Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

In this lesson, we'll be looking at a case study of Jewish migrants in the East End.

This lesson forms part of a broader inquiry looking at the impact of migration on 18th and 19th century Britain.

In the course of the inquiry, we'll cover lots of different things, but for today, we're just going to be focusing on Jewish migrants in the East End.

Now, in order to see that you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have one, absolutely fine.

Just pause the video, go and get everything you need, and come back and press play when you're ready to go.

Great.

Now you're ready to get started, we can have a look at our lesson outcome, and I'm hoping that by the end of the lesson you'll be able to say that you can explain the reasons for increasing Jewish migration to the East End, but also explain the experience of Jewish migrants and the impact of them on the East End.

Now, in order to do that, we're going to need some keywords, and for today, we've just got one.

Our keyword for today is pogrom, and that's an organised massacre of a particular ethnic group, usually used to refer to the persecution of Jewish migrants in the 1880s.

Now, we've seen a definition, and we'll see the word again in the context of the lesson, but before we get started, it means that you already know that this word is referring to the organised massacre of a particular ethnic group, usually Jewish migrants in the 1880s.

But since we've got our key word, we can get started by looking at the reasons for Jewish migration to the East End.

Now, you may have already learned about the Jewish migrants who settled in England in the 1100s on invitation from the Norman rulers who wanted them to work as money lenders.

However, by 1290 violent antisemitism led to the expulsion of Jewish people from England.

And it wasn't until 1655 that Jewish people were re-invited to England under Puritan rule for both religious and economic reasons.

Now, in the early modern period, Jewish migrants were often part of a wealthy and successful community actually, that they migrated from.

And they would come to England and make significant cultural and economic contributions.

However, late 1800s antisemitism was raging across Europe, and the persecution of Jewish people only continued to increase, and this exploded into violent pogroms. There's our key word.

After the assassination of the Russian, Tsar Alexander II in 1881, and as Jewish people were blamed for this assassination attacks on Jewish communities led to thousands being driven out of Eastern Europe that was somewhere new to settle.

2.

5 million wealthier Jewish refugees sought refuge in the USA.

However, the fair to travel to America was far too expensive for the large majority of refugees who were from lower classes and had very little money.

Jewish communities that had settled in England in earlier periods had tended to be the skilled workers that the English rulers had wished to attract.

The groups of Jewish migrants in search of refuge in the 1880s were largely made up of unskilled and poorer workers.

As the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain's economy creating thousands of jobs across several industrial cities, thousands of Jewish refugees chose to settle in England in the late 1800s.

Many of these migrants chose to settle in the East End of London, particularly in an already established Jewish neighbourhood in the area between Spitalfields and Whitechapel.

So we've just had a quick run through of the experience of Jewish migrants from the mediaeval period up until the industrial period.

And as we can see, things are changing prior to the industrial period on both occasions in the mediaeval and the early modern period, we can see that Jewish migrants were invited to England by the rulers of England, and it was often for economic reasons.

However, in the early modern period, we know they were invited by Puritan also for religious reasons.

But that was ultimately because they came from wealthy communities where they can make significant economic contribution.

However, in this case, the migrants were coming in the late 1800s, often came from poorer backgrounds and were often left skilled.

And we can see already that's likely to have an impact on their experiences.

But before we move on to look at that, I've got a couple of questions and a quick task for you.

I'd like you to tell me whether this statement is true or false.

The reasons for Jewish migration in each period were different.

Pause the video, make a decision, and come back and play when you've got an answer for me.

Excellent.

We know that this statement is true, but we need to think about why? Is it true because although earlier migrants were invited in the 1880s, Jewish migrants arrived as refugees, or because b, Jewish migrants in the 1880s were invited to work as money lenders.

Pause the video now, make a decision and come back when you can tell me why this statement is true.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said a, it's because where earlier migrants were invited by authorities or rulers.

In the 1880s, Jewish migrants arrived as refugees.

Now I'd like you to have a quick discussion for me.

So if you're doing first in a classroom or with someone else, I'd like to have a discussion in pairs, making sure that both you are able to contribute.

If you're doing a session by yourself, absolutely not to worry.

Just have a go at articulating a response out loud for me or jotting down some key ideas.

Either is absolutely fine.

