Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Encyclopedia of the Łódź Ghetto
A group of people living together under extreme coercive conditions without the conscious intent of forming a community of common fate created forms that were only possible on the basis of the ghetto…
Call to Arms
Vilna ghetto partisan leader Abba Kovner publicly predicted the Final Solution weeks before the Wannsee conference finalized the Nazis’ plans to systematically murder millions of Jews.
Warsaw, Aryan Side
Where shall I start? My thoughts are in turmoil. There is an overpowering desire burning in me to put in writing as speedily as possible all that has happened to us in these years of war, especially…
A Letter to the Polish Premier
I take the liberty of addressing to you my last words, and through you to the Polish Government and the Polish people, to the Governments and the peoples of the Allied States—to the conscience of the…
Country Fair
The small town resounded with whistling and shouting. The smell of stewing, the smell of frying, the smell of boiling.
Mr. Dykhes had sold all his defective soap to the army.
Mus…
Still, Still
Still, still, let us be still.
Graves grow here.
Planted by the enemy,
they blossom to the sky.
All the roads lead to Ponar,
and none returns.
Somewhere father disappeared,
disappeared with all our…
Who Is a Sephardi?
Haifa 1 Elul, 5724 August 9, 1964 To: His Excellency David Ben-Gurion Sde BokerDear Sir,From your letter of May 19, 1964, I understood that you wish to avoid a comprehensive discussion of the problems…
The Name
About two weeks before the birth was due, Grandfather Zisskind appeared in Raya and Yehuda’s home for the second time. His face was yellow, angry, and the light had faded from his eyes. He greeted…
The Glass Bell
Opposite the windowsill is a shuttered curtain and a wasteland of chimneys. The street is being drained of life. A double-decker bus with gleaming windows of light passes by the corner. A woman pushes…
Behold, Our Bodies Are Laid Out
To Dani and his friends Behold, our bodies are laid out—a long, long row. Our faces are altered. Death looks out of our eyes. We do not breathe. Twilight dwindles and evening falls over the mountain.L…
Evening of Roses
Evening of roses
Let us go out to the orchard
Myrrh, perfumes, and frankincense
A threshold at your foot.
Night falls slowly
And the rose-wind blows
Let me sing to you in a soft whisper
A song of…
Lu Yehi
Beyond the cloud upon the ocean
There’s a white and lonely sail
Let us pray and hope
lu yehi
I light a candle at my window
And its flame is shy and frail
Let us pray and hope
lu yehi
Let us…