Trudy Gold
The Aliens Act and Churchill Crosses the Floor

Trudy Gold - The Aliens Act and Churchill Crosses the Floor

- And today I’m taking you back to the East End of London, and of course, you’ve had this huge influx of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. If you remember, between 1881 and 1914, 40% Of the Jews of the Pale of Settlement get out. And I know that many of you, you say we come from Poland or the Russian Empire, et cetera. What happened was Russia controlled Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland, and Jews, particularly after the assassination of Alexander II, when basically the government used anti-Semitism to ward off prejudice and also the most grinding poverty. It’s fascinating because one of the stereotypes I’m going to be dealing with today is Jews and power. But the reality was 40% of the Jews of Eastern Europe were on poor relief from Jews who’d already made it overseas. And of the Jews who came to London, here you see some cartoons of it. The majority of them were absolutely dirt poor. And of course, the Anglo Jewish community up until 1880, there were only 60,000 Jews in England as you recall. And of course, you had the very high profile wealthy, but you also had a fair number of poor Jews who were looked after in a very paternalistic way by the Jews already here. And the whole thrust was to make them into English gentlemen. And now the floodgates open. They pour into certain sections of London, they go to Hull. If you think of the cities, particularly England at the centre of the Industrial Revolution, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham. But they were never that many in percentage, and I’m going to talk about that later. So, there’s a turn. From the 1880s onwards, many states and self governing colonies in both North and South America and across Australia and in South Africa began to talk about regulating, the phrase they use was undesirable aliens, immigrants.

At first it was aimed mainly at the Chinese who followed the Californian Gold Rush. And even in America, if you think about it, the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865, after the American Civil War, American industry needed people. And as you all know, and in fact one of our community gave me the figures. It was 65,000,000 between 1,800 and 1914 to America. But nevertheless, the backlash in America is what is America? And the backlash comes from the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Now, I’ve already told you that in Britain, the Board of Guardians, which later became Jewish Care, they repatriated about 50,000 Jews because they wanted to keep the numbers down. If they keep the numbers down, it’s far more acceptable, and they’ll have already said what the Anglo-Jewish community in the main wanted to do was to make the new arrivals into English gentlemen. And you will remember that letter of Lord Nathaniel Rothschild to the parents at the Jewish Free School when he’s saying to them, “Don’t let your boys go to Haida. It makes them paled. You’ve got to make them English. Send them to the football fields, then they’ll be able to take their place in British society.” There was a love affair with England, even when the First Zionist Congress was opened by Max Nordau. Never forget what he said, “There’s only one country in the world that is free from the taint of anti-Semitism, and that is England.” And of course it’s not true but the point is, that was the image. Why? Because think about the characters who are around the court of the Prince of Wales, later Edward the VII.

The Rothschild family, Baron de Hirsch, Ernest Cassel, and I’m going to be talking about them in a couple of weeks when I talk about Edward VII Jewish Court. There were a lot of these individuals in his cosmopolitan court. So you had the image of rich Jews and you also had the image of these poor East End Jews coming in, and the whole issue of what is a Jew? And one of the responses, as I said from the Board of Guardians is repatriation. Some were paid to go onto America, others were actually paid to go back to Eastern Europe. And if you recall, the chief Rabbi Adler was sending letters to rabbis throughout Eastern Europe saying, “Tell them not to come here.” So, you’ve got a real problem on your hands. What is the right thing to do? But by 1900 in certain parts of London, it’s becoming a serious policy issue. And also don’t forget, between 1881 and 1905, about 100,000 “Aliens,” inverted commas, came into Britain. The majority of them are Jewish. There’s no passport controls at this per of this period and it plays on the base fears of the poor living in the East End, the poor English. There’s unemployment, there’s a fear of anything that is different, the nature of prejudice. And in the East End, can we see the next slide, please? The British Brothers League. If you read this, “A great public demonstration, the British Brothers League, destitute foreigners. The British Brothers League in favour of restricting the further immigration of destitute foreigners into this country will be held at the People’s Palace Mile End on Tuesday the 14th of January. The chair will be taken by Major Evans Gordon, who will be supported by members of Parliament, County and Borough counsellors, members of the Board of Guardians,” and that’s the Jewish Board of Guardians, “All shades of politicians, ministers, and religion.”

Because one of the problems was the Jews themselves are saying, the Jewish establishments are saying, “We must restrict the number of foreigners.” So, it’s partly economic fear. There’s religious intolerance. Remember, England is a Protestant country and post second World War, of course it becomes completely different. But I want you to go back to that time, use your historic imagination where people went to church or chapel. So you have a religious prejudice anyway, you have an economic problem and you also have a racial prejudice because the language of race is really in the public arena and also the perceived economic behaviour of the Jews. And also they’re assumed, and this is the other point, and this is where the whole canard of the protocols of the Elders of Zion come in. You have the wealthy Jews who support the Prince of Regents and the Prince of Wales. And after 1901 when Queen Victoria dies, Edward VII, but you’ve also got communist subversive ideas believed to be very much the portion of those Jews in the East End. So, at first the League is led by Captain William Stanley Shaw, whose slogan is “England for the English.” And he forms a close alliance with Major Evans Gordon. Can we see Major William Evans Gordon, please, if you don’t mind? Now, he is an interesting character. Later on, Chaim Weizmann said he was not actually an anti-Semite, so I’m going to give you a little bit of his background. He’d been a diplomat in India. He was elected on an anti alien platform in Stepney. Stepney was one of the boroughs of London that had the highest Jewish percentages. He was the MP between 1900 and 1907. He said, “A storm is brewing, which if allowed to burst, will have deplorable results.

