Jewish communities: Watch. Learn. Know

Jewish communities before and after the Holocaust

For more than one thousand years, Jews lived in Europe, organizing communities to preserve their distinct identity. In periods of relative tranquility, Jewish culture flourished, but in periods of unrest, Jews were forced to flee. Wherever they settled, they endowed the people amongst whom they lived with their talents. Some of the communities included hundreds of thousands of Jews; others only a few dozen. Some had been founded less than a century before, while others were ancient communities whose reputation was firmly anchored in Jewish tradition. By organizing themselves in communities, the Jews were able to maintain their uniqueness as a nation. The Jewish community enabled the Jews to safeguard their physical and cultural existence. By the end of the Holocaust, over a thousand years of Jewish communal life had come to an end. Continue reading