By From Tailors to Trawlers exhibition highlights impact of WWI on the Jewish community
Paula Kitching, author of Britain’s Jews and the First World War, will deliver two talks on Thursday, July 14, as part of a wider two-day exhibition at Grimsby Town Hall.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled their homelands in Eastern Europe during the late 19th century to escape persecution.
A small but significant number of Jewish refugees made their first landfall in Grimsby as the Jewish population grew steadily, reaching a peak of about 450 around 1900.
Many of the Jewish families established businesses in the east of the town, particularly along Freeman Street and Cleethorpe Road, and to serve this community, a synagogue was built on nearby Heneage Road.
The two-day exhibition will include photographs, documents, and artefacts relating to members of the Jewish community who served in the armed forces during the Great War.
It will also examine aspects of the history of the community in Grimsby, including the synagogue, the Jewish cemetery in Nunsthorpe and local businesses.
Adrian Wilkinson, Archivist at Lincs Inspire, said: “This exhibition will tell the fascinating story of the contribution that Grimsby’s Jewish community made to the war effort. It will also shed light on the lives of Jewish people in the town, particularly the businesses which began to flourish within a few years of their arrival.”
This event is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and is in partnership with British Jews in the First World War, We Were There Too, a unique cross-community project created to capture, record, and preserve the impact, experience, and contribution of Britain’s Jewish communities during the First World War era.
The exhibition takes place at Grimsby Town, Bremerhaven Room on Thursday, 14th and Friday, 15th July, 10 am to 4 pm on both days.
The talk takes place at the same venue on Thursday, 14th July, 11 am – focus on Britain, 2 pm focus on Grimsby.
(Image: Lincs Inspire)
