Page 396 [396]
OCR
The Image of the Jewish Street Seller in Nineteenth Century London an almost uninterrupted flow of immigrants. The migrations of that time can be divided into three major waves: 1. 1750-1815. Migrations taking place before the Congress of Vienna brought from about 8,000 to 10,000 Jews to Great Britain (Ibidem: 41). The immigrants originated mostly from territories belonging now to the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. They settled in the biggest cities and harbors of the British Isles. 2. 1830-1870. The first data determining the number of Jewish inhabitants of London show that by the early 1830s there were approximately 2,000 Jews living in the city and by 1870 their numbers rose to about 20,000 (Ibidem: 79). Most of the Jews arriving to the city in the mid-nineteenth century were German Jews with some Ostjuden.’ 3. 1881-1914. The assassination of Tsar Alexander II resulted in the rise of anti-Semitic feelings in Russia and pogroms. The number of Jews living in London at that time rose to approximately 200,000—some of them staying permanently, some not longer than a few weeks, before taking on further travels. Between 120,000 and 150,000 settled in Great Britain permanently (Ibidem: 127). The Jewish population of nineteenth century London was far from being unified. There were the Sephardim (who came at the early stage of migrations), the Ashkenazim (whose mass migration took place in the second half of the century), and the Zionists, Hasidim,° and Maskilim.’ There were big congregation synagogues and small and independent ones, representing different factions of Judaism. The immigrants arriving to London in the early nineteenth century had little trouble finding a place where they could fit in, while the ones arriving at the turn of the century faced increasing competition in the labor market. Opportunity was a major reason for early migration to Britain but not for later stages: while in the early stage most Jews migrated in search of business and educational opportunities, often moving with all of their belongings and money to invest, people who arrived to Great Britain after 1880 were fleeing persecutions and pogroms that directly threatened their lives. These later immigrants took few possessions and hardly any 4 No specific data for London itself is available for that period of time. > Ostjuden is a name of part of the Jewish population that moved to German territories from eastern Europe in the nineteenth century and while remaining deeply traditional opposed assimilation and acculturation among German Jews (for more information see Aschheim 1982). 6 Hasidim (a’T’on), or Hasid in singular, is a general name referring to the Jews considering themselves as the followers of the Hasidic Judaism—one of the forms of the Orthodox Judaism dating back to the seventeenth century (for more information see Tomaszewski 2001: 55—64). 7 Maskilim, or Maskil in singular (9°2wn), is a general name for people supporting and following the Jewish enlightenment movement—Haskalah (Aw297). Haskalah was most active between the 1770s and 1880s. Its main goal of both the religious and private life of Jews was to gain acceptance for the members of this minority in modern societies (for more information see Tomaszewski 2001: 127-128). 393
