Abstract
Shortly after the Anschluss, chafing with helpless frustration at the growing German menace, Neville Laski observed ‘how difficult the situation was for the British Government and [how] much more difficult it must be for the Board which had none of the resources of a government at its disposal.’2 What was true in 1938 was even more true during the war.3 Yet critics have repeatedly attacked Anglo-Jewry for ‘doing’ little to save the doomed Jews of Europe. What, in practice, they mean by ‘doing’ is not clear. In effect, Anglo-Jewry was able to ‘do’ nothing but use negotiation and persuasion to convince the government to change its restrictive policy or to take action the leadership itself could not take.
The Record of English Jewry… is again one of effort rather than achievement, of activity rather than accomplishment.1
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Notes
Israel Finestein, ‘Selig Brodetsky 1888–1954: The Prodigy from Fashion Street’, Aubrey Newman, ed., The Jewish East End 1840–1939 (JHS, 1981), p. 107.
Chaim Weizmann, Trial and Error (1949), pp. 494–6.
Isidore Epstein, ed., Joseph Herman Hertz, 1872–1946, In Memoriam (London, 1947), p. 31.
J.C., 26 April 1996, p. 27; interview, Lord Jakobovits, January 1994; Chaim Bermant, Lord Jakobovits, The Authorized Biography of the Chief Rabbi (London, 1990), p. 19: ‘If I am alive today, it is entirely due to the efforts of that man [Schonfeld] and the same can be said for countless others.’ See Ms 183 Schonfeld 593/1, CRREC 1938–1948, p. 1. According to this report, from 1938 until the outbreak of war, Schonfeld rescued 1,300 individuals.
Eva Reading, For the Record: The Memoirs of Eva, Marchioness of Reading (London, 1973), p. 176.
Zorach Warhaftig, Refugees and Survivors: Rescue Efforts during the Holocaust (Jerusalem, 1988), pp. 324–5. interview, Warhaftig, July 1994: ‘I have a bitter heart.’
For negotiating skills see Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (London, 1996).
Weizmann, Trial and Error (London, 1949), p. 243.
Isaiah Berlin, ‘The Biographical Facts’, in M.W. Weisgal and J. Carmichal, eds., Chaim Weizmann, A Biography by Several Hands (London, 1962), pp. 31–6. On the motives for the Balfour Declaration, see Leonard Stein, The Balfour Declaration.
James N. Rosenau, Turbulence in World Politics: A Theory of Change and Continuity (1990), pp. 438, 448. See also
Leo Mates, ‘The Holocaust and International Relations’, Lyman H. Legters, ed., Western Society after the Holocaust (Boulder, Colorado, 1975), pp. 131–47.
Geoffrey Alderman, ‘British Jewry: Religious Community or Ethnic Minority?’, Jonathan Webber, ed., Jewish Identities in the New Europe (London, 1994), pp. 189–92. Alderman points out that the Board of Deputies has ‘consistently opposed the inclusion of a Jewish category in the question on ethnic origins in the decennial census’. Marlene Schmool confirms that certainly until the 1991 census there was a reluctance for Jews to be considered as an ethnic rather than a religious group; however, this is now changing although the Board has not yet reconsidered the ethnic question at the plenary level.
Acc 3121 E3/536/1, January 1944, ‘Continuing Terror’, p. 9; Michael Balfour, Propaganda in War 1939–1945: Organisations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany (London, 1979), p. 303.
A. Leon Kubowitzki, ‘Address on the Rescue Attempts of the World Jewish Congress’, WJC (British Section), War Emergency Conference of the WJC, November 1944, p. 22.
See, for example, FO 371/32680 W12853/4555/48, 25 September 1942, Frank K. Roberts, Minutes; Frank Roberts, Dealing with Dictators: The Destruction and Revival of Europe, 1930–1970 (London, 1991), p. 46.
Earl of Avon (Sir Anthony Eden), The Eden Memoirs: The Reckoning (London, 1965);
Herbert Morrison (Lord Morrison of Lambeth), Herbert Morrison: An Autobiography (London, 1960); Roberts, Dealing with Dictators.
For a more critical view of Churchill, see Michael Cohen, Churchill and the Jews (London, 1985).
Yehuda Bauer, ‘Rescue by Negotiations? Jewish Attempts to Negotiate with the Nazis’, in M. Marrus, ed., The Nazi Holocaust, vol. 9 (London, 1989), p. 20.
See, for example, Brodetsky, Memoirs; Bentwich, My Seventy-Seven Years; and Bernard Homa, Footprints on the Sands of Time (Gloucester, 1990).
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© 2002 Pamela Shatzkes
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Shatzkes, P. (2002). Conclusion: Lack of Will or Lack of Skill?. In: Holocaust and Rescue. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598416_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598416_11
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