RICHMAL CROMPTON’S “JUST WILLIAM” AND THE JEWS

by

Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons

[email protected]

Kiryat Arba, Israel

April 2006

© Copyright. Chaim Simons. 2006

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INTRODUCTION

Some of the most popular stories about a schoolboy written during the 20th century are undoubtedly the “Just William” stories. They were written by Richmal Crompton between the early 1920s and her death in 1969. More than nine million copies have been sold (1) and they have been translated into a number of languages. (2) A total of 38 books (3) were published, (4) each book (with the exception of “Just William’s Luck” (5)) consisting of about ten separate short stories. In some cases, subsequent editions of the same book had some of the stories omitted. All of the books are accompanied by illustrations. (6)

Although the William books are still very popular today, there are various details in the stories which have become out of date; for example phrases such as “twopence a week” pocket money (7) and the original number of servants employed by William’s household. (8) There are additionally large number of stories which are specifically indicative of a particular period, in particular those written at the period of the Second World War and also the years preceding it. Indeed, some of the books are entirely devoted to war events. (9)

The early 1930s saw the rise to power of Hitler in Germany and the beginning of the implementation of his anti-Jewish policies. Two of Richmal Crompton’s books written during that period mention Jews in a derogatory manner. In fact, one of these is more than just a mention – the entire story is built around a particular Jewish shopkeeper and is entitled “William and the Nasties” (a play on the word “Nazis”). In a book written in the 1950s, “Jews” are incidentally mentioned, again in a disparaging context.

JEWISH CHARACTERS APPEARING IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

Richmal Crompton was by no means the first British author to write about Jews in a derogatory manner. Throughout the span of English literature, the most famous of authors have done so. (10) In this paper we will make a study of a few such cases, with particular emphasis on the “William” books.” Did these authors ever know or even meet Jews, or had they only read about Jewish stereotypes? Were they influenced by medieval legendary and folklore or by their surroundings and the media, or had their education turned them into latent anti-Semites?

Probably the earliest such example of anti-Semitic stereotyping is in one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” entitled “The Prioress,” where a Jew kills a Christian boy for singing a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and then hides his body in the latrine.

Towards the end of the 16th century, Christopher Marlowe wrote his play “The Jew of Malta” which portrayed a Jew called Barabas as a killer. Even more well-known is William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” Here the “Merchant” is a Jew called Shylock, whose profession is money lending, and whose sole request is the honouring of an agreement he made with the borrower. However Shakespeare portrays him in an anti-Semitic manner.

As result of this play, the word “shylock” came into the English language. It is defined in various dictionaries and thesauruses as “a ruthless moneylender,” “a loan shark,” and “a usurer.” (11) The reason for Jews taking up money-lending was that many professions were not open to Jews and this was one of the few trades they could follow. Christians would regularly borrow money from Jews. (12)

It is unlikely that Chaucer, Marlowe or Shakespeare ever met a Jew, since there were no Jews living in England between their expulsion in 1290 and their readmission in 1655.(13) Hence the three writers’ assessments of Jewish habits and character presumably came from what they had heard or read. However it should be mentioned that in the case of Chaucer this fact has been questioned, “Chaucer was a government official and in this capacity he traveled to many major European cities that had Jewish communities.” (14) As far as Marlowe (15) and Shakespeare (16) are concerned, it has been suggested that the trumped up charge against the Jew Roderigo Lopez which aroused a miniature anti-Semitic storm in England was reflected in both the “The Jew of Malta” and “The Merchant of Venice.” In addition, it has been proposed that the source of “The Merchant of Venice” is “Il Pecorone”, a collection of tales written by Ser Giovanni, a notary of Florence, about the year 1378. (17)

Coming on to a more modern period, we have Charles Dickens. In his book “Oliver Twist,” he created a villainous Jew called Fagin, as head of a gang of thieves. Although in 1838, when Dickens, then aged 26, published this book, Jews had again been in England for nearly two hundred years, he did not have any Jews amongst his personal acquaintances. It has been suggested that Dickens’ “conventional prejudice metamorphosed with the liberalizing trends in English society.” (18)

“The Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie, a contemporary of Richmal Crompton, wrote many books in the 1930s containing passages which could be considered anti-Semitic. (19) Up to that period, she had lived almost all her life in Torquay and Sunningdale, places where there were very few Jews. She had also accompanied her second husband Max Mallowan, the archeologist, on several occasions to Iraq, (20) a country not famed for its positive attitude towards Jews, especially after it gained independence in 1932. (21)

RICHMAL CROMPTON’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS JEWS

Before studying the William stories which mention Jews, we will try to ascertain what her attitude towards Jews was at the time of such writing. Let us begin by giving a very brief summary of the possibly relevant events of her life.

She was born in November 1890 at Bury in Lancashire, the second child of a Christian Reverend. (22) Following primary school education, Richmal at the age of eleven went to St. Elphin’s boarding school for the daughters of the Christian clergy. When she began there, it was situated in Warrington Lancashire but three years later it moved to Darley Dale in Derbyshire. (23)

In 1911 she won a scholarship to Royal Holloway College, which is a college of London University, and three years later graduated. (24) She then returned to her old school, St. Elphin’s to teach classics. (25) Following that, she continued as a teacher at Bromley High School, which is in Kent, south of London. (26)

Whilst she was teaching at Bromley, she began her writing career. In the summer of 1923 she contracted polio which made her lame in her right leg. As a result, she had to give up teaching and took up writing full time. (27)

Although she had an enormous literary output, unquestionably her most famous ones are the “Just William” books. The first one “Just William” was published in 1922. (28) Volume number 17, “William the Detective” was published in 1935, two years after Hitler rose to power in Germany. One of the stories in this book is built around a Jew and is entitled “William and the Nasties.” (29) Two other stories which briefly mention Jews were first published in 1936 and in 1952, respectively.

The contents of Richmal Crompton’s both William and non-William books, often do not originate from her imagination, but as her biographer Mary Cadogan shows time after time, came from actual experiences in her life. In one of her non-William books, called “Anne Morrison,” a headmistress is shown in an unfavourable light. At the time she was teaching at St. Elphin’s school, and because the headmistress of this school thought it was based upon her, she banned this book from the school’s library. (30)

In her biography, Cadogan gives numerous examples of incidents from Richmal Crompton’s life being utilised in the William books. These include specific subjects such as poetry groups,(31) and Roman history (32) and general subjects such as homework, (33) ghosts, (34) dogs, (35) gardening, (36) and cooking. (37) In this paper we shall study whether incidents involving Jews could have been taken from her life experiences?

