Jewish Heritage Europe

Poland: Record number of visitors to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2019

A record number of people from around the world visited the former Nazi camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau in 2019. A report on the Auschwitz.org web site said 2,320,000 people visited the sites, located in southern Poland and administered as … continue reading →

Year-ender — See our most shared articles in 2019; a wide variety of topics and geographical locations

2019 was an exciting year for Jewish Heritage Europe. We implemented several new features, notably a section in the Italian language including a weekly summary of our News Feed items, translations of selected articles, and a dedicated Italian language Facebook … continue reading →

Hungary: Tracing the history of Budapest’s Dohany Street synagogue through the online photo archive Fortepan

The twin-towered Dohany St Synagogue is a city landmark in downtown Budapest and a symbol of Hungarian Judaism, used for worship and also visited each year by scores of thousands of tourists. The elaborate, Moorish-style building was designed by the … continue reading →

Poland: Mazel tov to 2019 POLIN award winner Natalia Bartczak and Special Award recipient Auschwitz Jewish Center

The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews has granted its 2019 Polin award to Natalia Bartczak, who has cared for the Jewish cemetery in Wińsko, in western Poland, for 16 years — starting when she was just 13. … continue reading →

Poland: Memorial park at site of destroyed Great Synagogue dedicated in Oświęcim, the town where the Nazis built Auschwitz

In Oświęcim, the town in southern Poland where the Nazis built the Auschwitz death camp, a memorial park has been opened on the site of the destroyed Great Synagogue to honor the town’s once-thriving pre-WW2 Jewish community. The Great Synagogue … continue reading →