Disclaimer: asking for a writing project but I’m a MOT and the story will be based on the story of my great-aunt z”l who was a Kindertransport child. There’s no one left to ask on her side, and I’m not in the UK or know anyone there either.
Does anyone have resources – or better yet, personal insight, on Jewish life in London in the late 30s and early 40s? Communities, minhagim, that kind of thing … I’ve been doing a lot of googling but most of what comes up is either super generic and superficial (and clearly geared towards outsiders) or it’s about the Kindertransporte specifically, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how normal everyday life went while things were going pear-shaped otherwise.
What would a normal Shabbat dinner for an upper-middle-class family look like, what do they have for Kiddush meal, would they do gifts on Chanukkah or not and how would they decorate (the main character arrives on the third night of Chanukkah, as did my great-aunt in real life), would children go to a Jewish school or a secular one, did different communities get along well enough to collaborate / communicate – especially when it comes to charity work – or was there major drama, how egalitarian (if at all) was a Masorti synagogue at that time, how prevalent were Yiddishisms in everyday speak, what were typical/telltale fashions and how did they differ between the orthodox and the assimilated (like did women tend to wear sheitel or spitzel or hat, and was that a class marker), that kind of thing.
Looking forward to each and every bit of wisdom you’re willing or able to share …
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