any German Jews clearest affiliation was with the general German community and its culture. The German community up and down this country largely organised themselves around a series of German institutes known as Vereinen
In Bradford there was the Schiller-Verein, on Rawson Square off Manor Row. Here the German elite met and socialised. One oral traditional passed on by former textile boss Ossie Stroud, the son of Rabbi Strauss, was that the Jewish merchants alleviated the very exceptional late hours they worked, by having long liquid lunches at the Schiller-Verein, after which they would return to their business premises, sleep off the liquor, and return to work.
The Vereinen was based in Unity Hall, which was leased by the German community in Bradford from 1862. Later it became a Masonic Hall and in 1910 became the base for the Oddfellows Society. The carving above the top middle window is of the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Von Schiller (1759-1805).
“We, therefore, Representatives of the Peoples of the World, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, do … solemnly publish and declare that all countries of the world are and of right ought to be free and independent States. That all human beings on this planet have inalienable rights, which guarantee them life, freedom, material conditions worthy of man, and the right to develop fully all potentialities of their intellect and their souls. That, therefore, a change in the present economic and monetary order is necessary and urgent to establish justice among the peoples of the world.”
— Signators at Schiller Institute conference.
*A proportion of this article has been directly reproduced from a piece about Bradford’s Jewish history authored by Nigel Grizzard and published on Marcus Roberts JTrails website at http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/bradford/history?page=2
Also reproduced here is the text from Bradford Timeline’s piece on Masonic Hall / Unity Hall, which is at http://www.bradfordtimeline.co.uk/p1876a.htm