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Jewish Ex-Service Men's Coronation Parade 2

Jewish ex-service men make a stand against fascism in a moving display of pride and patriotism in the 1930s.

Amateur film 1937 3 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for North East Film Archive

Overview

A remarkable amateur film records a morale-boosting memorial parade of Jewish First World War veterans through colourful Newcastle streets, specially decorated for the forthcoming Coronation of George VI. As war looms with Germany, this is a moving show of patriotism mobilised against the 1930s rise of Oswald Mosleys British Union of Fascists.

The North East Branch of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX) was formed in the early 1930s to counteract propaganda of the British Union of Fascists that Jews had not fought in World War One. The first Newcastle parade of ex-servicemen took place in 1934. During the 1930s the anti-Semitic British Union of Fascists, launched by Mosley in October 1932 and colloquially known as Blackshirts, held many meetings and rallies that targeted working class communities in North East England suffering during the Depression. They were fiercely opposed by anti-fascists in often violent confrontations.