Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews form a distinct subgroup of the <a href="/facts/Jewish_diaspora/E2Tc3qxx">Jewish diaspora</a>, that <a href="/facts/Ethnogenesis/nbKxzVp6">emerged</a> in the <a href="/facts/Holy_Roman_Empire/6mdobnXN">Holy Roman Empire</a> around the end of the first millennium <a href="/facts/Common_era/e5DpqUoe">CE</a>. They traditionally speak <a href="/facts/Yiddish/VfmsR6pW">Yiddish</a>, a language that originated in the 9th century, and largely migrated towards <a href="/facts/Northern_Europe/u77t0yJI">northern</a> and <a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">eastern Europe</a> during the late <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">Middle Ages</a> due to <a href="/facts/Antisemitism_in_Europe/8eIwk4gK">persecution</a>. Hebrew was primarily used as a <a href="/facts/Literary_language/NAWrUgrk">literary</a> and <a href="/facts/Sacred_language/557K2NXD">sacred language</a> until its 20th-century <a href="/facts/Revival_of_the_Hebrew_language/mF6xSlpA">revival as a common language</a> in Israel.
Ashkenazim adapted their traditions to Europe and underwent a transformation in their interpretation of Judaism. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Jews who remained in or returned to historical German lands experienced a cultural reorientation. Under the influence of the <a href="/facts/Haskalah/A1q93pF3">Haskalah</a> and the struggle for emancipation, as well as the intellectual and cultural ferment in urban centres, some gradually abandoned Yiddish in favor of German and developed new forms of <a href="/facts/Jewish_identity/Eep3NUrX">Jewish religious life</a> and <a href="/facts/Jewish_culture/PNFhFn7t">cultural identity</a>.
Throughout the centuries, Ashkenazim made significant contributions to <a href="/facts/European_philosophy/4m6EnYCI">Europe's philosophy</a>, scholarship, <a href="/facts/Western_literature/Ko4LJC6H">literature</a>, <a href="/facts/Art_of_Europe/LNbzu6l1">art</a>, <a href="/facts/European_music/HyRmCYRq">music</a>, and <a href="/facts/Science_and_technology_in_Europe/zt6bbevw">science</a>.
As a proportion of the <a href="/facts/Jewish_population_by_country/pjjK3KRd">world Jewish population</a>, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930 near the population's peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by <a href="/facts/The_Holocaust/vGQsAb2y">the Holocaust</a> carried out by <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a> during <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, which killed some six million Jews, affecting practically every European Jewish family. In 1933, prior to World War II, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3 million. <a href="/facts/Israelis/Xx9g0vP1">Israeli</a> demographer and statistician <a href="/facts/Sergio_Della_Pergola/C9t3swjk">Sergio D. Pergola</a> implied that Ashkenazim comprised 65–70% of Jews worldwide in 2000, while other estimates suggest more than 75%. As of 2013, the population was estimated to be between 10 million and 11.2 million. 
<a href="/facts/Genetic_studies_on_Jews/EXLcxwGL">Genetic studies</a> indicate that Ashkenazim have both <a href="/facts/Levant/uuJLt3Af">Levantine</a> and <a href="/facts/Europeans/VR7tb16t">European</a> (mainly <a href="/facts/Southern_Europe/MlkLQsUc">southern</a> and <a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">eastern European</a>) ancestry. These studies draw diverging conclusions about the degree and sources of European <a href="/facts/Genetic_admixture/WsJroSoA">admixture</a>, with some focusing on the European genetic origin in Ashkenazi maternal lineages, contrasting with the predominantly <a href="/facts/Ethnic_groups_in_the_Middle_East/LYaUr0qk">Middle Eastern</a> genetic origin in paternal lineages.

Ashkenazi Jews open-in-new

Ashkenazi Jews