'Protest and prayer' : Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld and orthodox Jewish responses in Britain to the Nazi persecution of Europe's Jews, 1942-1945
'Protest and prayer' : Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld and orthodox Jewish responses in Britain to the Nazi persecution of Europe's Jews, 1942-1945
Recent scholarship has researched the reactions and responses of Jews in the Free World to the Holocaust. Most historians have concentrated on the roles that secular leaders and institutions played in assisting refugees and the attempts that they made to persuade governments to assist the Jews. In the past two decades orthodox journalists and historians have written about the efforts of orthodox activists during the war. These two schools have produced differing and at times conflicting accounts of this aspect of the historiography of that time. The orthodox, or Haredim, for their part, claim that the activities of the orthodox have been consistently overlooked, or at least marginalized by secular historians. The secular camp has either ignored or downplayed the roles of the orthodox, with the claim that the orthodox communities in the Free World were insignificant and the efforts of their leaders’ negligible.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the reactions of the Orthodox community and its leadership in Britain during the war. It is limited to the years 1942-1945, years that most would consider the apogee of the Holocaust and focuses on the efforts of Solomon Schonfeld, who was the leader of the Haredi community in Britain at the time and who was exceptionally devoted to assisting Europe’s beleaguered Jews. It concentrates on the community’s efforts on behalf of Jews on the Continent as opposed to the assistance of refugees in Britain, a subject that has already been well documented. It analyses the obstacles that were faced by both the orthodox and secular leaders, and evaluates their joint and individual responses both in isolation and in comparison to each other. It also analyses the responses of orthodox laymen in Britain and compares the opportunities available to them as opposed to their leaders.
This thesis is intended to convey and analyse the responses of orthodox Jews in Britain to the Holocaust as opposed to an analysis of the results that they achieved. Many of the difficulties and obstacles that they and their secular counterparts encountered were insurmountable and they should not be judged on their accomplishments as much as for their efforts.
University of Southampton
Tomlin, Chanan
8a0794b4-0ffa-403b-bda8-5561609442cf
2003
Tomlin, Chanan
8a0794b4-0ffa-403b-bda8-5561609442cf
Tomlin, Chanan
(2003)
'Protest and prayer' : Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld and orthodox Jewish responses in Britain to the Nazi persecution of Europe's Jews, 1942-1945.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Recent scholarship has researched the reactions and responses of Jews in the Free World to the Holocaust. Most historians have concentrated on the roles that secular leaders and institutions played in assisting refugees and the attempts that they made to persuade governments to assist the Jews. In the past two decades orthodox journalists and historians have written about the efforts of orthodox activists during the war. These two schools have produced differing and at times conflicting accounts of this aspect of the historiography of that time. The orthodox, or Haredim, for their part, claim that the activities of the orthodox have been consistently overlooked, or at least marginalized by secular historians. The secular camp has either ignored or downplayed the roles of the orthodox, with the claim that the orthodox communities in the Free World were insignificant and the efforts of their leaders’ negligible.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the reactions of the Orthodox community and its leadership in Britain during the war. It is limited to the years 1942-1945, years that most would consider the apogee of the Holocaust and focuses on the efforts of Solomon Schonfeld, who was the leader of the Haredi community in Britain at the time and who was exceptionally devoted to assisting Europe’s beleaguered Jews. It concentrates on the community’s efforts on behalf of Jews on the Continent as opposed to the assistance of refugees in Britain, a subject that has already been well documented. It analyses the obstacles that were faced by both the orthodox and secular leaders, and evaluates their joint and individual responses both in isolation and in comparison to each other. It also analyses the responses of orthodox laymen in Britain and compares the opportunities available to them as opposed to their leaders.
This thesis is intended to convey and analyse the responses of orthodox Jews in Britain to the Holocaust as opposed to an analysis of the results that they achieved. Many of the difficulties and obstacles that they and their secular counterparts encountered were insurmountable and they should not be judged on their accomplishments as much as for their efforts.
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Published date: 2003
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Local EPrints ID: 465258
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/465258
PURE UUID: 953016e4-b8a0-4d85-8699-3d3291a7fa40
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 00:32
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:04
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Author:
Chanan Tomlin
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