The Holocaust , however , led to a dramatic , sudden decline in the use of Yiddish , as the extensive European Jewish communities , both secular and religious , that used Yiddish in their day-to-day life were largely destroyed . Around 5 million , or 85 % , of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust , were speakers of Yiddish . This , coupled with the revival of the Hebrew language as the national language of Israel , essentially extinguished the dynamic momentum Yiddish had been gaining in the early decades of the 20th century
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Yiddishist movement