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Panikos Panayi, Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria in Britain, 1933–1970: Their Image in AJR Information, German History, Volume 29, Issue 4, December 2011, Pages 674–675, https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghr031
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Extract
As the review section of this journal would suggest, German Jews probably form the most thoroughly researched ethnic minority in history. Apart from the new approaches which academics develop, local historians in Germany have also devoted much time to this group. This means that we probably now have a history of every Jewish community which had existed in Germany until 1939. It may also be true that the efforts of local enthusiasts, scholars and Nazi hunters means that we know the fate of virtually every Jew who lived in Germany when the Nazis came to power.
The study of German Jewry also extends to the exile communities which emerged following emigration during the course of the 1930s. A significant group emerged in Britain, which has resulted in the development of a self-standing historiography independent of any German research, and to the emergence of a Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies based at the University of London, with its own Yearbook. The claim on the back cover of the book under consideration here, that ‘This book is the first historical study ever written on the Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia who settled in Britain’ following Hitler's accession to power, is simply not true. The historiography as a whole divides into three possible categories. The first essentially views Britain positively because of its acceptance of around 70,000 refugees. The second takes a more critical approach, focusing especially upon the limits of British immigration policy and internment in World War Two. The third is celebratory in nature and examines the impact of refugees from Nazism in Britain. Anthony Grenville's book essentially rejects the second position, as evidenced by his attacks on Tony Kushner, whose early work focused upon the limits of British generosity on several occasions. Grenville's volume fits most comfortably into the first approach.