Not a day passes, but English families are ruthlessly turned out to make room for foreign invaders. The rates,” the council rates, “Are burdened with the education of foreign children,” and he’s going to be instrumental in the creation of a Royal Commission to which will deal with the whole problem of the alien invasion. He actually toured the Pale of Settlement and he highlighted the concerns of the board of deputies because ironically, as I’ve already said, and it’s very important to remember that, that the Jewish establishment, much of the Jewish establishment itself is also against a great influx. Now, another point. Can we come to the next slide, please? Another point which of course is going to highlight the issue of the Jews, is the Boer War of 1899 to 1902. And it’s the first major conflict of the 20th century. And what was Britain seen to be fighting for? For imperialism, for empire. Of course, Winston Churchill went out to the Boer War. He was quite an important figure in it. And they’re also fighting, don’t forget, for gold and for diamonds. Many Europeans, by the way, were totally outraged by the war. And if you think about in the Habsburg Empire in Germany, there was a huge amount of sympathy for the Boer settlers. They were seen as brave, as against English imperialism. And of course, the French, the Habsburgs, the Germans, the Russians, they also wanted a slice of the cake, which the British was taking so much of. So, in fact, Hitler himself was fascinated by the Boer War. In Linz, he writes a lot about it, how his heart bled for the brave Boers as against the ruthless English. And in England there’s an incredible amount of opposition in both liberal and labour groups in the United Kingdom.

They went as far as to say Jewish capitalist interests are set against those of Britain. So, on one level you have the poor Jews entering Britain. These are mixed messages. And you have a group of rich Jews who are seen to be behind the Boer War. And in fact, one of the first voices raised against the Jews in South Africa was the social Democrat weekly justice. And can we see the next slide, please? A man called Hyndman. Now, Henry Hyndman, he identified the war against Kruger and Transvaal as financial Jews and their influence. He says, “The Rothschilds determine whether there is war or peace.” Now, who was he? He is an interesting man actually. He was the son of a very wealthy businessman. He goes to Trinity College, Cambridge, he studies law, but he becomes a journalist. He’s also a first class cricketer. He is a writer for “The Pall Mall Gazette.” He begins as an imperialist. He’s in love with the Empire. He’s very hostile to American democracy. He then though, he begins to read. He reads the biography of Ferdinand Lassalle, and then Marx and then decides that they have the answer. He becomes a creature of this English, very wealthy man with the best of education, English education becomes if you like, a sponsor of the poor. And he forms the SDP in Britain, which is Britain’s first socialist party. Ironically, he worked with Eleanor Marx, Karl Marx’s daughter, and also with William Morris, the great designer. He was also part of this socialist group. He was the first person to popularise Karl Marx. He was very, very authoritarian. He leads demonstrations against unemployment. Eleanor Marx falls out with him completely. She writes to Karl Liebknecht, “Hyndman whenever he could with impunity has endeavoured to set English workers against foreigners.” Hyndman attacked her. She has inherited her nose and her mouth, the Jewish type from Marx himself. He becomes more and more anti-Semitic.

He supports the anti-Semitic riots in Vienna. He screamed against the capitalist Jews in “The London Press,” and he begins to believe in conspiracy theories because how can we have a conspiracy theory? Well, the Rothschilds are behind the war in South Africa because they’re funding Cecil Rhodes. This is his kind of rhetoric. And they will determine whether there’s war or peace in the world. Now, one of the tragedies is these notions of Jews as communists, Jews as capitalists, it’s all going to come together in the protocols, but these ideas are already there and they’re going to be fed. This is not gutter up, this is intellects. These are intellectuals and another character in South Africa, a man called John Atkinson Hobson, he was in South Africa creating a series of articles from the “Manchester Guardian” headlines with the Gold War, “For whom are we fighting? Who has taken control of the Gold Mining Institute? A small group of financiers,” and this is in the “Manchester Guardian,” “German in origin and Jew by race.” He then turns to the poor immigrants and he talks about Jews he’d met on the ship to South Africa. He had landed, he said, and this is in the “Manchester” newspaper, in New Jerusalem, “Public statistics are most deceptive in this matter. Many of the persons of rank are British citizens by a brief and temporary state in some English speaking land.” That’s not true. The Labour MP and John Burns, a radical contrasted the Jews with the Boers, what they say they idealise England and rural, he says in Jo'Berg’s simple Boer life has been destroyed in a hell of Jews, greedy speculators, adventurers, prostitutes, bars, banks, gaming saloons and every invention of the devil.“ And his analysis, and this is published in the British papers, he’s an influential guy, the problem lies with quote unquote, "The British elite who allowed Jews to lead them by the noses.” He also wrote about the Jewish control of the press.

Again, it’s balderdash. Yes, there were many Jewish journalists. And yes, “The Telegraph” would be bought by a Jew, but it’s not Jewish control. And the point about the Jews, Jews are individuals and the bulk of Anglo Jewry, the establishment are trying to be English gentlemen. Can we go on? I’m giving you a few important characters. This is Arnold Henry White who writes “The Modern Jew.” He’s a very important journalist. He writes, “The Problems of the Great City in 1886.” He says, “It’s about the pauper foreigners,” who he quote, “Blamed for uninhabitable buildings, increased unemployment and the spread of socialism.” Undue proportion of dangerous anarchists in this country are foreign Jews.“ He stood unsuccessfully as a liberal MP for Mile End, but then he breaks away. Ironically in 1890, he visits Russia as an agent of Baron de Hirsch. And I’m going to give a lot more detail of Baron de Hirsch when I talk about Edward VII’s friends. He was one of the richest men in the world and he, a great philanthropist, he was actually founding Jewish colonies in Argentina and according to historian Geoffrey Alderman, this turns visiting the Pale, it had turned White into a rabid anti-Semite. And he writes this, "The problem of the Jews was not of numbers, not habits, nor occupations, but the fact that good, bad or indifferent, they belong to a race and cling to a community that prefers to remain aloof from the mainstream of our national life by shunning into marriage with Anglo-Saxons.” But he did believe that there were a few good Jews, but they had lived in England for over two centuries. So, what I’m trying to show you, it’s coming now in different directions from a disparate group of people. Can we go on, please? And now we come to another very important character. This is James Leopold Maxse and he was the editor of the conservative British publication at “The National Review.”

