Resources
To learn more about the history and culture of Eastern European Jewry on-line, try exploring the websites listed below:
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
http://www.yivo.org
Founded in 1925 in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), as the Yiddish Scientific Institute, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the history and culture of Ashkenazi Jewry and to its influence in the Americas. Their website includes several online galleries, and a searchable catalog of their library and photo archives.
People of a Thousand Towns - The Online Catalog of Photographs of Jewish Life in Prewar Eastern Europe
http://yivo1000towns.cjh.org
A searchable catalog of YIVO's collection of over 10,000 images of Eastern European Jewish life before the Holocaust.
JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy
http://www.jewishgen.org
The primary internet resource for researching Jewish family histories. Their website includes a comprehensive database of Jewish surnames and towns, as well as many Yizkor books in translation.
Centropa: Connecting the World to the Lands of Jewish Heritage
http://www.centropa.org
Based in Vienna, Centropa is an organization comprised of Jewish historians, journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and community activists dedicated to creating projects that feature Jewish history and life in Eastern Europe. Their website includes oral histories, recipes, travel tips, photographs, films, and more --- all featuring Eastern European life as it was, and as it is today.
Vilnius Yiddish Institute
http://www.yiddishvilnius.com
The Vilnius Yiddish Institute is the first Yiddish center of higher learning to be established in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe. Their website includes information about their popular Yiddish summer program.
Jewish Historical Institute - Zydowski Instytut Historyczny
http://www.jewishinstitute.org.pl
The Jewish Historical Institute, founded in Warsaw in 1928, is the only institute in Poland focused exclusively on the history and study of Polish Jewry. Their website includes information about their library and archives, including the important Ringelblum Archives of the Warsaw Ghetto
The Jewish Book Center of the Workmen's Circle - Arbeter Ring
http://www.jewishbookcenter.com
This on-line bookstore features a diverse array of publications on Jewish life and culture, with an emphasis on Yiddish. The bookstore is maintained by the Workmen's Circle, which was founded in 1900 and works to foster "Jewish Identity and participation in Jewish life through Jewish, especially Yiddish, culture and education, friendship, mutual aid and the pursuit of social and economic justice."
Ghetto Fighters' House
http://www.gfh.org.il/eng/
The Ghetto Fighters' House was founded in Israel in 1949 by a group of Holocaust survivors, many of whom were partisans and resistance-fighters, as "a place of testimony that would tell the story of the Jewish People in the 20th century in general, and during the Second World War in particular." Their website features several on-line exhibitions, as well as a searchable photo archives.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/
The website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum features on-line exhibitions, oral histories, the Holocaust Encyclopedia, a searchable photo archives, and a wealth of other documentation related to the lives of Eastern European Jews and the destruction that ensued in the Holocaust.
Yiddish Radio Project
http://www.yiddishradioproject.org
The Yiddish Radio Project is committed to preserving every surviving recording from the golden age of Yiddish Radio, from the 1930's to the 50's in the United States. Their website features on-line exhibitions, "gems" of Yiddish radio, and a store where you can purchase their audio documentaries and compilations of material from the collection.