Her attitude towards Jews could have been influenced by the following:

1. Did she personally meet Jews during her lifetime?

To investigate this assumption, we must study the places in which she lived throughout her life and see whether these were areas inhabited by Jews. The Jewish population of Britain has always been under one per cent and, in the period when Richmal Crompton was born, even lower. In addition, the vast majority of Jews lived in definite areas in close proximity to each other. At that time, the overwhelming majority of Jews were living in the East End of London, although there was also a much smaller number of mainly poor Jews in the West End. The wealthy and middle class Jews lived in areas such as Mayfair and Maida Vale. (38) There were also concentrations of Jews in some provincial centres such as Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow. (39)

The places where Richmal Crompton lived were Bury Lancashire (which is now part of Greater Manchester), St. Elphin’s boarding school which was then situated in Warrington Lancashire and later in Derbyshire, Royal Holloway College in Egham Surrey, and in Bromley.

a) Bury Lancaster: This is north of Manchester. Until 1975 there was no Synagogue in Bury. (40) The absence of a Synagogue invariably means that there are no Jews (or certainly no more than one hundred) living in the area.

b) St. Elphin’s School: This was a boarding school for girls whose father’s were Christian clergy. It is inconceivable that there were Jews in the school! Warrington seems never to have had a Synagogue. In Derby, a Synagogue was established in 1899; during the period Richmal was studying in this area the total Jewish population there was only about 150 (41) out of a total population of about 650,000. (42)

c) Royal Holloway College: At the time Richmal studied there, this College was only for women and had just 150 students. (43) Its location in Egham in Surrey was well away from all the other London University colleges. The number of Jewish students there would have been very minimal. (44)Public transport from the College to the centre of London was difficult especially at night, thus making nightly visits to central London almost impossible. (45)

d) Bromley: This is situated south of London in Kent. Although in certain areas of London, there were and are large concentrations of Jews, this is certainly not the case south of the Thames even today. (46) The Catford and Bromley Synagogue (which is affiliated to the United Synagogue) was only established in 1937, (47) which was after Richmal wrote the stories involving Jews.

It seems from the above, that there was very little, if any, contact between Richmal Crompton and Jews. This lack of contact could certainly have an effect on the attitude of a non-Jew towards Jews. There are many Englishmen who have never seen a Jew and they picture one as some sort of “weird” creature with horns? Why horns?! This is taken from a statue by Michelangelo in a church in Rome which depicts Moses with horns protruding from his forehead. (48)This arises from a misunderstanding of the verse in the Biblical book of Exodus, “his face sent forth beams” (49) and which the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible, translates as “cornuta esset facies” (his face had horns). (50)

Even as late as the Second World War (and possibly even today) there were English people who believed that Jews had horns! There is the true story that when during this war, Jewish children were evacuated to the countryside, “one woman actually remarked in genuine surprise to one of the boys whom she had taken into her house, ‘But you have no horns’.” (51)

2. Was she a nominal or a committed Christian?

The following facts clearly show the latter to be the case: a) Richmal came from a religious Christian family. Her father, Reverend Edward Lamburn, was a clerk in holy orders and a licensed curate. (52) Throughout her life she remained a staunch Christian and a practicing member of the Church of England. (53) She would send charitable donations to Church and Christian groups. (54)

b) Her secondary school St. Elphin’s was for the daughters of Christian clergy. In their “Mission Statement” the school writes, “We aim for a Christian ethos to permeate every aspect of our School community.” (55)

c) Whilst she was at Royal Holloway College, she staunchly upheld the Anglicanism in which she had been brought up. Every morning the programme began with a Chapel service which was compulsory, (unless one’s parents expressly objected). In addition there was a daily evening service in the chapel and an extra Church of England service every Sunday morning. Also in the College, there were debates and discussions on religion. (56) Richmal Crompton was librarian for the Christian Union and after that its treasurer. (57)

d) Following her University studies, she returned to teach Classics for several years at St. Elphin’s, the school for the daughters of Christian clergy.

e) In 1924, she went for a holiday to Paris and whilst there attended a Roman Catholic mass in Sacre-Coeur church. In her travel journal, she writes in detail of this visit to the mass, highly praising it and religion and worship in general. (58)

f) Another foreign visit she made, “some time before the Second World War” (the actual year is not specified) was to Oberammergau. (59) This is the German city where the “Passion Play” is performed in the first year of every decade. This play is regarded as extremely anti-Semitic. So much so, that in the year 2000 it was decided to remove the anti-Semitic parts. (60) It is not clear whether Richmal Crompton went there during the year the play was performed but what is clear from her travel journal was that she specifically chose to go to Oberammergau.

We can see that in her childhood house, in her education and in her subsequent years, there was a stress on Christian dogma. Undoubtedly included in this was that the Jews killed Jesus. There is no suggestion whatsoever that she was taught this with the aim of making her anti-Semitic, but even unconsciously this education could have had an effect on her attitude towards Jews. We know too well how often Jewish children are beaten or at least taunted by their Christian counterparts saying “You killed our Lord.” (61)

3. Other events

There were also other events in her life which could possibly have had an influence on her attitude towards Jews.

a) Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 and immediately began his anti-Jewish measures. These measures were well reported in the media in England. (62) At the same period in England, Oswald Mosley established the British Union of Fascists, who would organise rallies in London which frequently resulted in violent clashes with Jewish groups especially in London. (63) It was just after that period that the story “William and the Nasties” was first published.

b) A number of the plots and situations for the William stories were suggested by Richmal’s brother Jack. (64) In August 1904, he sent her a picture postcard depicting Conisborough Castle near Doncaster. On it he wrote “this is the castle where Ivanhoe fought and put down ‘the Jew’….” (65) This may possibly show a familial anti-Semitic bias.

Conclusion

We cannot come to any definite conclusion regarding Richmal Crompton’s attitude towards Jews in general, but she did write and then have her story “William and the Nasties” published in both the magazine “Happy Mag” in 1934 and in “William the Detective” during the following year. When discussing this story, her biographer Mary Cadogan writes “generally speaking her books are without the touches of anti-semitism that crop up in many other popular stories of the 1920s and 30s.” (66) Note her expression “generally speaking”!

In both this and a later book, Cadogan attempts to explain “how the liberal-minded Richmal came to create this story.” She writes that at the time Richmal wrote this story she might not “have known of the worst aspects of Nazism” but Cadogan then adds that “she knew enough to make” one of William’s comrades “say ‘They’ve got people called storm troops an’ when these Jews don’t run away they knock ’em about till they do’.” (67)

However, this story remained unchanged throughout the twenty impressions of this book published during Richmal Crompton’s lifetime. We might also mention that this period extended to over two decades after “the worst aspects of Nazism” were known and the whole world was fully aware of Hitler’s genocidal programme against the Jews.

JEWS APPEARING IN WILLIAM STORIES

The major reference to Jews appears in the book “William the Detective” in the story “William and the Nasties.” Here the entire story is built around a Jew. The book “Sweet William” has the story “William helps the Cause.” Here however, only one paragraph deals with a Jew. In “William and the Tramp” the story “William and the Pets’ Club” makes just one mention of Jews.

In the course of these stories, Richmal Crompton’s characters mimic Nazi anti-Semitic acts and she also uses a number of derogatory expressions, which were by common usage applied to Jews.

There was no shortage of sources from which to discover what was going on in the world in the 1930s. In addition to reading the newspapers and listening to the radio news, (68) one could also see the events from the newsreels which were a part of every cinema programme. (69) As we have already stated, many of Richmal Crompton’s writings (both in her William and non-William books) were not based on her imagination but her experiences. As we have already shown, contact between Jews and Richmal Crompton was non-existent, or at the most, very minimal, but what she presumably read, heard or saw on the cinema screen and what she had learned during her years of education can also be classed an “experience.”