He came from a very important family. His sister Violet was married to Lord Edward Cecil, who was the son of the Prime Minister, Robert Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury. Later on when he died, his sister married Lord Milner and she was very much part of the Victoria League to promote the imperial vision. He’d been educated at Harrow at King’s College. He was very popular. He was president of the Cambridge Union Society and “The National Review” becomes the most prominent ideological mainstay of right-wing of the Tory Party. What did he believe in? He believed in the House of Lords, the Tory Party, Empire and Union. He was violently opposed to Balfour, who I’m going to be talking about next week. He led a campaign which led to Balfour’s resignation. That’s how powerful he was. He was violently anti German, he was anticommunist, he was anti League of Nations, totally anti Marxist. He was enthralled by the whole notion of empire and violently anti-Semitic. And during the first World War, he complained about the existence of the unseen hand, that there were too many Jews close to power. He talks about the national and international Jewish peril, and Semitic control of the government. And also he writes about the pro in the First World War, the pro German intrigues of international Jews. So, all of this is going to lead to a Commission. And just to give you some facts and figures in 1901, the highest population of foreigners in London in the East End, 30 for every thousand but 40% in Stepney, 1902, this is the report on alien immigration, the report from Lodz, which was presented to the Royal Commission. And they’re talking about the conditions in Lodz in Poland, which are going to be, Lodz was the industrial heartlands of Poland.

And it’s going to be transferred to London through these Eastern European Jews and this is what they say. “The industry is carried out under appalling conditions. One should never forget the places where work is being done. It would need the pen of the Zola to describe them. Three or four looms are crammed into one room with many families. I have never seen, even in Wilmer or the East End of London human beings condemned to live in such surroundings.” So, important to remember. Immigration is a serious political image and it’s the climate of the time, which leads of course, to Major William Evans Gordon putting forward the notion of the Royal Commission of 1902, which leads to the Aliens Act of 1905, and the Aliens Act of 1905, and for alien time, it gives spectres the power who, to escape persecution or punishment. They’re going to say if you can’t keep yourself, you can come to this country, you are escaping persecution if you have committed an offence of a political nature. And it’s going to be implemented by the Tory Party. And unfortunately in 1906 it’s going to be reiterated by a liberal government. So, it’s going to become part of the government. But going back to the census, there weren’t that many, it’s important to remember, remember only 30 per 100,000 and there were only 13 towns in Britain that had a foreign population of more than 1%. Foreign in the main is Jewish. Of course, there were Chinese immigrants, there were other immigrants, but it’s this, what they called the Jewish… The sort of, the Jewish alien immigration of this period. Manchester 2.2%.

It’s tiny. Cardiff, South Shields, Leeds, Grimsby, Hull, of course the Port, Liverpool, Swansea, another port, and Bournemouth. They’re going up north, they’re going to Wales. But under 1%. The Board of Guardians, by the way, had the census translated into Yiddish and a committee was established to help households complete the form. Now, can we go on, please? Let’s see the next slide. Now, this is the “Manchester Evening Chronicle.” This is an editorial at the time of the Aliens Act. There’d been a rally. “Britain should not become the dumping ground for the scum of Europe. The dirty, diseased verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil and rates simultaneously should be forbidden to land.” And what you’re going to get, the English way is a very, very mixed response because as I’m saying to you, on one level there is going to be an Aliens Act, but it is not going to be so punitive. And the people who are not going to be allowed in are people who with a political agenda to the evil of the country. They wanted to keep up the anarchists and the communists. People they call, I’m using the language of the time, vagrants, idiots, lunatics. Again, the language of the time. So harsh. Prostitutes, the language of the time. They will be kept up because what is going to happen is inspectors are going to go on every boat and they are also going to check for contagious diseases. Anyone with a contagious disease is going to be set up. So, they set up a role Commission. Lord Rothschild is on the Commission and he says… Can we go on, please?

Because I’m going to talk about a very interesting side issue of his. Thank you. Lord Rothschild is on the Commission and of course, what comes up is the definition of the word Jew. What does the word Jew mean? We’re talking about race here, we’re talking about a separate religion, all the kind of comments I’ve given you. And he says, “A nation is a historical group of men of a recognised cohesion held together by a common enemy.” Now, and he says this, “The holy land can never be more than a centre of Jewish life.” Meanwhile,“ he’s speaking as a British Jew, a member of the House of Lords, and one of the closest friends of the King, and one of the richest men in the world. "Meanwhile, our home is here and we have to show ourselves worthy of the hospitality we enjoy. The distinct but not divergent claims of citizenship and Jewish nationality may exceptional, but so is the history of Israel.” He’s saying that it is complicated. But there’s another man in London, of course, the extraordinary Theodor Herzl who’d only really turns to… Remember, look, he’d been born in Budapest, went to Vienna with his family when he was 20, enrolled at the University of Vienna. I’ve given many lectures on him and I’m sure that you know his story very, very well. At first he was an assimilationist, but incidents at the university and then of course, the Dreyfus case in Paris made him realise there had to be another solution. And his solution is the creation of a Jewish state. And he has the most luck in London. Through Israel Zangwill, he meets Sasha Myers and he addresses the Maccabeeans. And there’s an article in “The Jewish Chronicle.” Also, through influential Jews in London, he meets influential characters like C.P. Scotts, the editor of the “Manchester Guardian” after the ghastly stuff I’ve just told you, and also a different editor.

And also he meets members of the British government through the Rothschilds. Some of the Rothschilds are against, but in the end one or two are in favour. And he meets a man called Joseph Chamberlain and Joseph Chamberlain’s secretary for the colonies. And he is actually going to suggest to Herzl a homeland in Uganda, but I’ll talk about that in a minute. Herzl is asked to give evidence before the Royal Commission and this is what he has to say. “The fact that there is for the first time since Cromwell, a perceptible number of our people in England is the true cause of this Commission. When they cry out against alien immigration, they are quite unconscious of the true cause of their complaint. The Commission must either recommend restrictive legislation or not. If the former and its recommendations are given effect by Parliament, then England will break away from the great provision and principle of free asylum to the oppressed which is hither to been its glory. Though the endeavour to keep out the poor oppressed Jews cannot, I believe be successful, but if the restrictive legislation is not recommended, the mere fact of this Commission having set will notification of England as a place for immigration.” He says this, “The Jews of Eastern Europe cannot stay where they are. Where are they to go? If you find they are not wanted here, then someplace must be found to which they can migrate.” Herzl does try to reassure the establishment.

