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Based on numerous in-depth and personal interviews with members of three generations, this is the first comprehensive study of German-Jewish refugees who came to England in the 1930s. The author addresses questions such as perceptions of Germany and Britain and attitudes towards Judaism. On the basis of many case studies, the author shows how the refugees adjusted, often amazingly successfully, to their situation in Britain. While exploring the process of acculturation of the German-Jews in Britain, the author challenges received ideas about the process of Jewish assimilation in general, and that of the Jews in Germany in particular, and offers a new interpretation in the light of her own empirical data and of current anthropological theory. "...a scholarly yet readable book...pioneering work." * Journal of Jewish Studies

Continental Britons

Introduction











I. Problems of Identity



II. Concepts of Assimilation and Ethnic Identity







1. The Process of Jewish Assimilation in Germany











The Debate of German-Jewish Assimilation



Towards a Re-definition of German-Jewish Ethnic Identity







2. Life Under the Threat of Nazism











The Crisis of the German-Jewish Identity



A Period of Re-orientation



The Significance of the Eastern European Jewish Immigrants



Aspects of Jewish-Gentile Relationships in the 1930s



Effects of the Nazi Policies on the German-Jewish Community







3. Emigration











Academics



The Medical Profession



The Legal Profession



Artists



Business People



November 1938







4. Search for New Roots











The Burden of the Past



German-Jewish Institutions







5. The Ambiguities of Ethnic Identification











England-A New Haven?



Germany-A Winter's Tale







6. 'Continental' Britons











Problems of Identity



Elements of Continental Ethnicity



Encounters with Anglo-Jewry



The Third Generation







Conclusions







Bibliography



Index