A comparative study of the London German and the London Jewish Hospitals

Abstract

The thesis compares the founding and development of two sectarian hospitals in the East End of London - the London German Hospital in the nineteenth and the London Jewish Hospital in the early twentieth century. They were established to serve the needs of the German and Jewish immigrant communities living in London at these periods. It was the intention to satisfy their religious and cultural requirements, but especially the language problems they faced, as the majority of migrants had little comprehension of the English language and communication with the medical profession was frustrated at the existing voluntary hospitals because diagnostic aids had not yet been fully implemented and a dependence on verbal communication remained of primary importance.

It will be shown that although both groups of migrants faced poverty, the supporters of the German Hospital represented the wealthy and the elite in England and on the Continent. It was a time when an affinity existed between British and German cultures, with German philosophy and science celebrated in this country and the founders received virtually no opposition to their venture.

The thesis demonstrates how this contrasted with resistance to the founding of the Jewish Hospital eighty years later. The Jewish immigrants struggled to establish their hospital because of the hostility of the indigenous population exemplified by passage of the Aliens Act of 1905 and the opposition of the Jewish elite led by Lord Rothschild who argued that the immigrant Jews should integrate rather than separate.

The thesis argues there was a need for the two hospitals, and contrasts their attainment of success despite their social and economic differences. It will show how the arguments have been assembled using information obtained from literature on immigration studies, ethnic and social issues as well as medical history. Research using the newspaper and hospital archives supplemented the study.

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