Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( A(H)SH-kə-NAH-zee; also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim) form a distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish diaspora, emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (western Germany) and in northern France, having migrated there from centers such as the Italian Peninsula and the Southern Levant. After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th–13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire and the favorable policies of Casimir III the Great and others.