Jews and Gypsies: Myths & Reality

by Ruth Barnett

Ruth Barnett escaped the Nazi plans to exterminate Jews and Gypsies by coming to England on the Kindertransport at age four. In her childhood in rural England, Ruth knew Gypsies as respected and welcomed itinerant agricultural and craft workers. Today, although as illegal as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the last bastion of culturally acceptable racism is against Roma and Traveller Gypsies. In this book Ruth aims to challenge the stereotypes and myths behind this racism. She says “I have no right to protest against anti-Semitism unless I also protest at other peoples being targeted through prejudice and hatred”. "It takes special courage to stand up for those who society maligns the most and Ruth encourages each person to find the inner courage to do so." Shauna Leven, Executive Director of René Cassin "If only there had been a book like Ruth Barnett’s when I was at school …. we would have seen how eerily similar some modern people’s attitudes towards Romani people, and other ethnic nomads like Irish Travellers, are to those held by the Nazis." Damian Le Bas, Editor, Travellers' Times

146 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2013

Reviews

[Lin SINGH-BARRINGTON]

Superb, important and much needed in this era, this book is a treasure of social justice in and of itself. The points are well-articulated but at various points badly written in the main due to punctuation errors and what really seems no more than a lack of careful proof reading. I'd love to see this highly readable and informative text on reading lists for students of 'A' level sociology and history.

I'd absolutely recommend this book without hesitation.