We will now look at the relevant parts of these stories and investigate the origin of the expressions Richmal Crompton utilised in connection with Jews. In addition we will study them in relation to the historical scene at the time they were written and also in the light of Jewish stereotypes held by many non-Jews.

The material from Richmal Crompton’s books will be in ordinary type and our commentaries in italics.

WILLIAM AND THE NASTIES

In this story, William and his friends known in the William books as “the Outlaws” consider a new sweet-shop owner, Mr. Isaacs, who is a Jew, to be dishonest in his dealings and they plan to use Nazi method to evict him from his shop.

The story begins by Henry, the most knowledgeable of the Outlaws, informing William that the people ruling Germany are called “Nasties.” For a boy of about eleven years old and with the scholastic level of the Outlaws, it was quite a good rendering of the word “Nazis.” Henry explains to William that the Nazis rule Germany, make the population do as the rulers want and send them to prison if they disobey.

In answer to William’s question as to what else they do, he adds, “They chase out Jews… cause Jews are rich … so they chase ’em out and take all the stuff they leave behind.” (70)

Here we can see the stereotype of Jews as wealthy and Hitler’s first moves against the Jews when he came to power.

The notion of Jews being rich comes from the fact that many Jews were, especially in the Norman and Middle Ages, money-lenders. This was not by choice, but since they were denied the opportunity to enter a lot of other occupations, they had little alternative. (71) The usurer was an outcast and was ranked with witches, robbers, fornicators and adulterers. The fact that there were also Christian moneylenders at that period is usually “omitted” by the historians! During the reign of Edward I of England, just before expulsion of the Jews in 1290, the Church waged an active campaign against usury. Parliament decided that “it was forbidden for Jews throughout the whole of the kingdom of England to give their own money to anyone else at usury…” (72)

The view that Jews were usurers was in some places so deep rooted that towards the end of the 19th century in East Anglia a money-lender was referred to as “the Jew usurer.” (73) In 1913, Lord Newton introduced into the House of Lords a bill “to control what he chose to call ‘the tribe of usurers’.” From the examples of surnames he gave in his speech, one could easily see he was referring to Jews. (74) This bill passed in the House of Lords but there was no time for it in the Commons. (75)

The fact that in especially the 19th and 20th centuries there were Jewish bankers, reinforced the belief that Jews were rich. The Rothschilds already had vast empires of banking throughout Europe. (76) Furthermore, whilst Richmal Crompton was growing up, the British Jewish community was led by “the Cousinhood” who were a number of wealthy Jewish families such as the Rothschilds, Goldsmids, Montefiores and Henriques. (77)

However, in point of fact, very few Jews in the world were rich. At that period, the vast majority of world Jewry, including the recent Jewish immigrants to England from Eastern Europe, lived well below the poverty line and worked all hours of the day and night just to put food on the table. It was said of Vilna that fully eighty per cent of its Jewish population did not know in the evening how and where they would obtain food the next morning. (78) None of this however, erased the stereotype that Jews were rich!

Events in Germany after Hitler’s rise to power were not pleasant for the Jews. Hitler lost no time in introducing his anti-Jewish measures. Jewish shopkeepers were one of the first to feel Hitler’s policies. On 1 April 1933, the Nazis organised a country-wide boycott of Jewish shops. (79)

By the spring of 1934, German non-Jewish firms and stores were advised (a polite term for a Nazi command!) by the Department of Commerce to display special signs, thus making it obvious that without such signs the enterprise was Jewish and should therefore be boycotted. Commercial directories were reedited to omit Jewish names or indicate their non-Aryan character. In addition Jewish store fronts were plastered with warnings “Jew,” “Don’t Buy Here,” Let the Jew’s Hands Shrivel from Starvation.” (80)

When the Nazis came to power they established a concentration camp in Dachau, which is next to Munich. To it were sent political opponents of the Nazis, including Communists, Socialists, labour leaders and Jews. (81)

William immediately answered Henry “but we couldn’t do that even if we started bein’ nasties ’cause there aren’t any Jews here.” Ginger (another one of the Outlaws) corrected William saying “Ole Mr. Isaacs is a Jew.”

Mr. Isaacs had recently taken over the village sweetshop from Mr. Monks. In contrast to Mr. Monks who had always added a few extra sweets when the scales had gone down and had occasionally made the boys presents of confectionary, Mr. Isaacs, Richmal writes, “had displayed a meanness that shocked and infuriated the Outlaws. They affirmed with much indignation that he stopped putting on sweets as soon as the scale quivered and long before it actually descended.”

William was so offended by this alleged conduct of Mr. Isaacs that he commented “it’s more than mean. It’s what people ought to be put in prison for. It’s stealin’, that’s what it is.” The Outlaws avenged themselves against Mr. Isaacs “by shouting the time-honoured taunt ‘Cheats never prosper,’ as they passed his open doorway.” (82)

The stereotype of Jews being “mean” and “cheats” and giving short-measure was linked with their money-lending activities. Indeed, in the English language, the word “Jew” was also used as a verb and its meaning as given in “The Oxford English Dictionary” is “To cheat or overreach, in the way attributed to Jewish traders or usurers.” (83)

In an interview given by Alan Dershowitz, the Jewish Civil Rights Lawyer, and Professor of Law at Harvard University, he stated “when Harvard’s racist president (Lawrence) Lowell in the 1920s wanted to keep out Jews, he claimed that Jews cheat.” (84) Also about this period a sainete put on in an Argentinean theatre portrayed “Jews as sharp traders and cheats.” (85) Stanley Donen, writing about the days of his youth in the 1930s states, “To be a Jew in South Carolina was to be considered a freak, to be thought of as contemptible, a devil and a cheat.” (86) Superfluous to add that Nazi propaganda (87) including “stories” for German children brought out by Nazi writers depicted Jews as villains who cheated Germans! (88)

In response to these catcalls by the Outlaws the story continues, “The hook-nosed little man used to rush out at them in fury, chasing them down the road with threats and imprecations.” (89)

One might well ask why the Jew was represented as hook-nosed? Is this an anthropological fact? An article on the subject which appeared a few years ago in the magazine “New Voices” answered this question in the negative. It brings the opinion of John Relethford, Professor of Physical Anthropology at the State University of New York, “‘Nasal shape is very much influenced by what type of environment your ancestors found themselves in.’ And since Jewish genetic ancestry is mixed, you can’t blame the tribe for your prodigious proboscis. ‘If you look at any population of Jews,’ says Relethford, ‘you’re going to find Jews with large noses, Jews with small noses. It varies’.” (90) An American scientist, Dr. Maurice Fishberg, even went as far as to make a scientific study of this subject by physically measuring the noses of thousands of Jews in New York City. He found that the incident of hooked-noses was only about 14 per cent. (91)

It would seem that the stereotype of the Jew having a hooked-nose arose from an attempt to portray him as the Devil. (92) The link between hooked noses and the Devil goes all the way back to Greek mythology. The figure of the Devil may derive from the Etruscan demon Charun, who was pictured, with, amongst other things, a hooked nose, pointed donkeys ears and a monkey face. (93)

We find caricatures of Jews with hooked-noses as far back as at least the 13th century. The earliest extant English portrayal of a Jew is from a caricature of 1277, which was drawn in the margin of a legal document. There the Jew has a hooked-nose and the caricature is entitled “Aaron, son of the Devil.” (94) Likewise, there are a number of German woodcuts showing similar Jewish stereotypes from the 15th century. (95) From the 18th century onwards, there are numerous caricatures of hooked-nosed Jews. One of them entitled “Jews at a Luncheon” shows members of London’s Great Synagogue in Duke’s Place sitting down to eat pork. (96) Needless to say these caricatures can readily be found in Nazi publications such as “Der Sturmer” (97) which were published in the 1930s and also in the Soviet and Arab “hate sheets.”

