Jewish refugee historiography: moving beyond the celebratory?

Craig-Norton, Jennifer (2018) Jewish refugee historiography: moving beyond the celebratory? In, Craig-Norton, Jennifer, Hoffmann, Christhard and Kushner, Tony (eds.) Migrant Britain: Histories and Historiographies: Essays in Honour of Colin Holmes. 1st ed. London. Taylor & Francis, pp. 128-137. (doi:10.4324/9781315159959).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In 1956, Viscount Herbert Samuel wrote in the introduction to one of the first books devoted to telling the story of Jewish refugees in Great Britain: The duty of help and rescue, so far as any was possible, lay upon the Jewish communities. Samuel, who had himself been involved in Anglo-Jewish efforts to help Jews fleeing Fascist oppression, exemplified the celebratory narrative that dominated Britain's emerging historiography of Jewish refugees in the 1930s. Samuel sketched an unequivocal tale of heroism on the part of Anglo-Jewry, the British government and people, the Christian churches, philanthropists and the professional classes in rescuing thousands of scientists, children and other refugees. The work of British social and cultural historians such as Colin Holmes, Tony Kushner and others in the Sheffield School was crucial in the development of the critical turn in the historiography of Jewish refugees in the 1930s.

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