Jewish Women, English Dress: From Kindertransport to Women in Uniform in Wartime England

Abstract The study of dress in relation to Jewish identity in England is critically understudied. Historic anxieties concerning the presence of Jews in England impacted the lives of many, refugees seeking asylum from fascist Europe in particular. Images from the snapshot collection of Lorraine Sulzbacher, a German Jewish refugee, are correlated with oral history testimonies from other Kindertransport refugees to explore the identity formation and integration of female Kindertransport refugees in England from 1939 to 1945. This article investigates how dress was used as a visual signifier of integration, and how both dress and photographic practices simultaneously created space for identity formation. It discusses the impact dress had on the formation of identity during the transition from girlhood to adulthood for female Kindertransport refugees. Additionally, this article examines how uniformed war work provided these young women opportunities to develop their identities as displaced European Jewish persons in Britain. This analysis of dress and photography posits that these refugees were a diaspora in formation.