This stage of the story is accompanied by one of the illustrations, which regularly appear in the “Just William” books,” (98) which in most of the books, were drawn by Thomas Henry (Fisher). This particular illustration shows Mr. Isaacs chasing after the four Outlaws. Mr. Isaacs is shown as an almost bald shortish stubby person wearing a check-suit. His face could be considered Jewish, but unlike the description in the text, in the drawing he is not hook-nosed. If anything, it is some of the Outlaws in this drawing who are “hook-nosed”!

Ginger then commented, “Yes, he’s a Jew all right… an’ if we were in Germany an’ were nasties we could chase him out an’ take everything in his shop. You’re allowed to by lor (sic) in Germany – chase ’em out an’ take everything in their shops. If you’re nasties, I mean.” The thought of getting as many free sweets as they wanted immediately appealed to the Outlaws and they thus decided to establish themselves as Nasties in their village. William decided that he would be their “chief one” and called himself “Him Hitler.” He dismissed the name “Her (sic) Hitler with disgust – it sounded like a woman’s name!

Their first two attempts at driving out Mr. Isaacs involved displaying a home drawn swastika, which more resembled a snake, in front of his shop in order to try and scare him, and when this did not succeed, sending Mr. Isaacs a warning card which he never saw.

They didn’t give up then but decided, as in Germany, to be storm troopers. As Henry explained to them, “They’ve got people called storm troops an’ when these Jews don’t run away they knock ’em about till they do.” (99)

The organisation known as the “storm troopers” (Sturmabteilung or SA in short ) was founded in 1921 as a semi-military voluntary organisation of young men trained for and committed to the use of violence, whose mission was to make the Nazi Party the master of the streets of Germany. To put it bluntly, they were “street thugs in brown shirts.” Any meetings that they did not agree with, they would violently break up and then physically attack the speakers. (100)

It was this organisation, which with its terror campaign, helped Hitler to consolidate his position. (101) Already in March 1933, the storm troopers set up several concentration camps, including one at Durrgoy where the inmates had to endure the random violence of the storm troopers. (102) Together with the SS, the storm troopers, also at the same period, established the infamous Dachau concentration camp. (103)

Although the storm troopers acted against anyone who did not accord with their ideology, they took specific actions against Jews. This included beating up Jews in the street, degrading them and disrupting the livelihoods of Jewish shopkeepers.

It was on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) in 1931 that Jews leaving Berlin Synagogues were physically attacked by these storm troopers. An eye-witness described how three of these storm trooper youths beat an elderly gentleman with their fists and rubber truncheons, whilst five other storm troopers stood around to protect these three youths.(104) Over 1,000 storm troopers took part in this pogrom. (105)

On 1 April 1933, the day of the boycott of Jewish shops, young storm-troopers with swastikas on their sleeves stood outside Jewish shops holding enormous placards in both German and English reading ‘”Germans defend yourselves against jewish atrocity propaganda buy only at German shops!” (106)

Three months later, the storm troopers rounded up 300 Jews in Nurnberg and made them dig ditches and pull out grass with their teeth, and, in some cases, lick up the excrement of dogs. (107)

Regarding the “knocking about” of Mr. Isaacs as a practical impossibility, the Outlaws decided to lock him in the room in his shop where he happened to be and then take his sweets “and then he’ll know we’re nasties an’ he’ll clear off.”

That evening they set out to do this. They went to his shop, with some misgivings and apprehension. There they saw a stocky figure who they thought was Mr. Isaacs putting something in the safe. The key was on the outside of the door and they locked him in shouting “We’re the nasties an’ I’m Him Hitler an’ we’re goin’ to take all your stuff so you’ll jolly well have to clear out.”

They then went to the shop’s storeroom and saw a man bound up. William commented, “It’s prob’ly a nasty he kidnapped in Germany. It’s time we got on his track all right. He oughter get put in prison for this.” (108)

As we have already seen, from at least the Middle Ages, there was propaganda to stereotype the Jew as one who was involved in illegal activities. At the period this William story was written, the German, and even the general European population, were being brainwashed into believing this. Thus the social atmosphere was such that any incident concerning a Jew could automatically be assumed to involve criminal action on the part of that Jew.

The Nazis had made the maximum use of propaganda even before they came to power in Germany. Towards the end of 1926, they brought out a guide which provided several important guidelines for creating propaganda (109) and in mid-1932, an article was written by them analyzing which of their methods of propaganda had worked and which had not. (110)

Needless to say, there was then much anti-Jewish propaganda, including showing Jews involved in various “criminal” activities. In a speech given in July 1922, Hitler described the Jews as “exploiters” and “robbers.” (111) His “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle) written whilst he was in prison and published in the mid-1920s is full of anti-Semitism, including his attempts to show that the Jews occupied themselves with anti-social activities such as seduction. There he writes, “the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood.” (112)

The Nazi newspaper “Der Sturmer” founded in 1923 was full of anti-Semitic caricatures. For example, between the years 1928 and 1931, there were caricatures of Jews as “swindlers,” “seducers” and as being involved with “major financial scandals.” (113)

In a lecture given by a London University Professor, Michael Berkowitz, at the Marvin Center, George Washington University in Washington D.C. in April 2003, he discussed “how the Nazis depicted Jews as a homogeneous race of criminals.” (114)

The Outlaws removed all the ropes from the man in the storeroom and saw that he was “the hated Mr. Isaacs himself.” The man they had locked in the office was a thief who had broken in and bound Mr. Isaacs.

Mr. Isaacs assumed that the Outlaws had seen what had happened and had come to rescue him. The story ends by Mr. Isaacs telling the Outlaws, “Now take vat you vant… See how much you can carry.” Even Mr. Isaacs was surprised at the amount the Outlaws could carry. (115)

Despite the negative attitude towards Jews throughout this story, it does end on a very positive note. Richmal Crompton could have concluded the story by writing that Mr. Isaacs told the Outlaws to take just a small bar of chocolate or a handful of sweets. Although the Outlaws would probably have been happy (and also have had a clear conscience) with even this small gesture - (their toned-down objective had been just to “take, say, ten sweets each an’ then go home” (116)) - it would have conveyed to the reader of the story that the Jewish shopkeeper was unappreciative.

But, on the contrary, Richmal Crompton did not do this. She wrote that Mr. Isaacs showed his great appreciation to the Outlaws by his letting them take as many sweets as they can carry. In addition he told them “and ven you come to spend your Saturday pennies, you will find that I have not forgotten. (117) By this, Richmal Crompton illustrates the good character of the Jewish shopkeeper Mr. Isaacs who showed no grudge against the Outlaws. As we have seen in this story, prior to this incident they had, amongst other unpleasant activities directed against him, stood by his shop door making all sorts of catcalls such as “cheats never prosper.”

