The Holocaust nearly obliterated a millennium of Jewish life in Poland but a new website aims to bring it back in cyberspace by piecing together scraps of memories on life before the Nazis.

The "Virtual Shtetl" web portal was launched this month by the creators of a much-awaited Museum of the History of Polish Jews, to get a head start online before the museum is scheduled to open its doors in 2011.

In both Polish and English, the site is built on Web 2.0 technology allowing users from around the globe to contribute information and eye-witness testimony.