Britain S Jews In The First World War

This book tells the story of the Jewish community, of its individuals and its groups, who contributed to the First World War.

This book explores the variety of social and political phenomena that combined to the make the First World War a key turning point in the Jewish experience of the twentieth century. Just decades after the experience of intense persecution and struggle for recognition that marked the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish men and women across the globe found themselves drawn into a conflict of unprecedented violence and destruction. The frenzied military, social, and cultural mobilisation of European societies between 1914 and 1918, along with the outbreak of revolution in Russia and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East had a profound impact on Jewish communities worldwide. The First World War thus constitutes a seminal but surprisingly under-researched moment in the evolution of modern Jewish history. The essays gathered together in this ground-breaking volume explore the ways in which Jewish communities across Europe and the wider world experienced, interpreted and remembered the ‘war to end all wars’.

World War I utterly transformed the lives of Jews around the world: it allowed them to display their patriotism, to dispel antisemitic myths about Jewish cowardice, and to fight for Jewish rights. Yet Jews also suffered as refugees and deportees, at times catastrophically. And in the aftermath of the war, the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian and Ottoman Empires with a system of nation-states confronted Jews with a new set of challenges. This book provides a fascinating survey of the ways in which Jewish communities participated in and were changed by the Great War, focusing on the dramatic circumstances they faced in Europe, North America, and the Middle East during and after the conflict.

The roots of today's Middle East conflict are extremely deep and exceedingly tangled and Jill Hamilton has done a wonderful job in unravelling a complicated story. Describing the background to the present conflict - she intertwines the sad story of mistakes and broken promises with the age-old fascination that Jerusalem holds for Jews, Muslims and Christians. New insights are given into the decisions taken by the key men in the British and American governments and the effect on Old Testament beliefs and Nonconformity in their decisions is examined. Woven into the narrative is the story of David Ben-Gurion and the other soldiers in the Jewish Legion. It follows them from their first tottering steps on the moors of Devon to their quarter-century as members of the secret underground army, the Haganah, to May 1948 when Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence of the new state of Israel.

The book focuses on Britain during the First World War and the immediate post-war period, and examines the use of biblical imagery with regard to representations of the nation and its perceived enemies. The study is constructed around four rhetorical themes: 'crusade', 'conversion', 'crucifixion' and 'apocalypse', and traces these through a wide variety of texts, including public lectures, sermons, press articles, political speeches and memoirs, pre-millennialist writings, cartoons, plays, poetry and popular fiction. The central argument is that in the context of rhetorically constructed 'Christian warfare', religious language took on political significance, and old allegations against Jews began to recirculate. The study examines the religious, political and sexual fears associated by Christians with Jews during and after the war, and discusses the ways in which Anglo-Jewish writers, including G. B. Stern, Gilbert Frankau and Isaac Rosenberg, responded to these developments.

The Jews of the British Empire were fortunate compared to others of their race and religion elsewhere in the world, where persecution and pogroms were the order of the day - but they still had to fight prejudice and bigotry. Their performance in the Great War - proudly recorded in this two volume book - is by way of being their answer. For, as Winston Churchill pointed out in a foreword to the book, although Jews only made up a tiny fraction of the Empire's population, some 60,000 enlisted and fought in the war; of whom 2,324 gave their lives, and 6,350 were wounded. There were five Jewish recipients of Great War Victoria Crosses; and 1,533 won other awards - including 50 DSOs; 242 MCs; 80 DCMs; 308 MMs and 374 mentions in despatches.'This record is a great one' concluded Churchill. 'And British Jews can look back with pride on the honourable part they played in winning the Great War'. The book also contains a foreword by perhaps the most distinguished Jewish commander in the war, Sir John Monash, C.O. of the Austrialian Corps.Originally printed in 1922, as well as an outline story of the service of British Jewry it includes: - a Roll of Honour of the Dead, showing their unit, date of death, and home address; records of honours and awards including citations for Military Crosses; Distinguished Conduct Medals; a nominal roll of Jews serving in His Majesty's Forces on a Regiment by Regiment basis, a photographic record of the fallen and their memorials. Also includes group photographs

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018 This book is the first to offer a full account of the varied contributions of German Jews to Imperial Germany’s endeavors during the Great War. Historian Tim Grady examines the efforts of the 100,000 Jewish soldiers who served in the German military (12,000 of whom died), as well as the various activities Jewish communities supported at home, such as raising funds for the war effort and securing vital food supplies. However, Grady’s research goes much deeper: he shows that German Jews were never at the periphery of Germany’s warfare, but were in fact heavily involved. The author finds that many German Jews were committed to the same brutal and destructive war that other Germans endorsed, and he discusses how the conflict was in many ways lived by both groups alike. What none could have foreseen was the dangerous legacy they created together, a legacy that enabled Hitler’s rise to power and planted the seeds of the Holocaust to come.

WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK OF THE MONTH "This is the incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now." —Wall Street Journal “Brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugees—a top-secret band of brothers—who waged war on Hitler.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter and The Liberator The incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now June 1942. The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria. Many have been interned as enemy aliens, and have lost their families, their homes—their whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop. Some simply call them a suicide squad. Drawing on extensive original research, including interviews with the last surviving members, Leah Garrett follows this unique band of brothers from Germany to England and back again, with stops at British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and the hellscape of Terezin concentration camp—the scene of one of the most dramatic, untold rescues of the war. For the first time, X Troop tells the astonishing story of these secret shock troops and their devastating blows against the Nazis. “Garrett’s detective work is stunning, and her storytelling is masterful. This is an original account of Jewish rescue, resistance, and revenge.”—Wendy Lower, author of The Ravine and National Book Award finalist Hitler’s Furies