OTHER REFERENCES TO JEWS

One year after the publication of “William the Detective,” the next book in the William series entitled “Sweet William” was published and amongst its stories was one called “William Helps the Cause.” Included in it was one paragraph which mentioned Jews in an unfavourable manner.

During the course of this story, a follow-up letter intended for William’s father demanding money as a ransom to “release” William from a “kidnapper” (namely, the Outlaws themselves) reached Robert by mistake. Because of the Outlaws’ non-proficiency in spelling, they had looked up the spelling of every word of their letter except for the word “Kidnaper” (sic) of which no-one had any doubts! That very day Robert had been dreading that he would receive a letter from a money-lender demanding two hundred pounds for a bill he thought he had backed. Robert concluded that this letter was from the money-lender. (118) The paragraph mentioning Jews reads as follows:

“Robert tore it open with trembling fingers. Then the colour faded from his face, and his heart began to beat violently. It had come! His worst fears were justified. The money had to be paid to-night. Kidnaper. That must be the name of the money-lender. It sounded foreign. A Jew probably. All money-lenders were Jews. It was printed in a large illiterate hand, but, of course, money-lenders were illiterate. He’d seen one in a play once done by the Hadley Amateur Dramatic Society – a greasy old man in a dressing-gown, counting over his money in a squalid little room by the light of a flickering candle stuck in the mouth of a bottle. He was a miser. All money-lenders were misers, of course. He glanced at the letter again. Eight o’clock. Gosh, it was nearly that now.” (119)

In this paragraph the Jew is portrayed as an illiterate money-lender and a miser, and is also called a foreigner. It was following the pogroms beginning in the early 1880s that Jews emigrated in their masses from Eastern Europe westwards, mainly to England and the United States. In 1880 there were 65,000 Jews in England and this number had increased to 300,000 by 1914. (120) Most of the immigrants to England took up residence in the East End of London. (121)

The London “Jewish Chronicle” considered the integration of these Jews into English life and society imperative and in August 1881 they wrote: “They [the foreign poor] form a community within the community. They come mostly from Poland; they, as if it were, bring Poland with them, and they retain Poland while they stop here.” The article went on to say that the non-Jews were not capable of distinguishing one Jew from another and would thus consider all Jews to be as these Polish Jews were, in other words as foreigners. (122) The non-Jews also felt that they were losing out financially as a result of the “alien immigration.” (123) Similarly with the large scale immigration from Germany to Britain after the rise of Hitler, a concern was expressed especially by the medical profession “about the ‘inundation’ of the country by foreign practitioners.” (124)

Colin Holmes, who made a careful study of anti-Semitism in British Society from the last quarter of the 19th century till the start of the Second World War, concluded that there “was a tradition of hostility towards Jews in British society.”(125) The massive influx of Jews obviously did not improve the situation and there were a number of reports of Jews being discriminated against and excluded from various clubs. (126)

The East End of London became a fertile ground for Christian missionaries and in his book dealing with “Sketches of Christian work and workers” published in 1896, Henry Walker writes on the Whitechapel area of East London, “Here, in spite of the English-looking surroundings, he [the gentile observer] is practically in a foreign land, so far as language and race are concerned. The people are neither French nor English, German nor Americans, but Jews. In this Whitechapel Ghetto the English visitor almost feels himself one of a subject race in the presence of dominant and overwhelming invaders.” (127)

For most of the older newcomers, their own language, even decades later, was Yiddish. Shop signs, posters and advertisements were in Yiddish. (128) Since it was the language of the masses of the Jews, there were many Yiddish newspapers, which as time went on, ceased publication. (129) These included Yudisher Ekspres, Yiddisher Tageblat and Die Zeit, this last one being published until 1950. (130). A lot of the Jews never learned to read or to even speak English (131) and thus they were considered “illiterate” in English! The expression “Yiddish speaking aliens” was often heard in the East End. (132)

The book “William and the Tramp” was first published in 1952, seven years after the end of the Second World War, when all Hitler’s atrocities were well known to the world. In it, is included the story “William and the Pets’ Club,” which in one of its paragraphs, mentions the word “Jews.” This paragraph reads:

“I bet if they’d used those frills an’ pants ’stead of rack an’ thumb screws, the criminals would have confessed straight off. I bet if they’d dressed up those Jews in those ole frills an’ pants ’stead of pullin’ their teeth out, they’d have told them where they’d hid their money, all right. I bet if ___” (133)

Here we can see the stereotype of the Jews being rich. The fact that the story states “where they’d hid their money” could give the reader the impression that Jews are misers. From a study of the history of the Jewish people, we see that because in Europe, expulsions from a particular country (England in 1290, (134) France in 1306 and 1394, (135) Spain in 1492 (136) and so on) or expropriations of property were made at the whim of the government, it was inadvisable for a Jew to have a livelihood tied to the ground. (137)

A Jew needed to have a commodity such as silver or gold (or coins which were mainly made of silver but sometimes even of gold (138)) that he could easily transfer from country to country at “a moment’s notice.” This is also the reason why Jews went into the diamond business. (Until this day a deal in diamonds is finalised, even by non-Jews, with the Hebrew words “Mazal u’Bracha” (luck and blessing)! (139)) Needless to say, such valuable commodities would be “hidden away” for security reasons.

INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION OF REFERENCES TO JEWS

The story “William and the Nasties” was first published in “Happy Mag” in the summer of 1934. (140) During the following year, the book “William and the Detective” was published as number 17 of the William series. The publishers were George Newnes of London. The book had 252 pages and contained eleven stories, the sixth of which was “William and the Nasties.” Until 1957 there were eighteen identical impressions of this book, all brought out by George Newnes.

In 1962 George Newnes brought out the nineteenth impression. As with other books in the William series at that period, this impression was abridged. The book had 191 pages and it was the last three stories which were omitted. (141) Thus “William and the Nasties” remained as before. Five years later George Newnes brought out the twentieth impression, which was further abridged. It had 165 pages and the eighth story was also omitted. (142) One should note that with these successive abridgements, they did not omit “William and the Nasties.”

It was in 1971 that Armada started to publish the William books. Their 1971 edition was as the George Newnes twentieth impression, namely containing only the first seven stories. (143) About 1977 (there is no date given in the book) Armada brought out a further edition of this book with the same seven stories. (144)

In the 1980s Macmillan Children’s Books began to republish all the 38 William Books, and in 1986 they republished “William the Detective.” They replaced the last four stories which had been omitted in the later impressions of George Newnes and in all the reprints by Armada. They however, for the first time in the history of the publication of the William books, omitted “William and the Nasties.” (145) [Likewise they omitted “William and the League of Perfect Love”; in this story, William set his dog Jumble to chase after and kill rats, hence animal lovers had raised objections to this story.]

