Communal Records | Family History | Holocaust | Immigration | Jewish Life | Local HistoryPartially online Jewish History Association of Wales / Cymdeithas Hanes Iddewig Cymru A portrait of Rabbi Asher Grunis, born in Poland in 1877 who became the first communal Rav of Cardiff in 1921 until his death in 1937 • Jewish History Association of Wales The Jewish History Association of Wales/Cymdeithas Hanes Iddewig Cymru (previously the Jewish History Association of South Wales/Cymdeithas Hanes Iddewig De Cymru) has created a digital collection, hosted on the People’s Collection Wales platform. Its collection covers a wide range of topics documenting the cultural heritage of Jewish communities in South Wales. As of 2025, the charity has embarked upon collecting and documenting the stories of Jewish communities across the whole of Wales, building up a full picture of those who once made Wales their home. Archive Description The Jewish History Association of Wales/Cymdeithas Hanes Iddewig Cymru collection currently contains images, sound clips from oral histories, and presentations about the rich heritage of historic Jewish communities, majoritively in south Wales, but the collection is ever expanding. We celebrate the large, active Jewish communities found across Wales in the early part of the twentieth century and chart the slow but seemingly inevitable decline to where they find themselves today. The digital content comes from material JHAW/CHIC has discovered (and in some cases rescued from imminent destruction or disposal), material contributed by local synagogues and Jewish organisations, and material from individual members of the community. The scanned documents range from official minute books of congregations, minutes of Jewish social, youth and sports organisations, to newspaper clippings from the local press. They include correspondence about the creation and management of Jewish cemeteries and the lack of provision of kosher food for prisoners during the First World War. Sound clips from some of the 127 interviews with people from the last generation to live and work in these communities, share memories that would otherwise have been lost. Photographs of people and places long gone are now preserved for posterity. So far, JHAW/CHIC has uploaded over 3,973 files, which make up over 1,295 single and multipage items. They intend to continue to add to this collection in the belief that it will help illuminate the major contribution Jews have made to the south Wales area, and in time to the whole of Wales. The majority of original documents have been deposited with local Archives and Record Offices including Glamorgan Archives. Digital Accessibility The collection is available to the public with no access limitations, under a Creative Commons license. Additional information about the project and links to the archive on People’s Collection Wales can be found on the JHAW/CHIC website. https://www.jhasw.com