5. A foraging land

Question 1

Describe the experiences of Jews in Spitalfields

Answer 1

• Jews experienced anti-Judaism and state discrimination
• In 1881, after Jews were blamed for the assassination of the Czar, there were pogroms aimed at Jews
• The 1882 May Laws then restricted where Jews could live, banned them from owning property and put quotas on how many Jews could attend secondary school and higher education
• Thousands of Jews arriving from Russian, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe migrated westwards
• Those who remained in Britain were forced into the cheapest places to live and many were poor pedlars and traders selling second-hand clothes in the ‘rag trade’

Question 2

Why did Jews migrate to Spitalfields?

Answer 2

• In the mid nineteenth century, increasing numbers of German Ashkenazi Jews began to arrive in Britain attracted to its relative freedoms, economic opportunities, lack of immigration controls and predominantly in search for work
• Later on, thousands of Jews also migrated to escape pogroms