In the story “William Helps the Cause,” in the edition published by George Newnes, the mention of Jew appears. However in the edition brought out by Macmillan in 1986, the two sentences, “A Jew probably. All money-lenders were Jews.” were omitted. (146)

In contrast to the above, in the Macmillan edition of 1990 in the story “William and the Pets’ Club,” the paragraph mentioning “Jews” appears exactly as it did in the George Newnes edition. (147) Perhaps the reason is that the reference to Jews is in a far more restrained manner than in the other two cases.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

An entry in “Wikipedia” states that Richmal Crompton “herself decided the story [William and the Nasties] was inappropriate and had it removed.” (148) However all the impressions of “William and the Detective” published in her lifetime (she died in 1969) included this story and indeed it appeared in all the editions published in the 1970s. It was not removed until 1986 when the William books had a new publisher, Macmillan Children’s Books. Likewise, at the same time, Macmillan deleted the two sentences in “William Helps the Cause” which again gave a derogatory portrayal of Jews.

Richmal’s biographer Mary Cadogan, writes that both Richmal Crompton’s literary executor - her niece Richmal Ashbee (whose single name had been Richmal Crompton Lamburn Disher, (149)) - and her publisher Macmillan “unhesitatingly decided to drop this episode [William and the Nasties] completely from new editions of the book.” (150) It is thus possible that Wikipedia mixed up the two “Richmal Cromptons” in this matter.

The latter decades of the twentieth century were the era of “political correctness.” There was pressure on Macmillan who were then the publishers of the William books to omit or change stories. Apart from references to Jews which could be interpreted as being anti-Semitic, there were stories involving ill-treatment of animals. In addition to the example given above of William’s dog being sent to kill rats, there is a story in which a rat and a dog were painted for one of the Outlaws’ many shows. (151) Both the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the National Canine Defence League stated that “cruelty to animals in many of the short stories was no longer acceptable.” (152)

In an article published in the “Online Telegraph” of London in 1999, Macmillan expressed their displeasure at this attempt to be “politically correct” in the William books, and promised “not to turn the famous naughty 11-year-old boy in British literature into a goody-goody to meet the demands of political correctness.” They did however admit to having removing two stories “several years ago” from the book “William the Detective which were considered “inappropriate.” (153)

The “political correctness” of the story “William and the Nasties” was also the subject of an independent comment online:
“Anyone else read Richmal Compton’s (sic) Just William books when they were kids? Good, clean fun, full of ‘cripes!’ and skinned knees and messy boys tearing around the place with catapaults. Right. Now, does anyone remember reading the story ‘William and the Nasties’? The one, written in 1935, where William and the Outlaws hear about this movement in Germany, the ‘Nasties’? Who chuck Jewish shopkeepers out of their shops? And start up a UK branch to try and chuck out the local Jewish shopkeeper, who runs the sweet shop” Ringing any bells here yet? Of course, in the end it’s all OK, with their half-hearted attempts to kick out the shopkeeper (with William using the name ‘Himm (sic) Hitler’, as ‘Herr’ sounds too like a girl) ending up with them foiling a burglary and being fulsomely rewarded by the shopkeeper. But still, y’know – they were playing at being Nazis and trying to strong-arm a Jewish shopkeeper. Not quite some wholesome boyish fun now, is it?” (154)

This removal of objectionable material from modern day authors’ books was not limited to the William books. It has also occurred with Agatha Christie’s book originally entitled “Ten Little Niggers.” Even the title gave offence and it was first changed to “And Then There Were None” and then later to “Ten Little Indians.” (155) In addition to the objectionable title, derogatory remarks were made about a Jew called Morris. In the original editions she writes, “That little Jew had been dammed mysterious.” “that was the damnable part about Jews, you couldn’t deceive them about money,” and “There had been a very faint smile on the thick Semitic lips of Mr. Morris….” (156) However, in later editions, the word “Jew” was changed to “Morris.” (157)

The question of uncomplimentary remarks about the blacks also arose in Enid Blyton’s books, by virtue of her regular use of golliwogs – black dolls. The original golliwog was a rag doll-like children’s character created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. It then became a popular children’s toy well into the 20th century. Even the British jam manufacturer James Robertson then used a golliwog as its mascot. (158) Some of Enid Blyton’s books such as “The Three Golliwogs” featured such dolls. (159) However in the early 1980s, when “political correctness” entered the picture, the revised editions of her Noddy books replaced Gilbert the Golli, the gollywog proprietor of the Toytown garage, with a Mr. Sparks, (160) and the golliwogs were replaced with teddy bears. (161)

CONCLUSION

“When Richmal created him [William] … just over eighty years ago she never dreamed that he would prove so resilient.” (162) However, with a multi-racial society now existing in Britain (and in many other countries) it is important not to feature intolerance in books, especially in popular children’s books such as William. Racial stereotyping in books can have a negative effect on the juvenile population. It is therefore inappropriate for stories which make views such as anti-Semitism seem the normative behavior for the younger generation, to appear in such books. (163)

