Jews and other foreigners : Manchester and the rescue of the victims of European fascism, 1933-1940 / Bill Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Bill, 1931-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--England--Manchester--History--20th century.

Jews.

History.

Manchester (England)--Ethnic relations--History--20th century.

Manchester (England).

Manchester (England)--History--20th century.

England--Manchester.

Physical Description:

xii, 420 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Summary:

Between 1933 And 1940, Manchester accepted almost eight thousand refugees from Fascist Europe. Among these were Jewish academics expelled from universities across Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy. Around two hundred were children from the Basque country, temporarily evacuated to Britain in 1937, as the fighting of the Spanish Civil War neared their home towns. Most were refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. 95% of the refugees from Nazism were Jews threatened by the increasingly violent anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime. The rest were Communists, Social Democrats, Pacifists, Liberals, Confessional Christians and Sudeten Germans.

Several valuable studies have been written on the response of the British government to the refugee crisis. Yet this study is the first to assess the responses of a single city; Manchester, which had long cultivated an image of itself as a 'liberal city'.

Using documentary and oral sources, including interviews with Manchester refugees, 'Jews and other foreigners' explores the work of those sectors of local society which took part in rescue work, including industrialists from the Manchester region, pacifist bodies, the University of Manchester, secondary schools in and around Manchester, Jewish communal organisations, the Society of Friends, the Rotarians and the Roman Catholic Church. It considers the reasons for their choices to help, and assesses their degree of success, as well as the forces which limited their effectiveness.

Though 'Jews and other foreigners' will appeal to a broad readership, it will be of particular interest to those studying the role of philanthropy and the Christian churches in Manchester society, the role of Zionism during the Second World War, the history of the British Jewish community, Britain's attitudes to immigrants and refugees and issues surrounding the settlement and acculturation of newcomers to British society. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Jewish refugees in Manchester 1

2 Speak no evil: Manchester Jewry and refugees, 1933-1937 9

3 'Displaced scholars': refugees at the University of Manchester 34

4 'Refugees and Eccles Cakes': refugee industrialists in the Manchester region 58

5 'Something ought to be done': Manchester Quakers and refugees, 1933-1937 80

6 The forgotten refugees: Manchester and the Basque children of 1937 99

7 'The work of succouring refugees is going forward': the Manchester Jewish Refugees Committee, 1939-1940 143

8 'Serious concern': the Manchester Quakers and refugees, 1938-1940 170

9 'Our remaining comrades in Czechoslovakia': the Manchester branch of the KPD 193

10 'Not because they are Jews': the Catholic Church in Salford and refugees 208

11 'Inspired idealism': Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld and Manchester 217

12 The Harris House Girls: girls from the Kindertransport in Southport, 1938-1940 225

13 'A haven of safety': refugees and the Manchester Women's Lodge of B'nai Brith 237

14 'Outposts of Jewish Palestine': young Zionist refugees in Manchester 246

15 'The most difficult boys to handle': refugees at the Stockport hostel, 1939-1940 271

16 'By the grace of the Almighty': refugees and the Manchester Yeshiva 288

17 'From slavery and persecution to freedom and kindness': refugees at the Manchester Jewish Home for the Aged 300

18 'Bright young refugees': refugees and schools in the Manchester region 308

19 'Humanitarianism of the greatest value': Manchester Rotarians and refugees 325

20 The saved and the trapped: refugees and those they left behind 343

21 'The Dutch orphans': war refugees in Manchester 359

22 Pacifism and rescue: the case of Lionel Cowan 379

23 Conclusion: the victims of Fascism and the liberal city 394.

Notes:

Includes bibliographic references and index.

ISBN:

9780719085499

0719085497

OCLC:

724656942