JHSE | Jewish Historical Society of England

First message from new JHSE President

Dear JHSE Members, It is a great pleasure to write my first message as your new President. As I take on this role I am humbled by the...

British Jews in Jeopardy - 1933-1945 and Beyond: The Role of the Trades Advisory Council

by Lenny Goodrich Introduction “A Nation….is a group of persons united by a common error about their ancestry and a common dislike of their neighbours”. i We are indebted to the family of the late Maurice Orbach (former Labour MP and prominent Zionist) for depositing extensive papers and other material with the National Archive relating to a significant, yet under-reported aspect of pre-war years Anglo-Jewish life. Orbach was the influential general secretary of the Tr

Jewish Historical Society of England

The Jewish Historical Society of England is a membership-based society with a wealth of resources:

lectures and visits
access to archives
a peer-reviewed journal
research awards
a thriving community of local branches & more.

Since 1893...

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Branches

JHSE branches bring history alive on a local level with a variety of events and activities throughout the year

South London, Kent & Surrey

News

Recommended listening

Unholy: Two Jews on the News is a podcast hosted by Jonathan Freedland and Yonit Levi and in a recent episode on the medieval image of the Jew and why its lasted, former JHSE President, Prof Miri Rubin is their expert guest. Listen here Or watch on Youtube Episode description Three of the oldest myths about Jews — relating to money, blood and the way they look — were forged in medieval Christian Europe, mostly in places where there were almost no Jews to observe. Miri Rubin,

Upcoming Book Launch in London

A unique and exciting event that will combine a book launch for James Brown's book, Moral Superpower in the Cold War (Bloomsbury, 2026) with a public event for Avram Taylor's BA/Leverhulme funded research project, Jewish Activism and Anglo-Jewish Identity in Cold War Britain: The Campaign for Soviet Jewry. This campaign was one of the most significant forms of Jewish activism during the postwar era. James Brown's research looks at how the USSR responded to Western support for

NGG Conference 2026: Voice, Narrative, and (Self-)Representation

Monday 11 May 2026 | UCL | Free to attend The New Generation Group of the Jewish Historical Society of England invites you to its third annual conference: Voice, Narrative, and (Self-)Representation, held at UCL on Monday 11 May 2026. This theme confronts a central question in Jewish Studies: who gets to speak, who tells their story, and who listens? This conference explores how Jews and Jewish communities have expressed themselves – and how they have been represented, sympat