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Visiting Info
Opening Hours:

Sunday to Thursday: ‬09:00-17:00

Fridays and Holiday eves: ‬09:00-14:00

Yad Vashem is closed on Saturdays and all Jewish Holidays.

Entrance to the Holocaust History Museum is not permitted for children under the age of 10. Babies in strollers or carriers will not be permitted to enter.

Drive to Yad Vashem:
For more Visiting Information

Jewish Communities before and during the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Nazi Germany and its collaborators perpetrated the murder of six million Jews in Europe and North Africa, in an attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. By the end of World War II, 75% of European Jewry and one third of world Jewry had been annihilated. Yet these statistics tell just part of the story. For centuries before the Shoah, thousands of Jewish communities flourished in Europe and enjoyed a vibrant cultural, social and religious life. Some of these communities were Sephardic, most were Ashkenazi and there were also some smaller, lesser-known Jewish communities such as the Romaniotes.  This glorious heritage was obliterated in the Holocaust. Most of the surviving Jews immigrated to Israel, North America, South America, South Africa, Great Britain and Australia, with only a small minority of survivors (with the exception of the Soviet Union) returning to their former homes. Following the establishment of the State of Israel most Jews from North Africa were forced to flee, and immigrated primarily to Israel and France. Thus, a history spanning centuries vanished, and only a small fragment of the prewar Jewish world remains. The central theme for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2024 is "A Lost World: The Destruction of the Jewish Communities".

This page is dedicated to telling the stories of some of those communities, symbolic of the dynamic, multi-faceted Jewish world that was, and is no more.

The History of the Chełm Jewish Community

The History of the Chełm Jewish Community

The History of the Dąbrowa Górnicza Jewish Community

The History of the Dąbrowa Górnicza Jewish Community

The History of the Győr Jewish Community

The History of the Győr Jewish Community

The History of the Ioannina Jewish Community

The History of the Ioannina Jewish Community

The History of the Liepāja Jewish Community

The History of the Liepāja Jewish Community

The History of the Nadwórna Jewish Community

The History of the Nadwórna Jewish Community

The History of the Nieśwież Jewish Community

The History of the Nieśwież Jewish Community

The History of the Piotrków Trybunalski Jewish Community

The History of the Piotrków Trybunalski Jewish Community

The History of the Regensburg Jewish Community

The History of the Regensburg Jewish Community

The History of the Šiauliai Jewish Community

The History of the Šiauliai Jewish Community

The History of the Szydłowiec Jewish Community

The History of the Szydłowiec Jewish Community

The History of the Wiesbaden Jewish Community

The History of the Wiesbaden Jewish Community

The History of the Würzburg Jewish Community

The History of the Würzburg Jewish Community

Featured Videos

Educational Materials

The Shtetl - A Learning Environment

The Shtetl - A Learning Environment

Buczacz: One of the Untold Stories… - A Learning Environment

Buczacz: One of the Untold Stories… - A Learning Environment

The Jewish Community in Salonika - A Learning Environment

The Jewish Community in Salonika - A Learning Environment

Prewar Jewish Life in Zagreb

Prewar Jewish Life in Zagreb

Online Exhibitions

Jewish Families and Communities during the Holocaust

Jewish Families and Communities during the Holocaust

The Story of the Jewish Community of Vilna

The Story of the Jewish Community of Vilna

The Story of the Jewish Community of Bălţi

The Story of the Jewish Community of Bălţi

The Story of Munkács - a Jewish Community in the Carpathian Mountains

The Story of Munkács - a Jewish Community in the Carpathian Mountains

More online exhibitions about communities

Articles

<p>The Jews of North Africa</p>

The Jews of North Africa

<p style="direction: ltr;">The Holocaust of the French Jews – A Historical Review</p>

The Holocaust of the French Jews – A Historical Review

<p>Jews in Albania</p>

Jews in Albania

<p>The Jews of Libya</p>

The Jews of Libya

Related Resources

The Shtetl: Between Myth and Reality: a Yad Vashem Podcast

The Shtetl: Between Myth and Reality: a Yad Vashem Podcast

Books about Communities in our Online Store

Books about Communities in our Online Store

Holocaust Survivors' Testimonies: Jewish Communities before and during the Holocaust

Holocaust Survivors' Testimonies: Jewish Communities before and during the Holocaust