Jews Flashcards
(3 cards)
Overview
Jews moved to Scotland to escape religious and economic persecution in Russia.
Settled in Edinburgh, Dundee and mostly Glasgow
By 1914 there were around 10,000 Jews in Glasgow as housing was cheap in the Gorbals
Jobs
-Jews opened bakeries, butchers, tailoring shops and sold cigarettes (Geoffrey tailored and kilt maker)
-some Scots accused the Jews of laying low wages and operating sweat shops but these were probably linked to antisemitism
-by 1939, Jews made a significant impact on the legal and medical professions moving to more middle class areas of Glasgow (Sir Ludwig Guttman)
-some Jews joined leftwing political parties showing how much they felt Scottish
-not seen as a threat as they were self employed
Assimilation
-most couldn’t speak English but Yiddish was spoken int he streets
-the number of Jews was small and communities were self contained
-looked after each other and so not a drain on the poor law
-still discriminated against jn places like bowling clubs that refused to let them join