But the focus of our discussion now is how did the pogroms lead to a wave of Jewish migration to Britain? So pause the video now, make sure everybody gets a chance to contribute and then come back and press play when you're done.

Brilliant, so hopefully your discussions included any of the following.

The violent antisemitism drove Jewish migrants out of Eastern Europe, that two and a half million wealthier migrants sought refuge in the USA, but poorer Jewish refugees could not afford the fare to travel to the USA and that many settled in Britain as the industrial Revolution meant there was a lot of work available.

Really well done, if there was anything there you didn't quite mention and you want to make a note of, not a problem, just pause the video quickly and you can make a note of it.

Excellent.

So for our first practise task today, I'd like you to have a look at Lucas, explanation of the reasons for Jewish migration.

He says, "The reasons for Jewish migration to Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries were largely similar to the reasons for Jewish migration earlier periods.

The only difference was that they were not expected to work as money lenders." Now clearly Lucas hasn't quite been paying the attention that we expect him to, so we are gonna need to help him out.

And for your first task, I would like you to explain why Lucas is incorrect.

So pause the video now.

Give yourself five to 10 minutes to write a response explaining why Lucas is incorrect here, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Excellent, so hopefully your answer looked a little something like this.

While it could be said that the reasons for Jewish migration in the mediaeval and early modern period were similar as they were both invited to Britain for economic reasons, the reasons for Jewish migration in the late 1800s were very different.

In the 1880s, Jewish migrants settled in Britain as refugees as they were escaping pogroms in Eastern Europe.

The majority of these refugees did not belong to wealthy communities as most wealthier Jewish migrants had sought refuge in the USA and they could not afford the fare to the US.

Therefore, those that settled in Britain were usually less skilled, uneducated than previous Jewish migrants to Britain, and so they did not settle in Britain because they had been invited, but because they were seeking refuge.

Really well done, if you were able to clearly explain the difference between the migrants that came earlier that were invited by rulers because of what they could contribute to the economy compared to the migrants that settled after the 1880s, you tended to be less skilled and educated than previous Jewish migrants.

And the fact that they were also seeking refuge, they had not been directly invited by rulers.

Now, in the second part of the lesson, we are going to be looking at the experiences of Jewish migrants in the East End.

In the east end, their experiences were largely negative.

If we have a look at this illustration of life here in Whitechapel, we can see they're not living in well kept conditions.

Jewish leaders in the community encouraged assimilation wherever possible in order to minimise any antisemitism that Jewish migrants might face.

But this was not always successful as increasing numbers of Jewish migrants settled across the East End.

In places like Whitechapel issues such as overcrowding became increasingly common, especially as several generations of one Jewish family would be forced to live within one home, sometimes in a single room.

And again, if we have a look at this illustration, we can see that there are many people crowded around a single place of accommodation.

It's clearly overcrowded.

There's clearly far too many people.

Let's grab that bit.

And then on top of issues with accommodation, when it came to finding work as these Jewish migrants were often poorer, unskilled, and less educated than those who migrated before them, the work they could get was often in sweatshops.

These are small workshops where they worked as cloth makers, shoe makers, and furniture makers.

In these jobs, men and women would work in awful conditions for long hours and very, very little pay.

In addition, this would increase hostility from local English workers who complained that the growing Jewish community was driving down wages and would go on to blame them for increasing crime in the area, even believing that the infamous Whitechapel murderer, Jack the Ripper was a Jewish migrant.

Now, before we go on to consider whether their experiences were entirely negative, I gonna pause 'cause I have a quick question for you.

So again, just another discussion for me really quickly.

Why were Jewish migrants forced to take low paying jobs in poor conditions? Pause the video, make sure everybody gets a chance to articulate a response, and then come back when you're done.

Brilliant.

Hopefully between you or if you're doing this lesson by yourself, brilliant.

Hopefully you manage to remember that it's because there are some poorer, less skilled and less educated backgrounds, and therefore they were forced to take up jobs in sweat jobs because other better paying jobs were not made available to them.

Now, despite the issues that they faced, their experiences were not entirely negative.

There were some initiatives introduced to support and protect the Jewish community, and as a result, the experiences of some Jewish migrants were improved.

One example is in 1859, when the Board for the Guardians for the Relief of the Jewish Poor was set up, and this board became the main supporter of newly-arrived Jewish migrants.