He does, as I said, he finally convinces Lord Rothschild. At first they thought he was an adventurer. Joseph Chamberlain, remember, has been won over by Herzl and he has his own ideas. Chamberlain, a secretary for the colonies had travelled to Africa, to Kenya because don’t forget, the British government has taken over the trading companies in East Africa and the Uganda Railway is bankrupt. And so, they need white European settlers. They also believe in the notion of Jewish money and they think, why not? Also, let’s help the Jews. So they are going to suggest to Herzl something called the Uganda offer. It wasn’t Uganda actually, it was actually on the borders of Kenya, but it doesn’t matter. It’s called the Uganda offer. And also, Chamberlain had played with the idea of . He wants to help the Jews. So, Theodor Herzl, a controversial figure in London and also after the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, there was a great deal of sympathy for the Jews. So, and Herzl… Chamberlain, when he’s in Africa actually says about Uganda, quote unquote, “It’s just the country for Dr. Herzl.” Ironically the Zionist organisation turns it down and it’s the delegates from Eastern Europe, even those from Kishinev who say it cannot work. I’m going to speak a little more about Herzl’s address to the Commission cause it’s interesting. “I cannot regard the question before the Commission as a small one in comparison with a question for instance, of local housing or local overcrowding. As to these, I know little so far as they affect the districts of the East End. The evidence tells me that questions of overcrowding and housing are at most incidental, and the forces at work are the identical forces at work against our people elsewhere.

The forces of common trade, jealousy, inherited prejudice and of pretended self defence.” He was a very eloquent man. “That Jews themselves should be devising means for excluding their own people from whole districts is to my mind, monstrous.” This is also later going to be echoed by Chaim Weizmann. “I have warned English Jews. What surpasses me is their unpreparedness of a state of affairs they thought they could never arise.” And he says to the Commission, “Jewish charity is responsible for moving of Jews from Russia to America, and also of sending them back. Then there is assimilation. I suppose that means assimilation by intermarriage so that the small stream of our race may be merged and lost in the broad stream of peoples.” And his answer for the Commission is this. “Divert the stream of immigration from this country, from America where as soon as they become a perceptible number, they become a trouble and a burden. For the Jews, their rightful position as a people. I’m convinced it would make for the progress of mankind. The Jews of Europe cannot stay where they are.” And then the Commission asked Herzl a question. “Is immigration a good thing?” “As I’m not an Englishman, but if I were, I would not consider industrious sober and thrifty people undesirable immigrants. I think England will become anti-Semitic if un-diverted immigration could be seen as a threat and create Anglo-Jewish feeling.” So, the main issues that the Commission has to deal with, are these new arrivals undercutting British workers?

What about the overcrowding and the bad sanitation? A quarter of them are destitute and need support from public funds. In fact, they’re getting support from Jewish charities. Some need medical treatment. That’s why Jewish philanthropy set up Jewish hospitals. Higher incidence of criminality, never actually proven. And some were political extremists. Actually, yes. As I said the Commission in the end did report that the entrance of foreigners should not be restricted. But as I said, a department should be set up to look into the character of the immigrants. And let me again repeat because who are the undesirables? It’s very much the language of the time. The criminals, the prostitutes, the lunatics, the idiots, persons of a notoriously bad character, how you determine that, I don’t know. And likely to be a charge on the government will not be admitted. Also an immigrant who within two years fell into any of these categories, they could be ordered by court to leave. And of course, as I’ve already said, everyone must be examined for diseases. Now, in fact, by 1905, the number of aliens in White Chapel receiving poor relief was nil, whereas in the borough of popular, Poplar, beg your pardon, where there were few aliens, but they were English, 6,000 were on relief. And this is what the report said. “Jewish immigrants appear to be industrious and thrifty. They are certainly sober inhabit, and as law abiding as the natives around them.” And this is a very interesting comment from Sir Kenelm Digby who was former Permanent Secretary at the Home Office and he was opposed to restriction. This is an article he wrote for “The Times.”

“However poor a Jew from Eastern Europe may be on landing his habits of thrift, industry, orderliness, and above all the incalculable advantage of sobriety bring about in the great majority of cases a rapid advance in his position.” He also points out in the article that since the Jews had arrived in the East End, 48 public houses had closed. So, this notion that Jews just didn’t get drunk. And it’s fascinating how this whole situation becomes very, very important. Can we go on? Now, there was… Can we look at the next character, please? There you see, and then the Aliens Act is passed. It’s not that restrictive, but the numbers do go down. They go down to about 11 to 12,000 a year up until the first World War. But it can also, it’s been pointed out by some historians that there’s a lull after the Kishinev pogrom and the second Kishinev pogrom, and the phoney revolution of 1905, things get a little bit better. And also don’t forget how bad they have to get before you decide to leave your homeland ‘cause the majority of people were totally poor, remember? And we know many men went on a loan to try and raise the money for the families to come over. And it was a terribly hazardous journey, so you had to be pretty brave to take that journey. And there were lots of reasons why people stayed. They stayed because of family, elderly relatives who… So, the numbers do go down a bit, and then of course it’s curtailed by the first World War. And then after the first World War, then there’s going to be a serious tightening up, both in Britain and America, mainly because of communism and the communist revolution. And then of course, after the Wall Street crash. So, but this is for Aliens Act, it is dealt with by the Jews. Now, can we go on, please?

Now, there was another man who was very, very pro Jewish immigration, and that was Winston Churchill. Fascinatingly complicated character whose life, his huge life, in fact, I’m sure you’ve been reading in the press the whole well, Westminster Abbey and how in the his, they’re talking about him as an imperialist and a Ferrari because whenever there is a survey of the greats of Britain, with a certain generation, Churchill always comes up top. But as I said, he often bumps into Jewish history, and unlike so many of his class, both he and his father surrounded themselves by Jews and Churchill as a young man after his father’s untimely and early death, Churchill was virtually supported by the Sasoons, the Rothschilds and Sir Ernest Cassel. He liked the the cosmopolitans. Look, once in awhile he did say a few strange things, but having said that, compared with those of his class, he’s way above. And at the time he is MP for Manchester Northwest. And of course, Manchester Northwest is a third Jewish. And Churchill writes a letter to Nathan Laskey, who is a prominent member of the Jewish community in Manchester. And this is the letter. “The bill introduced into the House of Commons proposes to establish in this country a loathsome system of police interference, an espionage of passports and arbitrary power exercised by police officers who in all probability will not understand the language of those upon whom they accord on to sit in judgement . The bill looks like an attempt to gratify a small but noisy section of our own supporters.”

