Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Several Persons Arrested During Attacks on Jews, Shops and Synagogues in Britain

August 4, 1947
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

A number of persons have been arrested in Glasgow and Liverpool as a result of a series of attacks on Jews, synagogues and Jewish businesses, in the aftermath to the hanging of two British sergeants, Marvin Paice and Clifford Martin, in Palestine. Meanwhile, heavy police guards have been placed around all London synagogues.

While the situation grew tense in such widespread centers as Liverpool, Hull, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Brighton, a delegation of Jewish veterans of both world wars placed wreaths on the Cenotaph in Whitehall, England’s national shrine to its war dead, in memory of Sgts. Paice and Martin. The delegation was headed by legless Brunel Cohen, former treasurer of the British Logion, and Edmund Rothschild, a battery commander in the Jewish Brigade.

In London’s East End Jewish passersby have been threatened and frequently shouts are hurled at them that “Hitler killed too few of you.” In Manchester the police this morning received a flood of calls reporting many incidents throughout the city, including the stoning of individuals and the smashing of windows of shops owned by Jews. Slogans threatening Jews appeared in Glasgow’s Jewish district, Gorbols. Similar incidents occurred in Hull and Brighton.

Flying squads of police patrolled Liverpool last night following an attack on a Jewish doctor in a cafe, the smashing of synagogue and shop windows and the burning down of a building in a Jewish cemetery. In Birkenhead, a nearby suburb, the cattle slaughterers refused to kill in accordance with the Jewish ritual.

Fascist provocatours attempted to fan the flames Saturday by calling the Foreign Office and “warning” officials that a bomb had been planted there. A therough search of the building discosed nothing.

Only a few London nowspapers commented on the wave of anti-Jewish incidents, but they were unanimous in condemning it and demanding that the porpetrators be punished. Meanwhile, the press campaign calling for restrictive measures against the Palestine Jewish community continued unabated with the Sunday Times blaming the Jewish Agency and the Haganah for not preventing the “executions.”

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement