History of the Jews in EuropeThe history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Some Jews, a Judaean tribe from the Levant, migrated to Europe just before the rise of the Roman Empire (27 BCE). Although Alexandrian Jews had already migrated to Rome, a notable early event in the history of the Jews in the Roman Empire was the 63 BCE siege of Jerusalem. The pre-World War II Jewish population of Europe is estimated to have been close to 9 million, or 57% of the world's Jewish population.
GomelGomel or Homiel (Гомель, ˈɡomjɪlj, ˈɣomjelj) is a city in Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2023, it is the second-largest city in Belarus with 501,802 inhabitants. There are at least six narratives of the origin of the city's name. The most plausible is that the name is derived from the name of the stream Homeyuk, which flowed into the river Sozh near the foot of the hill where the first settlement was founded.
History of BelarusThe lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages were split between different principalities, including Polotsk, Turov, Vitebsk, and others. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, these lands were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later was merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Following the Partitions of Poland, Belarusian territories became part of the Russian Empire.
JewsJews (יְהוּדִים, Yehudim, jehuˈdim) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group, nation or ethnos native to the Levant, originating from the ancient Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none. Jews take their origins from a Southern Levantine national and religious group that arose towards the end of the second millennium BCE.
Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews (ˌɑːʃkəˈnɑːzi,_ˌæʃ- ; יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, Jews of Germania; Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim, are a Jewish diaspora population who formed in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. Their traditional diaspora language is Yiddish (a West Germanic language with Jewish and Slavic linguistic elements, which uses the Hebrew alphabet), which developed during the Middle Ages after they had moved from Germany and France into Northern Europe and Eastern Europe.