Jewish Life Before the Holocaust

Before we explore what was lost during the Holocaust, we first need to understand what existed. When we think about Jewish life in Europe before World War II, it’s easy to imagine a single, uniform experience. But the reality was far more complex and diverse.

These videos and accompanying curriculum highlight three very different Jewish communities: Salonika in Greece, Buczacz in what is now Ukraine, and Vienna in Austria. Each represents a different facet of European Jewish civilization – a bustling Sephardic port city, a traditional Eastern European town, and a cosmopolitan capital. By examining each video, students will learn that there was no single “European Jewish experience”. There were thousands of distinct communities, each shaped by their unique place in the complex geography of European empires, nations, and cultures.

How to use this guide
This guide is designed to enhance your students’ engagement with these three explorations of Jewish life before the Holocaust. Choose the approach that best fits your students and classroom setting, whether it’s real-time engagement to process the diversity as it unfolds, a deeper comparative analysis after learning about all three communities, or a Jigsaw approach where students can revisit specific communities that particularly interest them.

The goal is to help students recognize that European Jewish life was not monolithic, but rather a rich tapestry of distinct communities, each shaped by their unique geographic, political, and cultural contexts.