REFERENCES

(1) “Richmal Crompton,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia , 19 December 2005, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmal_Crompton).
(2) see e.g. Internet: http://www.justwilliam.co.uk/page-foreign.htm.
(3) For list, see Mary Cadogan, Richmal Crompton - The Woman behind Just William, (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2003 [first published 1986]), [henceforth, Cadogan], pp.161-62.
(4) They were originally all published by George Newnes of London.
(5) Volume 26. First published in 1948 by George Newnes of London.
(6) Until 1964 all the illustrations were by Thomas Henry Fisher and from then on the illustrator was Henry Ford.
(7) Richmal Crompton, “The Outlaws Deliver the Goods, Chapter 6 in the book “William,” (London: George Newnes), p.140.
(8) Cadogan, p.83.
(9) Volumes 21 - 25. The first edition of these volumes were published from 1939-1945.
(10) Albert. M Hyamson, A History of the Jews in England, (London: Chato & Windus, 1908), pp.134, 144 fn.; Encyclopedia Judaica, (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972), vol. 6, cols. 776-81.
(11) The Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia, definition of Shylock, (Internet: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Shylock).
(12) Hyamson, op. cit., p.26; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 16, cols. 1289-91.
(13) “History of the Jews in England,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 15 February 2006, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_England).
(14) Sheila Delany, “Chaucer Prioress, the Jews, and the Muslims,” Medieval Encounters, vol.5, no.2, 1999, (Leiden: Brill), p.210.
(15) Beth-Zion Abrahams, The Jews in England, (London: Pordes. [n.d.]), p.95; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol..6, col. 777.
(16) Cecil Roth, A History of the Marranos, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1932), p.257; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, col. 777.
(17) Gerald Friedlander, Shakespeare and the Jew, (London: George Routledge, 1921), p.40.
(18) Milton Kerker, “Charles Dickens, Fagin and Riah,” Luminaries, (Internet: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/luminaries/monograph/wr_dickens.shtml).
(19) Disparaging mentioning of Jews may be found in Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Niggers” which was first published in 1939. According to the “Independent on Sunday” dated 4.10.2003 (Internet: http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=244), they also appear in Christie’s “The Mysterious Mr. Quinn” first published in 1930; however in the new edition of this book published in 1968 by Dell Publishing, New York, this “disparaging mentioning of Jews” does not appear.
(20) Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, (Fontana Books, 1978), passim.
(21) Terence Prittie and Bernard Dineen, The Double Exodus, (London: Goodhart Press, [n.d.]), p.25.
(22) Cadogan, p.1.
(23) Ibid., pp.16, 23.
(24) Ibid., pp.35, 37.
(25) Ibid., p.47.
(26) Ibid., pp.51-52.
(27) Ibid., pp.64-65.
(28) Ibid., p.68.
(29) Richmal Crompton, William the Detective. In the edition published by George Newnes, the story “William and the Nasties” is found on pp.116-33.
(30) Cadogan, p.49.
(31) Ibid., p.21; “William among the Poets,” Chapter 7 in the book “William in Trouble.”
(32) Ibid., pp.38-39; “William and the Early Romans,” Chapter 1 in the book “William in Trouble.”
(33) Ibid., p.3; e.g. “William and the Badminton Racket.” Chapter 8 in the book “William’s Bad Resolution,” (formerly entitled “William and A.R.P.”).
(34) Ibid., pp.19-20; e.g. “The Haunted House,” Chapter 7 in the book “Still William.”
(35) Ibid., pp.79, 99; e.g. “A Few Dogs and William,” Chapter 4 in the book “William the Showman.”
(36) Ibid., p.86; e.g. “William the Moneymaker,” Chapter 4 in the book “William the Good.”
(37) Ibid., p.87; e.g. “William Turns over a New Leaf,” Chapter 4 in the book “Still William.”
(38) Gerry Black, Lord Rothschild and the Barber, (London: Tymsder, 2000), p.13.
(39) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, col. 759.
(40) Information obtained from The Jewish Year Book. This has been published annually in London since 1896.
(41) Ibid.
(42) The United Kingdom – historical demographical data of the administrative division prior to 1974. (Internet: http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Europe/unkingop.htm).
(43) Cadogan, p.44.
(44) Grateful acknowledgments to Dr. Gerry Black of London for the information.
(45) Cadogan, p.45.
(46) jpr report, no.1, 2003, “The Jewish day school marketplace,” (Internet: http://www.jpr.org.uk/Reports/PJC_Reports/no_1_2003/main_2.htm).
(47) The Jewish Year Book, op. cit.
(48) Italy: History – Art – Landscape, (Florence: Edizioni Mercurio, 1954), p.249.
(49) Exodus xxxiv 29.
(50) Biblia Sacra – Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, Tomus I - Genesis-Psalmi, (Stuttgart: Wurttembergische Bibelanstalt, 1969). p.126.
(51) Judith Grunfeld, Shefford, (The Soncino Press: [n.p.], 1980), p.3.
(52) Cadogan, p.2.
(53) Ibid., p.97.
(54) Ibid., pp.119-20.
(55) St. Elphin’s school, Mission Statement, (Internet: http://www.st-elphins.co.uk/sect1/subsect1). Although this statement was taken from a report written in the 160th year of the School, it was almost certainly their “Mission” throughout their long history.
(56) Cadogan, pp.39-40.
(57) Ibid., p.45.
(58) Ibid., p.60.
(59) Ibid., p.109.
(60) “The Oberammergau Passion Play, The New Script for the 2000 presentation,” Anti-Defamation League, (Internet: http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/Oberammergau/Intro.asp).
(61) Saul Landau, “Purges, Pedophiles and Cover Ups – Pope Torquemada,” Counterpunch, May 7/8, 2005, (Internet: http://www.counterpunch.org/landau05072005.html); Rachel Patron, “Assertive Religiosity Cause for Worry,” Wren’s Nest: Local News, 6 June 2005, (Internet: http://www.witchvox.com/vn/vn_detail/dt_wn.html?a=usfl&id=13108).
(62) There were numerous articles in “The Times” of London at that period on the persecution of Jews in Germany. See The Official Index to The Times of 1933 and 1934, (London: The Times Publishing Co.).
(63) “Oswald Mosley,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 29 December 2005, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Mosley).
(64) Cadogan, p.88.
(65) Ibid., p.28.
(66) Ibid., p.118.
(67) Ibid.; Mary Cadogan, Just William Through the Ages, (London: Macmillan, 1994), p.53.
(68) BBC News – Newswatch, (Internet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/newswatch/history/noflash/html/1930s.stm).
(69) A History of the British Newsreels, (Internet: http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/databases/newsreels/history/history.html).
(70) Richmal Crompton, “William and the Nasties,” William the Detective, (London: George Newnes. 1935 – 1967), (henceforth: Nasties), pp.116-17.
(71) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 8, col. 674.
(72) Robin R. Mundill, England’s Jewish Solution – Experiment and Expulsion, 1262-1290, (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp.109-19.
(73) Colin Holmes, Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876-1939, (London: Edward Arnold, 1979), p.112.
(74) Ibid.
(75) Ibid., p.266, fn.54.
(76) “Mayer Amschel Rothschild family,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 5 February 2006, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayer_Amschel_Rothschild).
(77) Black, op. cit., p.7.
(78) Ibid., p.5.
(79) Marvin Lowenthal, The Jews of Germany, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1936), p.398.
(80) Ibid., p.400.
(81) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 5, cols. 1218-19; Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, (Hebrew edition), vol. 2, (Tel-Aviv: Sifriat Poalim Publishing House, 1990), pp. 317, 319.
(82) Nasties, p.117.
(83) The Oxford English Dictionary, volume v, H-K, (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1933, reprinted 1961), p.577.
(84) Q & A With Alan Dershowitz: Making the Case for Israel, B’nai B’rith, Winter 2003, (Washington D.C.), p.14.
(85) Donald S. Castro, “But We are a Separate Race! The Image of the Jew in the Argentine Popular Theatre, 1890-1935 (A Question of the Other),” (Internet: http://www1.lanic.utexas.edu/project/lasa95/castro.html).
(86) Stanley Donen, “The Religious Affiliation of Choreographer/Director,” (Internet: http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Stanley_Donen.html).
(87) e.g. Joseph Goebbels, “Germans. Buy only from the Jew!” essay written in 1928, Calvin College (Michigan). German Propaganda Archive, (Internet: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/angrif10.htm).
