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Documenting & commemorating the contribution British Jews made during the First World War.

Judah and Lipman Przybysz, outside Judah's tailor shop in the East End. A We Were There Too user has recently identified them as his great-uncles. ©Jewish Museum

Photograph of Lt Samuel Levinson and  Lieut. Philip Jacobs. ©Jewish Museum London/Jewish Military Museum

1265 images from the Jewish Military Museum/AJEX Collections

Available to view here for the first-time, an extensive collection of photographs, letters, documents, objects and books from the Jewish Military Museum/AJEX Collections, kindly provided by the Jewish Museum London. These remarkable images illustrate the experiences of individual British Jewish men and women who served in the First World War.

 

Personal Records

Aaron Simeon Cohen 02/04/1891 -29/09/1915
Simon Baumgard 1894 -15/09/1916
Elias Edgar Isaacs 1899 -15/04/1918
Abraham Hertz 05/09/1895 -03/07/1917
Hyman Shulman 1878 -1951

Regional areas to explore

As our archive expands we are creating spaces for local areas of interest across the UK.
On these pages you’ll find the regions we are working in. 

Greater London

North West

North East

The Jewish East End of London

The proportion of the Jewish population to other residents of East London in 1899

  • 95-100%
  • 75-95%
  • 50-75%
  • 25-50%
  • 5-25%
  • < 5%

Find Someone

Use our digitised resources below to find a person living in First World War London.

The British Jewry Book of Honour

The British Jewry Book of Honour is a record of Jews who were killed in action and awarded military honours in the First World War, as well as the nominal rolls of Jews who served, listed by service and by regiment. 

The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish Chronicle Archives

The Jewish Chronicle has very generously made their 1914 - 1920 Archives available to We Were There Too participants, free of the usual fee charged for using the Archive. This will enable you to read about the First World War years from a distinctly Jewish perspective and to research your family.

7th May 1915
Sinking of the Lusitania
Off the coast of Ireland
‘The sinking of the Lusitania has transformed the face of the war. Up till recently it was a fight...
Jewish Chronicle
14th May 1915

Featured History Windows

The Jewish World 12/01/1916

Russia or Britain – take your pick!

Immigrant Jews who had arrived in the UK before 1914 did not need to become naturalised in order to live and work in the UK and some never did.

Jewish nurses. The British Jewry Book of Honour.

Jewish Nurses, VADs and Military Hospitals.

An assessment at the start of war calculated that there were approximately 50,000 beds available. By the end of 1914 there some 73,000 injured had already been brought home.

Map of Ruhleben Camp. Ruhleben prison Camp Magazine. December 1915.

Ruhleben internment camp

In autumn 1914 following the outbreak of war citizens from the different Allied countries that were living, travelling or working in Germany were interned.

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London Jews in the First World War - We Were There Too

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