Now, and then he says, “English working men are not so selfish as to be unsympathetic towards the victims of circumstance and oppression. They do not respond well in any marked degree to the anti-Semitism, which has darkened recent continental history.” He’d been in Paris visiting the Rothschilds, the French Rothschilds at the time of the Dreyfus affair and he was absolutely horrified. “Which had darkened recent continental history. And I, for one, believe that they discovered an attempt to shut out the stranger from our land because he is pouring trouble and resent a measure which without any proven necessity, smirches those ancient traditions of freedom and hospitality for which Britain has so long been renowned.” And Nathan Lasky replies to him, “You have won the entire gratitude of the whole Jewish community in the entire country.” However, some newspapers actually said Churchill’s opposition was on orders from Rothschild and Churchill was at a public meeting in Manchester because remember it’s his local constituency and he is the main speaker, so he’s talking about the Kishinev pogrom. And this is after the Aliens Act has been passed. And he says this, “The number of victims have been enormous, many thousands of weak and defenceless people have suffered terribly. Old people, little children and feeble women who are incapable of offering resistance and could not rely on the forces of law and order. But those outrageous were not spontaneous, but rather in the nature of a deliberate plan, combined to create a picture so terrible that one could hardly distinguish in its grim reality, even amidst the darkness of Russia.” And by the way, Edward VII himself actually protested to his nephew Nicholas II, again because he felt very strongly about these particular issues. Now, on the platform with Winston Churchill was a young man who had just arrived from abroad to take up a post at the Manchester Technical University. And let’s have a look at who that was. And of course, that was Chaim Weizmann.

And ironically, Chaim Weizmann is going to develop a very, very close relationship with Winston Churchill. And even more importantly perhaps, with Arthur James Balfour. And what I’m going to do next week, I’m going to give a session on Balfour and Weizmann and he writes to his fiance Vera, Vera Chatzman, who he later married. Who by the way, those of you who are involved with WIZO, she was one of the five founder members of WIZO. He actually chastises the Anglo Jewish community. He says, “What is wrong with the Anglo Jewish establishment? Why aren’t they braver?” And there’s a wonderful story when he meets Balfour. When Balfour was prime minister, he… 'Cause Balfour, by the way, had the nextdoor constituency to Churchill. And there’s a wonderful story which Weizmann writes about. And according to Weizmann, Balfour says, “Why didn’t you take Uganda when it was offered?” And Weizmann says to Balfour, “If someone offered you Paris as your capital, would you take it?” And Balfour said to Weizmann, “No, of course not. London’s my capital.” And Weizmann says to Balfour, “And Jerusalem was my capital when London was a marsh.” And that according to Weizmann, Balfour said, “I didn’t know there were Jews like you.” And Weizmann says, “I speak for millions.” So it’s interesting, and that’s why England is so important in so many ways because Zionism, if you think about it, Herzl’s in London. It’s the British who come up with that offer and now Weizmann is in London and he of course is going to be the prime reasoning behind the Balfour Declaration of 1917. And there’s going to be a lot more about that later on. So, basically by… Can we go on, please? Okay, and then we come to World War I.

By 1914 there were 300,000 Jews in England, and one of the problems was that the largest portion of those were Eastern European now, and they had a hatred of Russia. Now, 55,000 Jews served in the British Armed Forces and 10,000 are going to die on the battlefield. World War I, it’s such an evil war and if you want to understand the 20th century, I’ve said this to you many times, you have to understand the first World War and that terrible cheapening of life. Remember, they thought they were fighting a glory war, and what did they fight in the end? It was horrible and horrible and bloody. Think of that poem by Isaac Rosenberg, the Jewish war poet. “Immortals, I killed and killed with slaughter mad. I killed till all my strength was gone, and still they rose to torture me for devil’s only die in fun.” Now, already prior to the war, there were Jews in the Army, in the Navy, and when war breaks out, this is what Chief Rabbi Hertz gave a sermon. “Kingdoms shake and nation’s tremble, the shout of the warrior and the roar of battle arms to the end of the earth because of the fury of the oppressor.” That was his Shabbat prayer at the outbreak of war. “The Jewish Chronicles” headlined, “England has been all she could be to the Jews. Jews will be all they can be to England.” Now, it’s fascinating because in Germany, a man called Fulda, a Jew of course, had written his petition of the 91 signed by most of the great intellectuals of Germany saying we are fighting for , German culture. So you have the German Jews fighting for Germany. Einstein, by the way, thought war was madness. You have British Jews fighting for Britain, you have Jews in the Habsburg Empire and tragically in Russia, Jews conscripted into the Russian Army.

And before the passing of the Military Service Act of 1916, 10,000 Jews had joined the army, including 1,140 officers. There was anti alienism, particularly after the sinking of the Lusitania. In fact, I can tell you a personal experience, my grandfather’s name was Reichman, and they were in Newcastle. They had a Jewish bakery and shop. And his shop, according to my father, the family memory, his shop was stoned, and he put a picture of his five sons in military uniform in the window before it all abated, and this is… But there were riots, there were anti Jewish rights in Leeds. And Jews were turned away by recruiting officers because so many Jews had foreign sounding names. But in fact, the first officer to be killed was a Jew. So, important to remember that Jews are going to die along with Englishmen. Now, Lucien Wolf, there was a real problem. Lucien Wolf was a real Anglo-Jew part excellence. He was chairman of the Anglo-Jewish Association and the conjoint of the Board of Deputies. He wanted to be an upper class English gentleman. And he says this. “I do not agree that Russian Jews of military age living in the UK have any right to object to services in the British Army on the grounds of Russian persecution of the Jews. Many non Jewish British subjects hold the internal policy of the Russian Empire in as much detestation, but they do not on that account hesitate to serve in the British Army. There need be no deportation of the Jew if he does his obvious duty.” He actually talks about deporting Russian Jews. But then something happens. Can we turn on, please? A fascinating side story. The Zionist Organisation was in Berlin when World War I breaks out. And the story is, who should the Jews support? British Jews fighting for Britain, German Jews fighting for Germany, French Jews fighting for France, Russian Jews?

