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היינריך הימלר וד"ר פליקס קרסטן

Himmler’s Healer – the Story of Felix Kersten

Oscar Schindler used his enamelware factory as a cover in order to save Jews; Jan and Antonina Żabiński used the zoo they were running for this very same purpose; and Jaap Penraat from Holland used to smuggle Jews dressed as construction workers. All of them justly received the Righteous Among the Nations honorific from the state of Israel. So how come a man who saved thousands of lives using nothing but his bare hands was not honored the same title? Felix Kersten was born in Tartu (nowadays Estonia) in 1898. After graduating in physical therapy in Helsinki, he apprenticed in Berlin[]

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Once They Were Synagogues – Now This

The Jewish population of Europe has declined from about 10-million at the eve of World War II to about Two million today. The primary reason being the Holocaust, but immigration and assimilation in the years following the War reduced the Jewish population even further. One sign of this phenomena present itself in many former synagogues around Europe that have now been transformed to other uses. Hungarian-Israeli Photographer Bernadett Alpern has traveled 15 countries throughout Europe documenting these buildings. In her work you will find grand building in famous cities as well as countryside synagogues. In some countries the authorities have[]

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The Annual Gala Dinner in New York – January 2018

The annual gala dinner, launching the celebration of Israel’s 70th anniversary and Beit Hatfutsot’s 40th anniversary, was held on January 9, 2018 in New York, with distinguished guests such as Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Honorary Chairman, Irina Nevzlin, Chair, Board of Directors, Ambassador Alfred H. Moses | Major General Eitan Ben Eliahu, Co-Chairs, International Board of Governors, Daniel S. Pincus, President, American Friends of Beit Hatfutsot, and many others. CLICK HERE for more information about the Gala Dinner Watch Irina Nevzlin’s speech at the gala:

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רחל ששון בר (ויקיפדיה)

Cut off from her Grandfather’s Last Will – and became Queen of British Journalism

Take some kids with the worst learning problems you can imagine, and try to tell them about the Dreyfus affair: they are most likely to take some interest in the story of the French Jewish officer who in 1895 was convicted treason, exiled to the Devil’s Island, then thanks to a passionate campaign by supporters and intellectuals such as Émile Zola, with wide public support, was given a second trial and received a pardon from the president of France. Now try to tell the same kids about Rachel Sassoon Beer, the journalist who had came up with the exclusive story[]

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Maimonides and the Jews of Yemen – Hand in Hand for Eight Centuries

The middle of the 12th century was quite a dramatic era for the Jews of Yemen. The Fatimid Caliphate who ruled over Yemen for long time were losing territories to a religious charismatic preacher called Ali Ibn Mahdi, whose name means in Islam the Messiah, redeemer, savior. Indeed Ali referred to himself as the savior of all Muslims. He started gathering more and more followers and supporters, called for radical religious reforms and led to religious extremism. Eventually Mahdi occupied Yemen and after his death was succeeded by his son Abd Nabi Mahdi, who pretty soon became hostile and dangerous[]

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חזית בית הכנסת "טמפל איזראליט", אוראן, אלג'יריה 1920 (בית התפוצות, המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, באדיבות ג'ראר קו-אל)

Forgotten Torch: The Untold Story of the Jewish Resistance in Algeria

26,000 Jews were living in Algeria in 1830, when France invaded Algeria and made it a French colony for 130 years. The Jews of Algeria enjoyed freedom and equality thanks to Adolphe Crémieux, who was minister of justice in the second French republic and gave the Jews full equal rights in 1870. The Crémieux decree stated that Jews should have all rights as individuals but none as a nation, in an attempt to blur their national identity and make them loyal equal citizens of France. After the French occupation, the Jewish community in Algeria experienced a radical and rapid cultural[]

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מחלקה של חיילים במסגרת גיוס חובה לתלמידי בתי ספר תיכוניים, בגדאד, עירק 1940. רבע מהמגוייסים היו יהודים. (בית התפוצות, המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, באדיבות משפחת סחייק, ישראל)

Nazi Germany and the Farhud in Iraq

The most traumatic event in the collective memory of Iraqi Jews — the Farhud — took place during Shavuot 1941. During these violent riots in Baghdad thousands were raped and/or wounded, Jewish shops and synagogues were plundered and destroyed, and a staggering 180 people were brutally murdered. This unprecedented attack on the theretofore flourishing, peaceful Jewish community of Baghdad is generally thought of as triggering Iraqi Jewry’s Aliyah to Israel.   Seldom do we ask how such a pogrom could have occurred in a place where Jews had lived quietly for centuries, in a country that had not, up until[]

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מהגרים יהודים מפולין על סיפון האניה "אלקנטרה" בדרך לארגנטינה, 1929 (בית התפוצות, המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, באדיבות יצחק באום, תל אביב)

La Historia de “Tzví Migdal”- La Más Grande Red de Prostíbulos Judíos En El Mundo

A fines del Siglo XIX, la palabra “América” tenía un efecto casi mágico sobre el alma de los judíos que se aglomeraban entre el Océano Báltico y el Mar Negro. Ellos no discernían sobre de cuál América se trataba, si la del Norte o la del Sur. América no era para ellos un punto geográfico en el mapa, sino una quimera, un lugar en el cual los justos se sientan y ciernen coronas de dólares sobre sus cabezas. El Premio Nobel de Literatura, Isaac Bashevis Singer, escribió en su biografía, que los judíos de Europa Oriental estaban convencidos de que[]

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מהגרים יהודים מפולין על סיפון האניה "אלקנטרה" בדרך לארגנטינה, 1929 (בית התפוצות, המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, באדיבות יצחק באום, תל אביב)

The Story of “Zvi Migdal” – the Infamous Jewish Prostitution Cartel

Towards the end of the 19th century, the very sound of the name America had a magical effect on the millions of Jews in Eastern Europe, and they could not care less whether it was northern or southern America. For them, “America” was not a spot on the map, but a dream, a desirable destination, a place where Jews sleep on a bed made of money, and can even “eat an orange every day!”, as Isaac Bashevis Singer reported in his autobiography. For a huge of Jewish women, though, the American experience was quite different. Rather than a safe haven[]

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Sigmund Freud

The Story of Bertha Pappenheim – Anna O

It is well known that Sigmund Freud was Jewish, as were many of his successors. But the first psychoanalysis patient ever was also Jewish – she was a Viennese young woman called Bertha Pappenheim, referred to as Anna O in the book about her case. Who was Anna/Bertha, and what was so special about her life that made her such a famous case study? Bertha was born in 19th century Vienna to a wealthy Jewish family. She received fine education and was cultured and talented since a young age, mastering several languages, including Hebrew. As she was reaching the age of[]

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