Third online conference - Jewish life before the Shoah by Joël Kotek - March 11 2026
The third session focused on Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust in order to highlight Jewish culture beyond the genocide.
Led by Dr. Joël Kotek, the lecture showed the diversity of Jewish communities across Europe, especially in Eastern Europe, where lifestyles ranged from traditional shtetls to highly assimilated urban societies.
Jews belonged to all social classes and held diverse political views, including communism, Bundism, religious traditionalism, assimilation and Zionism.
The session also emphasized the richness of Jewish cultural life through the Yiddish language, literature, theatre and the arts.
Although many Jews were well integrated into their countries, antisemitism remained widespread.
Finally, the lecture explained how the Holocaust destroyed European Jewish life and profoundly reshaped Jewish identity, with Zionism becoming the dominant framework after the war.