece, on March 14, 2023. (Louisa GOULIAMAKI/AFP)
January 18, 2024, 12:06 pm
Hit book ‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’ being adapted for small screen
Creators of TV series, to air on Peacock in May, aim to authentically reproduce story of survivor Lali Sokolov, including by casting Jewish actors Harvey Keitel, Jonah Hauer-King
By Shira Bartov
Descendants of Paul Hirsch commemorate the former German mayor in Dortmund, November 30, 2023. (Courtesy of Combat Antisemitism Movement via JTA)
January 2, 2024, 8:19 am
Dortmund honors its only Jewish mayor, who ultimately died poor due to Nazi policies
A new initiative seeks to pay tribute to Paul Hirsch, who transformed the city but was denied pension by the government because he was a Jew, after retiring in poor health in 1933
By Toby Axelrod
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