The ‘Estranged’ Generation? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • David Dee

   Pages 1-20

3. Home and Family Life

   • David Dee

   Pages 21-80

4. Education and Work

   • David Dee

   Pages 81-148

5. Religion

   • David Dee

   Pages 149-204

6. Politics

   • David Dee

   Pages 205-272

7. Sport and Recreation

   • David Dee

   Pages 273-332

8. Conclusion

   • David Dee

   Pages 333-343

9. Back Matter

   Pages 345-377

   PDF

This book focuses on the nature and extent of social change, integration and identity transformation within the Jewish community of Britain during the interwar years. It probes the notion – widely articulated by Jewish communal leaders at this time – that the immigrant second generation (i.e. British and foreign-born children of Russian and Eastern European Jews who migrated to Britain in the late Victorian era up to the First World War) had ‘estranged’ themselves from their Jewishness, Jewish elders and peers and were fast assimilating into the British mainstream.The volume analyses the second generation’s developing outlooks and behavioural trends in a variety of environments, effectively charting the changes and continuities present therein. As a whole, the book sheds light on the varied ways in which this group developed new identities that both drew from and reflected their Jewish and British heritage.

• cultural assimilation
• First World War
• social integration
• Second World War
• migration

“Dee’s well written and richly documented book builds on a number of earlier studies, many of which were broader in scope. His more concentrated focus allows him to offer a detailed assessment of second-generation Jews in Britain … . The author’s extensive use of interviews, memoirs, and autobiographical materials has enabled him to delve into the experiences and attitudes of this pivotal generation.” (Susan Tananbaum, Jewish Historical Studies, Vol. 50 (1), 2019)

“This is an important and timely book. For all migrant groups there is a neglect of what happens to the second generation. David Dee provides a superbly researched, carefully argued and very readable account of the children of those Jews who came to Britain from Eastern Europe before 1914. Focusing on the neglected interwar period and covering not just London but all the major settlements in the provinces, Dee covers home, family, education, work, religion, sport and recreation. Based on a large number of life stories, it is an engaging and lively study.” (Tony Kushner, University of Southampton, UK)

• De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

  David Dee

David Dee is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at De Montfort University, UK. He has written widely on the modern History of the Jewish community in Britain and is the author of Sport and British Jewry: Integration, Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism (2013).

Policies and ethics