Previously in this series, we surveyed the ancient and medieval history of Ashkenazi Jews—from their origins as Israelites in Judea, to their exile in Italy, to their migration and settlement in the German Rhineland where, by the 14th century, they came to face immense persecution culminating in the Black Death massacres. This section will cover how Ashkenazi Jews fled Germany to find refuge in Poland, until renewed persecution in the modern era led them to return to their ancestral homeland, helping to refound Israel as the independent nation we see today.
