Amersham & Chesham Jewish Community

Bibliography, Online Articles and Other Material relating to
the Amersham and Chesham Jewish Community

• Bibliography:

  • The Rabbi in the Green Jacket 2015 - Memories of Jewish Buckinghamshire 1939-1945 by Vivien & Deborah Samson;

  • Other Amersham & Chesham Bibliography (if any).

on third party websites

• A Tour of Jewish Amersham - a walk based on Vivien Samson’s guided tour of Jewish Amersham - August 2013.

• Amersham Museum - the war-time Jewish community.

Notable Jewish Connections with Amersham and Chesham

• Chesham was represented in the House of Commons by three members of the Rothschild family from 1885 until 1922, when it comprised part of the then Aylesbury constituency: Ferdinand de Rothschild (1885-1899); Walter Rothschild (1899-1910) and Lionel de Rothschild (1910-1922).

• Elias Canetti (1905-1994), who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1981, lived at Chesham Bois for a time during World War II.

• Maurice Edelman (1911-1975), who lived in Clifton Road, Chesham Bois, was the author of several books, including a biography of David Ben Gurion. He was Labour MP for Coventry constituencies from 1945 until his death.

• Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu (b.1932), who became head of the Manchester and then the United Synagogue's Beth Din, attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, his father Rabbi Yisroel Ehrentreu, having served as minister in Chesham during World War II. David Stamler was a classmate, who went on to become the Head of Carmel College.

• Stephen Fry (b.1957), actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer, spent part of his childhood in Chesham, attending Chesham Prep School as detailed in his autobiography Moab is my Washpot.

• Walter Goehr (1903–1960) embarked on a conducting career in Berlin, before being forced as a Jew to leave Germany. He was living in Amersham by 1939. His wife Laelia, a pianist, cabaret artist and photographer, set up her own photographic studios in Amersham. Their son, Professor Alexander Goehr (b.1932), a composer, grew up in Amersham where he was taught by Józef Żmigrod (see below).

• Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (1906–1996) lived for a time at Chesham Bois. She has been described as one of Austria's leading painters in the 20th century, but partly of Jewish descent she had to flee Nazi persecution.

• Sir Michael Sobell (originally Sobel) (1892–1993), a British Jewish businessman, major philanthropist, and a prominent owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses, relocated his factory manufacturing radio equipment from London to Chesham during the World War II. He lived in nearby Beaconsfield.

• Józef Żmigrod (stage name Allan Gray) (1902–1973), was a Polish composer, best known for his film scores. Working and studying in Germany, he was forced to leave the country by the Nazis. He was living in Amersham by 1936 and apart from a period of internment as an enemy alien during World War II, he lived in Amersham for the rest of his life.