Judaism

Jews wearing yellow stars at the Kistarcsa concentration camp in Hungary in 1944

The Long History of Forcing Jews to Wear Anti-Semitic Badges

The practice was common in medieval Europe

The Codex Sassoon, which measures 12 by 14 inches, dates to the late ninth or early tenth century.

World's Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Goes to Auction

The Codex Sassoon could break auction records, becoming the most valuable historical document ever sold

Sophie Scholl (center) bids farewell to her brother Hans (left) and friend Christoph Probst (right) before their departure for the Eastern Front in July 1942.

Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders. Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?

Archival evidence offers clues on the radicalization of the German siblings, who led a resistance movement known as the White Rose

Murnau mit Kirche II (1910), a roughly 38- by 42-inch painting by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky Painting Returned to Heirs of Jewish Collectors Could Sell for $45 Million

The masterpiece once belonged to Johanna Margarete Stern, who died at Auschwitz in 1944

David Bowie in the dress he wore on the cover of The Man Who Sold the World

Have You Seen This David Bowie Dress? A London Museum Is Looking For It

The Museum of London Docklands is hoping to locate lost garments for an exhibition on Jewish fashion designers

Hikers set off on the annual Alpine Peace Crossing. The Austrian side of the trail is rocky and exposed; in 1947, Jewish refugees had to make the journey in the dark.

You Can Retrace the Footsteps Jewish Refugees Took on a Hike Through the Alps

After World War II, Holocaust survivors fled Europe’s lingering anti-Semitism on a series of clandestine missions

The cave once belonged to a wealthy Jewish family before becoming a Christian pilgrimage site

What's Within the Burial Cave Dedicated to Jesus' Midwife?

Archaeologists in Israel are excavating the site that was popular among pilgrims more than a millennium ago

Workers converting a 15th-century granary (large brown building pictured) into a parking garage in Erfurt, Germany, uncovered graves from a medieval Jewish cemetery.

How Construction of a Parking Lot Uncovered New Insights About Medieval Jews

A new DNA study suggests Ashkenazi Jews living in 14th-century Germany were surprisingly genetically diverse

A young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord) in The Fabelmans 

Based on a True Story

The Making of Steven Spielberg

"The Fabelmans" is a lightly fictionalized dramatization of the famous director's childhood

This year's titles include Watermelon and Red Birds, To Boldly Grow, Budmo! and Diasporican.

The Best Books of 2022

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2022

From cookbooks to memoirs to food history, these ten titles will fill you up

If Yonatan Adler's theory proves correct, then Judaism is, at best, Christianity’s elder sibling and a younger cousin to the religions of ancient Greece and Rome.

Is Judaism a Younger Religion Than Previously Thought?

A new book by an Israeli archaeologist makes the stunning claim that common Jewish practices emerged only a century or so before Jesus

Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) by Egon Schiele

Nazis Stole Two Paintings From a Jewish Cabaret Star. Now, His Heirs Are Selling Them

Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting underrepresented artists

Earlier this week, American investigators returned a looted rare quarter shekel silver coin to Israel.

Ancient Coin Made in Defiance of Roman Rule Returns to Israel

U.S. officials found the stolen coin at a Denver auction in 2017

Paula, Sam and Sol Messinger aboard the M.S. St. Louis in May 1939. The U.S. denied the ship entry, forcing its 937 passengers to return to Europe. More than a quarter of these refugees were later killed in the Holocaust.

Untold Stories of American History

Why Was America So Reluctant to Take Action on the Holocaust?

A new Ken Burns documentary examines the U.S.' complex, often shameful response to the rise of Nazism and the plight of Jewish refugees

Digital facial reconstructions of two of the individuals found in the well, based on skeletal remains and DNA

Bones Found in Medieval Well Likely Belong to Victims of Anti-Semitic Massacre

A new DNA analysis suggests the 17 individuals were Ashkenazi Jews murdered in Norwich, England, in 1190

The mural in its new location inside the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington, Vermont

Why Was a Synagogue Mural Hidden Behind a Wall in a Vermont Apartment?

The restoration of the stunning 112-year-old artwork is now complete

A meeting of the Soviet Republics’ Esperanto Union, held in Moscow in 1931

Why Hitler and Stalin Hated Esperanto, the 135-Year-Old Language of Peace

Jewish doctor L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto as a way for diverse groups to easily communicate

The Israelite commander Barak, as depicted in the Huqoq synagogue mosaic

Cool Finds

Earliest Known Images of Two Biblical Heroines Unearthed in Israel

Found in an ancient synagogue, the 1,600-year-old mosaics tell the stories of Deborah and Jael

After the first group of students arrived at Bunce Court came hundreds more, traumatized by the ever-escalating catastrophe in Europe.

The Schoolteacher Who Saved Her Students From the Nazis

A new book explores the life of Anna Essinger, who led an entire school's daring escape from Germany in 1933

Communist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg speaking at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907

History of Now

The 20th-Century History of Anti-Semitic Attacks on Jewish Politicians

Russian rhetoric against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoes the language directed toward Jewish leaders in post-WWI Europe

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