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This book follows the lives of female Jewish refugees who fled Nazi persecution and became nurses. Nursing was nominally a profession but with its poor pay and harsh discipline, it was unpopular with British women. In the years preceding the Second World War, hospitals in Britain suffered chronic nurse staffing crises. As the country faced inevitable war, the Government and the profession’s elite courted refugees as an antidote to the shortages, but many hospitals refused to employ Continental Jews.
The book explores the changes in the refugees’ status and lives from the war years to the foundation of the National Health Service and to the latter decades of the twentieth century. It places the refugees at the forefront of manoeuvres in nursing practice, education and research at a time of social upheaval and alterations in the position of women.
Winner of the 2024 Lavinia L. Dock Book Prize 2024.
Honourable mention from the BIAJS Book Prize 2025.
'Jewish refugees and the British nursing profession is a highly insightful book, very much to be recommended to all: historians, nurses, doctors, and, indeed, politicians.'
Leo van Bergen, Medicine, Conflict and Survival Journal
‘Brooks tells the compelling tale of the nursing program for Jewish girls that was a lifeline out of Nazi Germany and a gift to the British nursing profession. Fascinating and shameful story of exploitation, survival, and the creation of a special group of nurse leaders for Britain. A must read!’
Sioban Nelson, University of Toronto
‘Jewish Refugees and the British Nursing Profession contributes a new chapter to the story of the Jews in Britain. This is an important aspect of British Jewish history that has simply not been noticed before. The work is meticulously documented, using original oral and written testimony, which is analysed with sophistication and skill, and presented in a highly readable style.’
Philip Alexander, University of Manchester
‘Brooks presents a rich history of this particularly underrepresented group in a well organized, meaningful, and contextualized manner. She weaves a compelling narrative that builds on the refugees ’stories illustrating how they dealt with loneliness, loss of family and country, contention with being seen as alien enemies and then as accepted professionals (albeit in a gendered role), and their resilience to survive.’
Sandra B. Lewenson, Nursing History Review
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction – Nursing: Gender, migration and opportunity
Chapter 1 – Escape
Chapter 2 – The nursing world
Chapter 3 – War nurse
Chapter 4 – From the post-war world to a nursing legacy
Conclusion
Bibliography