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Monica Bogen
Monica Bogen wrote to JTrails with these details about the Jewish community in Bury St Edmund's in the 1930s. Up to this point we had been unaware that there was a Jewish community in Bury in the 1930s and there is important information on other locations in East Anglia as well.
My parents Annie and Mark Shara (formerly known as Sharotsky), came to Bury in 1929 or 30, as a result of my uncle Nat Shaw (formerly Schner) bringing them there. He had gone to Ipswich a few years before and could see the potential of business in Bury. There were no fashion shops there at the time. He owned a shop and eventually a Greyhound Stadium and was a Director of Ipswich Football Club. He also took his brothers, Alf, Joe and Charles to Boston, Wisbech and Peterborough, so we have strong Anglian connections. As far as I know we were the only Jewish Family there, until a Dorothy West (formerly Glicksman) appeared to, open up a rival shop and she had a son my age.
Jews in Bury St Edmund's and East Anglia, in the 1930s
Monica Bogen
Monica Bogen wrote to JTrails with these details about the Jewish community in Bury St Edmund's in the 1930s. Up to this point we had been unaware that there was a Jewish community in Bury in the 1930s and there is important information on other locations in East Anglia as well.
Nat Shaw was one of the first Directors of Ipswich Football Club when it went professional and is well remembered by supporters of the club.
My parents Annie and Mark Shara (formerly known as Sharotsky), came to Bury in 1929 or 30, as a result of my uncle Nat Shaw (formerly Schner) bringing them there. He had gone to Ipswich a few years before and could see the potential of business in Bury. There were no fashion shops there at the time. He owned a shop and eventually a Greyhound Stadium and was a Director of Ipswich Football Club. He also took his brothers, Alf, Joe and Charles to Boston, Wisbech and Peterborough, so we have strong Anglian connections. As far as I know we were the only Jewish Family there, until a Dorothy West (formerly Glicksman) appeared to, open up a rival shop and she had a son my age.
We left Bury in 1946, to live in Bournemouth, as my parents did not think Bury was a good place, to being up a Jewish Girl. I hated it there at first and experienced my first taste of anti-Semitism.
(c) Monica Bogen
A centre of Jewish learning, the community came a cropper when it meddled in medieval politics and was subsequently subjected to a blood libel and brutal massacre in which 57 of its members were killed.
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