(88) Ernst Hiemer, Der Giftpitz (The Poisonous Mushroom), (Nurnberg: Berlag Der Sturmer, 1938), no page numbers.
(89) Nasties, pp.117-18.
(90) Hasdai Westbrook, “Is There Really Such a Thing as a Jewish Nose?” Newvoices, vol.12 issue 1, Sept/Oct 2003, (Internet: http://newvoices.org/cgi-bin/articlepage.cgi?id=164).
(91) Maurice Fishberg, The Jews – A Study of Race and Environment, (New York: Walter Scott Publishing Co., 1911), p.79; M. Hirsh Goldberg, Just Because They’re Jewish, (New York: Stein and Day, 1979), p.31.
(92) Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, (Internet: http://www.qi-whiz.com/mizar/witch.html).
(93) XIIII.Diabolus – Diabolus – Devil (14, 15), (Internet: www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/M14.html).
(94) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 3, col. 93; Beth-Zion Abrahams, op. cit., pp.72-73.
(95) Ibid., cols.97-98, 117-18.
(96) Ibid., cols.121-22.
(97) Ibid., col.154; Yaacov Guri, Hatred of Jews Reflected in Caricatures, (Hebrew), (Ma’ariv, [n.p.], 1986), p.22; Yigal Lossin, , Pillar of Fire, trans Zvi Ofer, (Jerusalem: Shikmona Publishing Co., 1983), pp.206-07.
(98) Nasties, p.118.
(99) Ibid., pp.118-26.
(100) Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1946), vol. 1, pp.202-05.
(101) Richard Bessel, Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), p.97.
(102) Ibid., pp.116-17.
(103) “Perpetrators - Violence – terror and death.” A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, (Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida, 2005), (Internet: http://www.unc.edu/courses/2003fall/poli/061/001/A%20Teacher's%20Guide%20to%20the% 20Holocaust-Perpetrators.htm).
(104) Lowenthal, op. cit., p.380.
(105) Peter Pulzer, The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria, (New York: John Wiley, 1964), p.325.
(106) Pillar of Fire, op. cit., p.198; Bessel, op, cit., p.107.
(107) Eric G Reiche, The development of the SA in Nurnberg, 1922-1934,” (Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp.187-88.
(108) Nasties, pp.127-32.
(109) “Propaganda,” Calvin College (Michigan), German Propaganda Archive, (Internet: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/prop27.htm)
(110) Hermut von Wilucki, “Tested Methods of Modern Propaganda,” Ibid., (Internet: www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/wilweg02.htm)
(111). Speech by Adolf Hitler, Munich, 28 July 1922, (Internet: http://www.hitler.org/speeches/07-28-22.html).
(112) Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, (Muenchen: Zentralverlag der NSDAP. F. Eher Nachf, 1939), vol. 1. chap. 11, p.319; Adolf Hitler. Mein Kampf, [English translation], vol. 1 chap. 11, (Internet: http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html
(113) “German Propaganda Archive, Caricatures from Der Sturmer: 1928-1931,” Calvin College (Michigan). (Internet: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/sturm28.htm).
(114) Brad Honigman “Professor addresses Nazi tactics,” The GW Hatchet (online) – An Independent Student Newspaper, Issue date 4/7/03, (Internet: http://www.gwhatchet.com/media/paper332/news/2003/04/07/News/Professor.Addresses.Nazi.Tactics- 409898.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.gwhatchet.com).
(115) Nasties, pp.132-33.
(116) Ibid., p.129.
(117) Ibid., p.133.
(118) Richmal Crompton, “William Helps the Cause,” Sweet William, (London: George Newnes). pp.81-82.
(119) Ibid., pp.82-83.
(120) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, col. 758.
(121) Black, op. cit., p.13.
(122) “The Work to be Done, II – Our Foreign Poor,” Jewish Chronicle, (London), 12 August 1881, p.9.
(123) Minutes of Evidence taken before the Royal commission on Alien Immigration (1903), A Documentary History of Jewish Immigrants in Britain. 1840-1920, ed. David Englander. (Leicester University Press: Leicester, 1994), p.92.
(124) Holmes, op. cit., p.206.
(125) Ibid., p.115.
(126) Ibid., pp.110, 204.
(127) Henry Walker, East London - Sketches of Christian work and workers, II. Whitechapel, (1896), (Internet: http://www.mernick.co.uk/thhol/easlon02.html).
(128) Black, op. cit., p.11.
(129) Lloyd P. Gartner, The Jewish Immigrant in England, 1870-1914, (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1960), pp.256-60 ; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 13, col. 1031.
(130) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 16, col. 973.
(131) Grateful acknowledgments to Dr. Gerry Black of London for the information.
(132) Holmes, op. cit., p.112.
(133) Richmal Crompton, “William and the Pets’ Club,” William and the Tramp, (London: George Newnes), p.190.
(134) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 5, cols, 1069, 751.
(135) Ibid., vol. 6, col. 1069, vol. 7, cols. 15-17.
(136) Ibid., vol. 5, col. 1069, vol. 15, col. 241.
(137) Jeffrey A. Singer, “Making Sense of Jewish Stereotypes,” Freedom Daily, April 2000, (Internet: http://www.fff.org/freedom/0400f.asp).
(138) “Trade and Commerce in the Middle Ages,” Camelot Village: Britain’s Heritage and History, (Internet: http://www.camelotintl.com/village/trade.html).
(139) Alden Oreck, “The Virtual Jewish History Tour Belgium… Antwerp,” (Internet: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Belgium.html).
(140) Cadogan, op. cit., p.117.
(141) Grateful acknowledgments to Undercover Books, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, for the information.
(142) Grateful acknowledgments to Jacques Gander, Gloucestershire, England, for the information.
(143) Grateful acknowledgments to Gillian James Books, Nottingham, England, for the information.
(144) Grateful acknowledgments to Miss E.N. Woodburn, Reference Department, Cambridge University Library, for the information.
(145) Grateful acknowledgments to Alexander’s Books, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, for the information.
(146) Richmal Crompton, “William Helps the Cause,” Sweet William, (London: Macmillan, 1986), p.64; Grateful acknowledgments to Miss E.N. Woodburn, Reference Department, Cambridge University Library, for the information.
(147) Richmal Crompton, “William and the Pets’ Club,” William and the Tramp, (London: Macmillan Children’s, 1990), p.175; Grateful acknowledgments to Mr. Lucas Elkin, Reference Department, Cambridge University Library, for the information.
(148) “Just William,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 16 December 2005, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_William).
(149) Cadogan, p.65.
(150) Ibid., pp.117-18.
(151) “The Show,” Chapter 5 in the book “Just William.”
(152) “Publishers stand firm against a PC William, online Telegraph, London, 6 May 1999, (Internet: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1999/05/06/nwil06.html).
(153) Ibid.
(154) “let ’em have it! alles ist revisionism, April 29, 2005,” (Internet: http://www.tallpoppy.org/archives/2005_04_01_archives.php).
(155) enotes, Ten Little Indians – Introduction, (Internet: http://www.enotes.com/ten-little/).
(156) Agatha Christie, Ten Little Niggers, (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1959), p.10.
(157) The Mt Void, Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society, 04/16/04 – vol.22, no.42, (Internet: http://fanac.org/fanzines/MT_Void/MT_Void-2242.html).
(158) “Golliwogg,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 5 January 2006, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwog).
(159) Ibid.
(160) Enid Blyton, (Internet: http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/blyton.html).
(161) “Enid Blyton,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 5 January 2006, (Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton.
(162) Cadogan, p.xviii.
(163) In addition to those mentioned above in the footnotes, grateful acknowledgments are also due to: Albion Books, Portchester, Fareham. Hampshire; Packhorse Books, Huddersfield West Yorkshire; An-Eye-for-Books, Dublin, Ireland; Roy Barrett, Duffryn, Newport; Alan Tucker, The Bookshop, Stroud, Gloucestershire; Oxfam Bookshop, Lancaster, Lancashire; Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Octopus Publishing Group; Dymocks, Sydney, Australia; Sarah Davies, Macmillan Children’s Books; Wikipedia; Amazon Co. U.K.; Ilana Sichel, New Voices, New York; The Librarians of the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, The Librarians, especially Shulamit Bone, of the Kiryat Arba Municipal Library; The Haifa Technion Library; Yonason Abrahams of London; and my son Yehudah.

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