In fact, 300 Russian Jews did go back to fight for Russia but that’s another story which my friend Sandra Myers knows far more about than me, but it’s an interesting story. But in the main, something else is going to happen. Now, there was this young firebrand in the Zionist Organisation. Can you flick onto his picture and then flick back for me, Harriet? Vladimir Jabotinsky, the most adored and the most hated of any of the Zionist leaders. 1880 to 1940. But an extraordinary man who really did strive the world, along with Weizmann, along with Ben-Gurion, along with Begin. They were all giants in their own way. Can we go back, please? Because this is quite a story. Okay, now in that… Jabotinsky reckoned the British were going to win. What happened was, in a way, the Turks did a huge favour because they began expelling Russian Jews from Palestine as enemy aliens because Russia was fighting against Turkey. And most of them landed up in Egypt. And in Egypt you have a fascinating situation. They are going to come into contact with Lieutenant John Patterson. Patterson is going to be the commander of the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia. And this is a quote from Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. And in fact Patterson is going to be sandak of his brother Yoni, the great Yoni who died at, of course, at Entebbe the great hero, the great poet. That man, that British Army officer was sandak at his Brit. Okay? And this is what Benjamin Netanyahu said of Patterson. “Patterson was the commander of the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia. And as such, he can be called the godfather of the Israeli Army.

Never in our history has there been in our midst, a Christian friend of his penetration and devotion.” So, who was he? He was born in Ireland. His mother was a Catholic, his father was a Protestant. He was raised as a Bible reading Protestant but not religious. But he knew the Bible inside out as history. Now, he wasn’t wealthy, so, but he was clever. And like many young boys in the history of Empire, they join the army. He’s clever. He goes to the office’s training school. He’s a specialist in engineering and he works throughout the empire. He’s in India where he’s a tiger hunter. He’s in Africa, game keeping, he’s building a railway, and his workers are attacked by these terrible lions and he has huge courage. He’s very badly wounded. He becomes a legend. Theodore Roosevelt was a great games hunter. He adores Patterson. He’s a legend. He’s also… The British at their best are adventurers. They’re not just a nation of shopkeepers, they’re a nation of adventurers. And he was such, He was also a womaniser. There was a scandal and a shooting. And he is then, he’s in the Boer War, but he has a very distinguished record, but it’s in East Africa that there is this awful scandal. So, he hasn’t got much idea of promotion, but he returns to the army, he’s sent to Flanders, and but no chance of promotion because of this scandal over a woman.

So he goes to his friend, General Maxwell, who is in charge of the British Army in Egypt. And this is where you find Vladimir Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor. The great hero later on dies at Tel Hai, creating the Zion Mule Corps. They haven’t yet made a decision to fight for Palestine, the British Army. In fact, Churchill, who was first Lord of the Admiralty, wanted the attack on Gallipoli to knock Turkey out of the war. And Maxwell in the end decides to offer the Jews a supply and support unit. They’re be the mule drivers. Jabotinsky is insulted, Trumpeldor’s pragmatic. He said, “Any front leads to Zion,” and who is to lead the unit? Maxwell offers the commands to Palestine and he doesn’t care about his racy past. Maxwell is a Bible thumper. He’s brave. And he later writes about it in, he writes a book called “With the Zionists in Gallipoli.” And this is what he wrote. “It was strange, therefore, that I, so imbued with Jewish tradition have arrived in Egypt at the psychological moment when General Sir John Maxwell, the CNC was looking for a suitable officer to recruit a Jewish unit. A Jewish unit had been unknown for 2,000 years, since the days of the Maccabees. Those heroic sons of Israel. He knew nothing of my knowledge of Jewish history and my sympathy for the Jewish race. When as a boy I eagerly devoured the records of the glorious deeds of the Jewish military captains such as Joshua, Joab, Gideon, Yehuda Hamaccabi Maccabeus. I never dreamt that I in a small way would become a captain of a host of the children of Israel.”

And this is March 1915. Trumpeldor, this is to the Jewish refugees in Egypt. “History is giving us an opportunity which has not been given us in almost all the centuries of our exile. We were the first to fight with our blood for the liberation of our land. We’ll be followed by thousands of Jews.” And there were 650 men in the Zion Mule Corps. They were blessed by the chief rabbi of Alexandria. And of course, as you know, Gallipoli was an absolute disaster. But the Zion Mule Corps distinguished itself with huge honour. And Patterson said many of these Zionists were fearless men. Patterson is undulated back to London. Jabotinsky’s in London. He’s pursuing his dream of a Jewish army to liberate Palestine. He’s not having much success, but he has become a friend of Patterson. They have a close relationship. And Kitchener was violently opposed to the idea, he didn’t like Jews at all, but he’s killed in 1916. And Patterson took Jabotinsky to Parliament to meet a man called Captain Leopold Amery, who he converted to the cause. And Amery, no, I haven’t got time to tell you about Amery, but he was another fascinating character. Ironically, his youngest son becomes a Nazi, works for Hitler and is executed for treason. But that’s another, another story. But Amery at the time is converted to the idea and he brings it to the attention of Lord Darby, who’s the new Secretary of War who’d replaced Kitchener. He supports the idea and he, then the story is who… Because the idea is we can recruit Russian Jews from the East End to fight, and who should lead the army?

And the decision, and it’s Jabotinsky who says it has to be Colonel Patterson. One day I hope he will be our general. There was terrible opposition from the Anglo Jewish establishment, from Ronald Rothschild, from Lord Swaythling, and as a result, it wasn’t to be called the Jewish Brigade, it’s going to be called the 38th Royal Fusiliers. So, Russian Jews are going to fight for Palestine, not for Russia. So, because they’re going to be part of Allenby’s army, the decision is now taken to try and take the whole of the Turkish empire. So, and they were actually known by the other men as the Jew-siliers. 1,000 men depart. And in fact, Leo Amery was very important in the story. He was later assistant secretary to Balfour’s government and was significant in the Balfour Declaration. Now, the the 38 Fusiliers were a great success and Jabotinsky goes out there. It’s also the 39th Fusiliers, and in fact, Jabotinsky was the first Jew to cross the Jordan River. Theodore Roosevelt actually wrote to him. Remember, he’d known Patterson. Patterson’s famous, he’s the great lion hunter. To have the Sons of Israel smite Amnon on the under your leadership is something worthwhile. Now, Patterson, of course, so what happens is the Legion is going to be in Palestine and we haven’t got time to go into that. But I do want to tell you a little bit more about Patterson. This is a distinct description of him from Israel Zangwill. “A man of the simplest and most lovable character, imperturbable, breezy, hopeful and humorous, a crusader in a truly Christian spirit whose aim is to restore Palestine, not to Christendom, but as the only homeless people on earth.” He is going to become an incredible supporter of Jabotinsky.

