Cities of Refuge
Subtitle: German Jews in London and New York, 1935-1945
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
ISBN-13: 9781438468877
Subjects: Jews, great britain; Jews, united states; London (england), social life and customs; New york (n.y.), social life and customs
Description: "In the years following Hitler's rise to power, German Jews faced increasingly restrictive antisemitic laws, and many responded by fleeing to more tolerant countries. Cities of Refuge compares the experiences of Jewish refugees who immigrated to London and New York City by analyzing letters, diaries, newspapers, organizational documents, and oral histories. Lori Gemeiner Bihler examines institutions, neighborhoods, employment, language use, name changes, dress, family dynamics, and domestic life in these two cities to determine why immigrants in London adopted local customs more quickly than those in New York City, yet identified less as British than their counterparts in the United States did as American. By highlighting a disparity between integration and identity formation, Bihler challenges traditional theories of assimilation and provides a new framework for the study of refugees and migration"--back cover.