Britain's Jews in the First World War

By Paula Kitchens  

Amberley Publishing, 2019

Reviewed by Michael P. Kihntopf

 

Members of the 38th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
All-Jewish Unit from London's East End

In my reviews over the years I have often talked about the complexity of the Great War.  Paula Kitchings, who describes herself as a historian and writer, has added a new level to the myriads of tiers that I would not have seen if it wasn’t for this work. Britain’s Jews in the First World War comes out of the author’s work as project manager of the Heritage Lottery Fund-supported project We Were There Too (Website). The project brings together the many threads of British Jews’ contributions (those from the many dominions and colonies are included) in the Great War through existing documentation and interviews with relatives of some of the war’s participants.  

Kitchings makes it very clear that those solders who died in the war are well documented, but those who survived have nearly disappeared, as have those who contributed on the home front in various action committees and foundations. Moreover, women’s participation is even more obscure because of the tradition of changing their names at marriage. I can only imagine how complicated the incident board in her research lab must appear.

Sappers at Work
by Jewish Royal Engineer David Bomberg

Kitchings estimated that the Jewish population in August 1914 was nearly 250,000 to 300,000 in a total British population of 41 million. Of those 250,000 plus subjects, nearly 13 to 14 percent served in the military. She does not include newly arrived emigrés from Eastern Europe in her text. (I recommend War and Revolution: Russian Jews and Conscription in Britain, 1917 by Harold Shukman for that subject, which I reviewed for the Journal of Military History in 2008.) From her research into the British Jewry Book of Honour, published in 1922, she noted that there were five recipients of the Victoria Cross, 15 received the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and 49 were awarded Distinguished Service Orders.

The author deftly relates their stories in an abbreviated form. To complement those depictions, she also delves into the many organizations which existed on the home front which encouraged the Jewish young men to contribute to the war effort. These stories are laced with notations about the discrimination and prejudice that existed toward the Jewish community. I was appalled to read about recruiters (enlistment was still voluntary during the first years) turning away Jews from enlistment because of their religion, including professionals who could have made a difference in caring for the wounded. Overshadowing the rejection was the never-ending unfounded criticism of the Jewish community for not wholeheartedly supporting the war effort even in light of the many articles about Jewish soldiers sacrificing their lives for the good of the regiment, plus fund raisers who assisted families left destitute by the death of a father.  

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Kitchens has given the Great War’s aficionados a brilliant work to add to their libraries, as if they weren’t big enough. Her prose is easily read and thought-provoking as well as very revealing regarding Victorian attitudes and how they changed as the war grew bloodier by the month. Expect something more than a dull read.

Michael P. Kihntopf