And after, later on, because of course, Jabotinsky is going to become a terrible thorn in the side of many of the Zionist establishment, once a friend of Weizmann, they’re going to fall out. He’s banned from Palestine after the Arab rights of 1929 and '30. And it’s Patterson who is going… He’s actually in South Africa at the time, and it’s Patterson who goes to report to Jabotinsky on the Oloseroth trial, which I’m sure most of you know about. And in fact, Patterson himself blamed much of the troubles in the mandate on the mandate government, particularly on a man called General Bowles who was the first military governor. And he accuses him of selectively and embedding at the lower level administrators who were not there for their ability, but for anti-Semitic beliefs. Many of these characters of the army had come from Russia where they’d been fighting the communists. And this is what Patterson said of General Bowles, “An out and out anti-Seminite who would leave no stone unturned to destroy the Jewish national home.” In World War II, he’s a great friend of the Jews. He goes to America, he co-founds the American Friends for a Jewish Palestine and he lobbies and lobbies in London for a Jewish army. And of course, when Jabotinsky finally dies, Jabotinsky has a secretary called Benjamin Netanyahu. They be persuade Jabotinsky to go to America to fundraise for the cause. He dies in America and Patterson is a poll bearer at Jabotinsky’s funeral. He is a great friend of the eagle in America, and he goes on supporting them until he dies in 1947. A very unusual character, very much behind the establishment of a Jewish fighting force. So, I’ve tried to give you a broad picture of Britain. The good, the bad, and the ugly, but of course, a lot more of that as we went. So, let’s have a look at the questions.

Q&A and Comments:

I will come back to Patterson because in July, we’re going to look at heroes again. And I want to talk about some of the British heroes of Zionism. So, let’s have a look at questions.

Myrna says, “My grandfather and his brother came to London from Russia, Grodno, and then to Canada after some time leaving your sister in London. Boer is pronounced and spelled Boer.” Yes, thanks Dennis. I’m so bad at pronunciation.

Jerry says, “The rich aristocratic Jews restrict our numbers and so doing so condemned hundreds of thousands to death. In London many Jewish employers would turn away new job seekers as these employers were conscious of public feelings. Yes, Jew was turned against Jew. Oh, how history could have changed during the Battle of Spion Kop during the Boer War. I was told that on a single day, on that hilltop was Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill and Louise Botha, Boer General, not all the same time, but on the same day.” Yeah. Oh, that is fascinating. Contra history is fascinating, isn’t it?

Q: “How did my family end up in England?”

A: That’s an interesting question. My mother’s family were Sephardi. Well, my grandmother’s family was Sephardi. They must have been conversos because they came to Holland in the 1640s and to England in 1740. And then my grandmother committed a terrible sin. She intermarried a German Jew and my father’s family, one half of them came from Krakow.

Q: “Are there any studies on about how well the progeny of Jewish immigrants have done? For in my family, the first generation born Americans had college degrees, most became professionals or successful businessmen. Economically or upper middle class or lower upper class. How have other groups strived in the country so much?”

A: It’s very interesting, Arlene. It’s very true of the East End of London, so many of those Jews within a generation went into business and they went into what I would call service industry. They went into business, they went into universities, into the professions. A high street, if you look at the British High Street in the 60s, the majority, 80% of the rag trade. Now, what other groups have done very well? In fact, the East End is an amazing study. The groups that tend to do best are those who come from a strong cultural background, that’s for sure. People who’ve been robbed of their culture in the main, it’s more difficult for them to do so well in society. The Jews are a fascinating case study. “It seems there’s always sympathy for the Jews after they tried to wipe us out.” We are a contentious lot, aren’t we?

Q: “The U.S. got lots of non Jewish immigrants from Germany, Italy, Poland, Ireland. Why did so few of them go to England?”

A: Well, look, basically, why not go to the land of opportunity? The majority of Jews, the majority of people going to America in the 19th century, they’re either escaping persecution… Think how many Irish went because of the potato famine. Starvation, Italians, the war of unification, Germany, all the unrest in Germany between 1815 and 1871. Why go to England when America offered it was the land of opportunity. Was it? But that’s another story. Yes.

Q: “I’m curious to other groups have accomplished much?”

A: Yes, of course they have. Yeah, the Jewish story, and remember I’m teaching judo centric history. Many groups of… I mean, the Chinese are, if you look at the Chinese and Britain today, they’re having an extraordinary story, and I know the same is true in America. So are the Koreans, so are the Hindu community. It’s fascinating. The East Africans, those from Uganda, that’s another huge success story. It does seem to be, I’m not a sociologist. I’m only, this is secondhand, but I’m told by sociologists a lot depends on whether you have a strong culture or whether you were robbed of it. One of the problems, and you got to remember, we can’t talk about the African immigration into Britain because there are so many. I was told by an African historian, there are something like 80 different groups with different histories. So, the story of migration is fascinating, but you’ve got to remember the Jews are the first non Christian minority of any number. That’s what makes it an interesting one.

This is from Val. “My maternal grandfather, a tailor from Krakow, arrived in England in 1906 intending to go to America, but lacking the five pounds for the fair, settled in Poland in London, where my grandfather and children joined him.” This is very much a story. I mean, one of the family stories is another family story is of course, that they didn’t speak Yiddish. And if you think about the ships, they might have told them they were in New York. In fact, they were in Holland. They got more money to go back. Some of them turned up in Scotland. They didn’t know the difference. Others came because they had Lansman. And of course, in New York it was the Lansman shaft. And in New York, 90% of them went into the tailoring business. Now, in London, the same happened. Look, they weren’t good people. The Rothschild families provided sewing machines. The Board of Guardians gave sewing machines to new immigrants. Look, the sweatshops were terrible and it was Jewish exploitation of other Jews. But in the end, the majority of them did get out of the East End. Of course, there were some poor that were left behind just as there were many of them were socialists, Bundists. I didn’t really have enough time to go into that. But the Yiddish theatre thrived in the East End. Later on Yiddish cinema, they brought their anarchy with them, the anarchist ideas. Don’t forget the Battle of Sydney Street. So, it’s a big story.

