Mention of the Jewish immigrants to many historians will often evoke infamous images of trainloads of families fleeing intolerance during the Nazi dictatorship or overcrowded ships arriving at Ellis Island in New York. The history of the Jewish experience in England is less well known. Yet their story is no less dramatic, mixing periods of acceptance, economic achievement and political victory with prejudice, intolerance and even murder.
Lack of awareness of the English Jewish experience might be because so much of its early roots are unclear. After his victory at Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror invited some Jews over from France to form a Jewish community in Britain for the first time.
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