They provided 27,500 pounds to support Jewish migrants in 1908 alone.

So like I said, their experiences were not entirely negative.

The board was one example of an initiative introduced to help support these Jewish migrants to improve the experiences they had on settling in England.

Now this one should be nice and straightforward, true or false? Jewish experiences as migrants in Britain were not entirely negative.

Make a decision and then come back and press play when you've got an answer for me.

Brilliant.

We know that this statement is true, but we need to think about why.

Is it true because in 1859, the board for the Guardians for the relief of the Jewish poor was set up to support Jewish migrants.

Or is it because in 1859, this board was set up to encourage greater migration? Think about what we just spoke about.

Given the purpose of this board, what was it set up to do? So pause the video again, make a decision, and then come back and press play when you've got an answer for me.

Brilliant, hopefully you said a, it wasn't about encouraging more migration, but providing support for the Jewish migrants who had already settled in England.

So for the task here, what I'd like you to do is to complete this table by deciding whether each statement is true or false.

So you're gonna pause the video now and give yourself five minutes to read through each of the statements and write a T if it's true and a F if it's false.

So again, pause the video and come back when you're done.

Brilliant, so hopefully your completed table looks a little something like this.

The first statement, Jewish migrants in the East End were able to assimilate successfully.

While we know that's false.

The second, in places like Whitechapel overcrowding became an issue.

We know that is in fact true.

The third, as newly arrived Jewish migrants were poor and less skilled, they had to take up low-paying work in sweatshops.

We know that that is also true.

Jewish migrants face little hostility from local workers who pitied their work conditions.

We know that that's very much false.

And finally, number five, Jewish migrants receive no support.

We know that that statement is false.

So what I'd like you to do now is with each of these false statements, so statements one, four, and five, I'd like you to rewrite them as correct statements.

So that should take you about five minutes.

Just pause the video now and rewrite those false statements as correct statements for me please.

Brilliant, so hopefully your table looks a little something like this and we can say that all your statements are true.

So the first one should read, Jewish migrants in the East End were not always able to assimilate.

Number four, Jewish migrants face hostility from local workers who blames them for driving down wages.

And number five, Jewish migrants did receive some support, for example, from the Board for the Guardian of the Relief of the Jewish Poor.

Really, really well done, if that's what your final table look like.

If there's a couple that you still need to make some amendments to, not to worry at all, just pause the video and get those done.

So in the third and final part of our lesson say we're going to be looking at the impact of Jewish migrants in the East End.

Now, Jewish migrants in the East End had some impact on the economy.

However, as they were forced to work in low paying and often unskilled work, their contributions for national economy was not as striking as in previous centuries.

While the conditions were poor and the pay was low, the work of cloth makers, shoe makers, and furniture makers did play a crucial role in keeping the economy growing.

As the economy grew due to industrial revolution and factories were producing cloth at a higher rate, there was a greater demand for sweatshop workers to turn this cloth into clothes, shoes, and furniture.

So due to the work of Jewish migrants, the East End sweatshops became famous as a centre for garment production.

So remember, they didn't quite have an impact on a national scale as other Jewish migrants had in previous periods, but they did have an important contribution to make in terms of at a local level because the East End sweatshops became centre of garment production.

Because the Industrial Revolution meant there was lots more cloth.

So more things had to be produced needing more workers, and those workers in Eastern were Jewish migrants.

So what I'd like you to do for me here is have a look at what Andeep said.

He said "Jewish migrants had no impact on the economy." Now he's gone a little bit too far here, and I need you to help me and help him by explaining why his statement is incorrect.

So get a couple of ideas down for me and come back when you are done.

So hopefully you said Jewish migrants had a more limited impact on the economy compared to Jewish migrants in previous centuries.

However, the migrants development of small workshops and later larger factories led to the East End becoming a major centre for clothing production.

So hopefully, like this example here, you mentioned that the impact was more limited than previous periods, but it was still important because of the contributions that they made initially in small workshops.

Now, in addition to their contributions on the economy, Jewish migrants also impacted the built environment.

When we are considering the impact on the built environment, you can definitely say it was significant, and this was because their attempts to both assimilate and maintain autonomy led the creation of Jewish Free Schools, the Jewish Lads Brigade, and Russian vapour baths.

