British Jewry and the Holocaust [Hardcover]

The first book to examine the response of the British Jewish community to the destruction of the European Jewish community during World War II.The first book to examine the response of the British Jewish community to the destruction of the European Jewish community during World War II. The author charts the response of Jews and their organisations to the unfolding tragedy of Europe's Jews raising controversial questions about the Anglo-Jewish community's priorities and organisation.The first book to examine the response of the British Jewish community to the destruction of the European Jewish community during World War II. The author charts the response of Jews and their organisations to the unfolding tragedy of Europe's Jews raising controversial questions about the Anglo-Jewish community's priorities and organisation.This is the first book to examine the response of the British Jewish community to the destruction of the Jewish community of mainland Europe in World War II. Richard Bolchover charts the reponse of leading Jews and of Jewish organizations to the unfolding tragedy. In the process he raises controversial questions about the Anglo-Jewish community's priorities, and the way in which it organized itself. This study of Jewish political thought and culture marks a serious and provocative departure from the traditionally dominant trend in Anglo-Jewish historiography.Introduction; Part I. Knowing and Believing; Part II. The Institutions: Introduction: The Anglo-Jewish Community; 1. Communal priorities; 2. The institutional response to the Holocaust; Part III. The Ideologies: Introduction: social and political philosophies; 3. The politics of hope; 4. The politics of fear; 5. The Jewish fighting model; Conclusion A comprehensive though succinct work. The Canadian Jewish News Bolchover joins an interesting and active generation of scholars who have been revising the whig interpretation of Jewish history as the story of the triumph of liberalism and tolerationlcL