This is Martin. “My grandparents came from Warsaw in 1900 to 1905.” Yep.

Q: Martin Silk. “I have their original identity books in which their entries for all their homes and places of employment, including fines for not rendering this a change within two weeks. There is a stamp headed Aliens order, 1-9-6-0, notifying that they no longer had to register changes. They had to keep these books. Was this part of the Aliens Act?”

A: Yes. Thank you, Martin.

“Regarding World War I, I find it so strange that German and Austrian Jews were killing French and British Jews. This concept is so foreign to Jews today,”

David said. Back to the old canard, what does it mean to be a Jew? German Jews were German in the main. The Habsburg Empire is slightly more complicated because in the Habsburg Empire you had Czech Jews, Hungarian Jews, Jews from Vienna, Austrian Jews. In the main, they turned to German culture. Of course, was it the show that forged our identities? It’s one of the problems, David, and when I have a meeting with Wendy, we’re going to talk more about debates and I do want to get four luminaries to each take a position on the word Jew and what it means.

Noah, “I suggest to call B. Netanyahu, the defendant and the current MP. Sorry you cannot include the terrorist Begin with names like Jabotinsky, Ben-Gurion and Weizmann.” Noah, I didn’t say I approved. I want to be very, very careful here. I never talk politics because I don’t, I’m a historian, I don’t, what I’m saying is whether you loved him or hated him, and I know that a lot of our group have admiration for Begin. Yes, he used terror tactics, no question. But in the end they walked the world. And that’s all I’m saying about them. So you might not approve of any of them or some of them. I would perhaps agree with you that that Netanyahu is a different category, but he is still the Prime Minister of Israel. So, I just want to, I try not to get involved in politics because it is not my area of expertise. Of course, I have my opinions. We all do. So, when I’m talking about Netanyahu, I only brought him into it because I find it fascinating that the English, or that rather the Irishman who was a member of a colonel in the army who was a leader of the Jewish brigade, stood sandak at the Brit of Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son. Benjamin Netanyahu of course, was the father of the current Prime Minister and the brother. So, that’s why I told the story.

Yes, I know Begin hanged British soldiers and it was a terrible, terrible shunder. I know that. I’ve tried very… It’s almost impossible to… I dunno if you’ve noticed that the one thing we’ve really sidestepped, the group, is teaching post '48 Israel. We bring in people to discuss it. The reason we’ve decided not to do it deliberately is because we work very hard to make a community here. And I think there are two things we shouldn’t really discuss, and one is Israeli politics and the other one would be religious differences between Jews. It’s fascinating because I really believe strongly we’re like a family and I want to keep it that way. And I’m sure you do.

This is Monty. “The execution of Israel Lipski in 1887 for murder in the East End caused panic in the acculturated Jewish establishment about the case.” Yes, yes. We have a lecture on Lipski from wonderful Helen Fry. We’re having it, Monty.

“When you deal with the Balfour Declaration, please refer to the significant contribution of Nahum Sokolow in influencing the French ministry, support the Jewish interest in Palestine.” Gerald, we did look at the Balfour Declaration awhile back. Now, it all depends when the website comes out because we’ve got lots of lectures on this particular period of history. “I’m still wondering why other European non Jews didn’t go to Britain, which much closer to their homeland than U.S.”

Well, if you’re going to make the journey, America is the land of opportunity and Britain also, they would’ve heard that the Britain was already saturated. It’s a good question, Shelley. I’ll try and do a bit more research for you. Ah, “Churchill crossed the floor from the Torries because the Torries voted for the Alien Act, and he didn’t.”

Here’s the Michael Block. “Britain and Begin and the underground were freedom fighters. They only attack British police and soldiers. Terrorists attacked civilians.” You see the problem I have, Noah? We have people with very strong views on both sides of the fence. So, let me leave it at that and just say that in the end, we all have our own views and I believe good intentions. Jewish history is problematic. It is controversial, but in the end, I think I do believe in the destiny of the Jewish people. But at this particular period, the bulk of the world Jewry, were not Zionists. It’s important to remember that. Certainly the Jews who were settling in Britain and America, and all over Europe, they were citizens of the countries in which they lived, of the Jewish religion. In Eastern Europe, the bulk of the religious, only the Mashiach. All you’ve got to do is look at the numbers. In 1933, there were 215,000 Jews in Palestine who had answered the call of Zionism. So, as the Americans say, go figure.

Anyway, I wish you all a… You won’t see me anymore this week. I’m actually going to Vienna tomorrow. I’m going to the heart of… I don’t know what you would call it. Turn of the century Vienna is my most, in many ways I find one of the most fascinating, complicated places in the world and I have the wonderful good fortune of being able to take my grandson as a very belated bar mitzvah present to Vienna. So, I’ll see you next week and lots and lots of, well, we got one or two more.

Q: “When Isaiah declared,” Roberta Biddle, “I am a Jew, and that was his answer to what nationality do you consider yourself?”

A: Yeah, whatever that means. He lived in Britain. He also said he was an Englishman and he loved being a fellow of all souls, Roberta. The heart of the British establishment. He was the first Jew to be so.

“Many prominent Jews rejected Zionism, not to be accused of dual loyalty.” Exactly. The major critics of the Balfour Declaration were members of the Anglo-Jewish establishment, the conjoint letter, which is sent to “The Times” by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Board of Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association. Okay? Complicated story.

Q: “When does Zionism become a majority movement in the Jewish world?”

A: Please define Zionism for me. Is it the establishment and support of the Jewish state, or is it to actually go and live there? What does it mean? We need some definitions, ladies and gentlemen.

Take care all of you. And again, Emily, thank you so much and God bless. Bye.