One example known as the Jewish Free School moved to the East End in 1822, although it had been started in 1732 in North London.

As the school looked to take on as many of the poorer Eastern European Jewish migrants as possible, it grew quickly to become one of the largest schools in Europe with around 4,000 children.

The school was intended to prepare these children for life in England, encouraging assimilation wherever possible, and they were prompted to speak only in English rather than Yiddish, Russian, or Polish.

The Jewish Lads Brigade was formed in 1895 and was another institution to support Jewish children in assimilating.

Although this one was only for young boys, they were encouraged to learn and support British values and were initially encouraged to convert to Christianity as this was believed, to provide them with greater opportunities.

However, they were later be supported in maintaining their Jewish faith while continuing to assimilate in other ways.

In addition to this, five Russian vapour baths were also built exclusively for Jewish use in the East End by 1900.

These bars were used by Jewish men to prepare for Shabbats before attending the synagogue, which was usually located nearby.

Another example of Jewish migrants contribution to the East Ends built environment.

So we can see here they had a significant impact on the built environment.

Through various institutions, they were set up to help them both maintain autonomy often through the practise of their religious beliefs, but also to assimilate through educating younger Jewish people in core British values and other things that they believed would set them up for life in Britain.

Now, before we go on to put this into practise, I'd like you to very quickly answer this question and tell me which two of the following are examples of the impact of Jewish migrants on the built environment.

Is it a, five Russian vapour bars were open.

B, the Jewish Free School opened in the East End in 1822.

C, most Jewish workers faced hostility from local workers or d, most Jewish migrants worked in sweatshops.

So pause the video now for me, very quickly make a decision and then come back when you're done.

Brilliant.

So hopefully you said a and b.

The Russian vapour baths being opened and the Jewish Free School opening in the East End in 1822 are examples of the impact on the build environment.

The hostility they face from local workers is a statement that tells us a little bit more about their experiences and the fact they worked in sweatshops leans more towards their impact on the economy.

Now, the last task for today requires you to read this statement.

The main impact of Jewish migration on the East End of the 19th century was on the built environment.

And I'd like you to tell me how far you agree, having a go at including the following in your answer.

Jewish Free School, Jewish Lads Brigade, Russian vapour baths, sweatshops, and the Industrial Revolution.

So pause the video now and give yourself about 10 minutes to complete this task for me please.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your answer will look a little something like this.

Jewish migrants had a significant impact on the built environment as several institutions were open to support both their assimilation and attempts to maintain autonomy.

One example is the Jewish Free School, which moved to the East End in 1822, and aim to educate poorer Eastern European children and prepare them for life in England.

There was also the Jewish Lads Brigade, which was another institution for young Jewish boys who were encouraged to learn and support British values.

Finally, an example of changes to the built environment used to maintain autonomy is the building of five Russian vapour baths in the East End for Jewish men to prepare for Shabbats.

However, Jewish migration to the East End also had an economic impact.

As the economy grew as a result of the Industrial Revolution and factories produced cloth at a higher rate, there was a greater demand for sweatshop workers to turn this cloth into clothes, shoes and furniture.

Due to the work of Jewish migrants, the East End sweatshops became famous as a centre for garment production.

Therefore, the statement is not wholly convincing as the Jewish community in the East End were likely able to make changes to the built environment because of the money earned by the community, albeit low, and their impact on the local economy.

So really, really well done.

If you were able, especially to finish off and explain that their impact on the built environment was often helped by the contributions that they made to the local economy and the money that they made from those contributions.

If you didn't quite get that done, not to worry at all, you can just pause and add it to your response now.

The very last thing we're going to do today is look at a summary of what we've learned because we have covered so much.

So we've learned the Jewish migration to Britain increased following a wave of pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1880s.

We also learned that Jewish migrants who could afford the fair tended to immigrate to the USA in this period.

So those who settled in the East End of London in the 1880s were poorer than those who had migrated in earlier periods.

We learned that in the East End, Jewish migrants often worked in sweatshops making products such as clothing and furniture.

The East End became a well-known centre for garment production in particular, and the Jewish migrants impacted the economy.

And then finally, we learned that over time Jewish migrants made important contributions to the East End's built environment.

So really, really well done.

As you can see here, we have covered so much of this lesson.

I'm so impressed with the work you've done today and you should be too.