Britain and the Holocaust, the Holocaust and Britain

Abstract

The relationship between Britain and the Holocaust is one underscored by complexity. British responses to the persecution of Jews and other groups —both at the time and retrospectively—have been laced with a certain ambiguity. The Palgrave Handbook of Britain and the Holocaust represents a valuable tool with which readers might navigate the competing strands of Holocaust history in the United Kingdom: action and inaction, remembrance and ‘amnesia’, established and problematic narratives. Central to the book is a prudent conviction in the belief that a firm framework of historical fact is crucial to furthering understanding of the topic in question. The Palgrave Handbook of Britain and the Holocaust provides a welcome revisit to existing surveys, by the likes of Jensen and Sharples, of Britain and the Holocaust. Given their existing contribution to the field, there are few individuals more suited to guide the discourse on such an intricate historical issue than Tom Lawson and Andy Pearce. Pearce and Lawson oversee a collection of over twenty chapters from a collection of esteemed authors. The contributors to the book, ranging from established academics to upcoming scholars alike, are as diverse as the different subtopics examined. Crucially, by expanding its historical scope well beyond the parameters of 1939 and 1945, the Palgrave Handbook of Britain and the Holocaust counteracts any tendencies to subsume the Holocaust into broader British narratives of the Second World War. The book is thoughtfully divided into nine parts, including ‘Political Contexts’ (Part I), ‘Punishment and Memory’ (Part IV) and ‘Public Pedagogy’ (Part VII). As such, while the overall narrative arc of the relationship between Britain and the Holocaust is maintained, the reader is able to distinguish some theoretical separations between the different themes explored. Pleasingly, the undoubted sophistication of the volume by no means impedes its accessibility to a general readership.