Approximately 9.5 million Jews lived in Europe in 1933, the year Hitler came to power. This number represented 1.7% of Europe's total population and more than 60 percent of the world's Jewish population. By 1945, most European Jews—2 out of every 3—had been killed.
![Portrait of a Jewish family. Pinsk, Poland, ca. 1922. [LCID: 04572]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/71d079d7-f844-4a2f-926f-738911dee1e2.jpg "Portrait of a Jewish family. Pinsk, Poland, ca. 1922. [LCID: 04572]")
Portrait of a Jewish family. Pinsk, Poland, ca. 1922.
Item View![Two German Jewish families at a gathering before the war. [LCID: 08488]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/5246dc9d-910c-4674-8119-fecbc4bf61eb.jpg "Two German Jewish families at a gathering before the war. [LCID: 08488]")
Two German Jewish families at a gathering before the Nazi rise to power. Only two people in this group survived the Holocaust. Germany, 1928.
Item View![Graduates of the Piotrkow Trybunalski Hebrew Gymnasium (Jewish high school). [LCID: 05190]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/000f29f6-97b7-4fdb-b6e1-7ad561fe84be.jpg "Graduates of the Piotrkow Trybunalski Hebrew Gymnasium (Jewish high school). [LCID: 05190]")
Graduates of the Piotrkow Trybunalski Hebrew Gymnasium (Jewish high school). Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland, 1929.
Item View![A first-grade class at a Jewish school. Cologne, Germany, 1929-1930. [LCID: 07779]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/a64a72ea-4686-4aeb-83b2-f3edbd673b02.jpg "A first-grade class at a Jewish school. Cologne, Germany, 1929-1930. [LCID: 07779]")
A first-grade class at a Jewish school. Cologne, Germany, 1929-1930.
Item View![Three generations of a Jewish family pose for a group photograph. [LCID: 15933]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/dd05bed4-138f-4295-8ca5-d7205c2fbd46.jpg "Three generations of a Jewish family pose for a group photograph. [LCID: 15933]")
Three generations of a Jewish family pose for a group photograph. Vilna, 1938-39.
The photo was taken during daughter Mina's visit from Montreal. Among those pictured are Mina (Katz) Herman and her daughter, Audrey (front row, second from the right), Itzik Katz, Mina's brother (standing at the far left) and Malka Katz, Mina's mother (front row, center).
Item View![Jewish children gathered for a sporting event in a summer camp organized by the Reich Union of Jewish Frontline Soldiers. [LCID: 00948]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/9e3d399a-7017-459e-8a4d-626758cc3f44.jpg "Jewish children gathered for a sporting event in a summer camp organized by the Reich Union of Jewish Frontline Soldiers. [LCID: 00948]")
Jewish children gathered for a sporting event in a summer camp organized by the Reich Union of Jewish Frontline Soldiers. Germany, between 1934 and 1936.
Item View![Class photo of students and a teacher at a Jewish school in prewar Karlsruhe. [LCID: 03085]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/1c649522-d6db-4b54-bca0-cc2da8eb4689.jpg "Class photo of students and a teacher at a Jewish school in prewar Karlsruhe. [LCID: 03085]")
Class photo of students and a teacher at a Jewish school in prewar Karlsruhe. Germany, July 1937.
Item View![Group portrait of students at a Jewish school. Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1938. [LCID: 05709]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c60f37b3-03a3-4ace-8abe-95f144beb58c.jpg "Group portrait of students at a Jewish school. Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1938. [LCID: 05709]")
Group portrait of students at a Jewish school. Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1938.
Item View
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