Jewish life, art and enterprise in Macclesfield during World War II

Main image: The Weinberg family, who came to Macclesfield as refugees escaping persecution, soon integrated into Macclesfield life. Joe, on the far left, established Weinberg’s tailors in Stanley Street, Rose (third left) had a clothes alterations business in Bridge Street for many years.

An exhibition celebrating Jewish life, art and enterprise in Macclesfield during World War II is being mounted by Incubation Arts.

The exhibition commemorate the 75^th Anniversary of the opening of the Macclesfield Synagogue at 62 Chestergate (now Charles Roe House) in March 1941.

The ground floor will feature 28 paintings and sketches by the late Jules Weinberg, a young Jewish evacuee from London. Many of the paintings were displayed in an exhibition of his work, at West Park Museum  in 1946  and haven’t been seen on public display since.

One of Jules Weinberg’s paintings

Also on display will be samples from Jules’ Pattern Book, some rare items relating to the Jewish firm of Oberland Silks – on loan from the Macclesfield Silk Museums, early original technical documents from V & E Friedland,  and some personal memorabilia of the Tannenbaum’s who came from Austria to Macclesfield.

On the first floor, which from 1941-46 housed the Macclesfield Synagogue and the communal activities of Macclesfield’s 200 Jews, will be 25 panels illustrating Jewish life in the town, along with profiles of ten Jewish-owned firms – including V&E Friedland, Halle, Oberland Silks, and BJ Friend – and some of the war-time products they made. Also covered will be the experiences of evacuee family the Weinbergs, refugee family – the Tannenbaums and a snapshot of other Jewish refugees who arrived in Macclesfield to escape Nazi persecution in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium.

The exhibition is sponsored by Macclesfield Silk Museums, Cheshire East Council and Cheshire Archives & Local Studies with funding from two anonymous donors.

Admission is free and the exhibition runs from Monday 21st March to 2^nd May, Wednesdays to Sundays, 11am to 4pm.

There will be a ‘by invitation’ only preview, on Sunday 20th March.

A 40-page Book, based on the Exhibition, written by local and Jewish historian Basil Jeuda, is available £3 (£4.70 p&p), from Incubation Arts, 62 Chestergate, Macclesfield, SK11 6DY.

During the War, there were between 150 and 200 Jews in Macclesfield and Bollington, nearly all evacuees from the London blitz and refugees from Nazi Europe. There were ten Jewish manufacturers and five Jewish retailers, nearly all of whom moved up from London, and at their peak they employed nearly 1,500 people. This book tells this facinating story, and adds a new dimension to previous histories of the Macclesfield area during World War Two.

The Book covers (i)  Jewish settlement in the Macclesfield area in the 1930s and 1940s, (ii) Macclesfield Synagogue and Jewish Communal Life, (iii) Jewish manufacturers and retailers and what they made and sold, (iv) the experience of an evacuee family in Macclesfield, the Weinbergs, (v) the experience of a refugee family in Macclesfield, the Tannenbaums, and (vi) snapshots of Jewish soldiers, and of other Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe.

The Book has been extensively researched in local newspapers and in the national archives of the Jewish Chronicle. The author has had access to former war-time members of the Macclesfield Jewish Community and to others of Jewish origin, and to their descendants, and to their photographs, ephemera and memorabilia. Local firms covered include V&E Friedland, Halle, Oberland Silks, BJ Friend and H&I Franklin, with many previously unpublished local photographs.

Price £3, plus £1.70 p&p.  Published by Incubation @ Charles Roe House, 62 Chestergate, SK11 6DY.   Colour Cover and 40 pages, A5. More than 70 illustrations   info@incubationarts.org   Tel: 07782 31 2264    Publication date 28^th February 2016.

Also available from Macclesfield Heritage Centre and Macclesfield (Park Lane) Silk Museum, Macclesfield Tourist Information Centre, The Hope Centre at Park Lane, Hameston Books (and at the Treacle Market), and Congleton Tourist Information Centre, and the Manchester Jewish Museum.

Further information from Basil Jeuda, 01625 426740    basil@jeuda.com

Julie Hamer, Director Incubation Arts julie@incubationarts.org 077823 12264

Editor’s note: Growing up in Great King Street, Macclesfield, Dr Tannenbaum – who’s practice was in the street, was our family doctor for many years and over the years became not only a family friend but one of the most highly respected GP’s in the town.

Joey Weinberg, assisted by his family, ran a tailors shop in Stanley Street. During the war, whilst my father (Denis Sellars) was fighting in Italy, my mother maintained his insurance round. She told me on many occasions how generous Joey had been, regularly giving her ‘an orange for the children’ when such things were virtually unobtainable.

When my father came back from Italy, wounded, he renewed his relationship with the Weinberg family – and never lost an opportunity to express his gratitude for the Weinberg family’s warmth, kindness and generosity.