It is truly said that no man (or woman) is an island and even though writers lock themselves away as they create their work, they still rely on the willingness and kindness of others to assist their endeavours. Over many years I have been grateful to those Jewish people who have shared their thoughts and insights and have shown a generosity of spirit. I still remember the words of Mr Marks, a Jew, who visited my home when I was a child, and brought many gifts for our poor family. He told me, ‘We enter this world to embrace life and to help make the world a better place, to fail to do so implies we have not really lived.’ I later understood that he had survived the Holocaust and he had never spoken of it but showed a remarkable capacity to love and care, despite what he must have suffered and for one poor Irish family at least, he made the world a better place.
I have also had the privilege in adult life to have had Jews teach me about hope, forgiveness and understanding the other. One such man is Doctor Edward Kessler, who founded the Woolf Institute, which is devoted to the study of relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims and who shone new light for me to understand better the truth that Judaism and Christianity cannot be fully understood without reference of one to the other. It is through his and others’ work at the Centre for Jewish Christian Relations (now the Woolf Institute) in Cambridge, that my knowledge of Jewish matters was broadened and deepened. For that I am very grateful and it was there the seeds of this present book were sown.
For the Jewish people, family is very important and as I have studied the history of genocide that has seen the destruction of so many families I am ever grateful and appreciative of my wife Kitty and Mark, Jonathan, Angelina, Angela, Richard, Janice and Esther and their respective husbands and wives and my grandchildren, a great family who are never slow to support and encourage my efforts.
The people at Pen & Sword, as always, prove a great resource for aid and succour and my editors never cease to improve my work. There are also the people at the National Archives, ever willing to help, as are those at archives in America and Israel. There are also those who have shared with me at synagogues and offered their wisdom and insights into the topic and commented on my own thoughts.
Whilst I have acknowledged in my notes, as far as possible, all sources I am sure there are many individual voices I have heard which are not included and to them I am also thankful. As ever, whilst I mention these things, the work, its opinions, ideas and conclusions remain my responsibility alone.
Martin Connolly, 2018