Spector, David (fl 1930-1997)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1556 WL 610
Held at	: Wiener Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Spector, David (fl 1930-1997)
Date(s)	: 1936-1992
Level of description	: collection
Extent	: 12 folders
Name of creator(s)	: Spector | David | fl 1930-1997 | anti-fascist campaigner

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

David Spector, a British born Jew, dedicated much of his life to fighting fascism in Britain, having experienced at first hand, the effects of Nazi persecution on Holocaust survivors.

In World War Two he enlisted in the Royal Artillery and within 2 years he was heading for the Middle East, where he became the youngest ever staff captain at a military college in Egypt. He then volunteered for the Jewish Brigade, and was appointed brigade major, training many of the men who were later to become senior officers in Israel's army. At the end of the war, Spector helped thousands of displaced Holocaust survivors make their way to Palestine.

After World War Two he returned to work in the City and became a leading figure in AJEX, the Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen, serving as its national vice-chairman and as a member of the Board of Deputies' Defence Committee. However he eventually resigned from these posts in protest at what he regarded as a soft attitude towards Moseley's post-war attempts to return to British political life. He died in 1997.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of David Spector, 1936-1992, including leaflets, periodicals and pamphlets of British right wing organisations and anti-Semitic propaganda. Correspondence on topics including anti-Semitism; right wing organisations; Lord Beaverbrook's alleged association with Hitler; the organisation of 'Moral Re-armament'; expropriated Jewish property; A K Chesterton's involvement in the National Front and Count Nicholas Tolstoy's views on the Cossacks' role during World War Two.

Press cuttings and typescript article on right wing groups in Britain during World War Two including descriptions of the following groups: '18B Detainees'; British Aid Fund; People's Common Law Parliament; Social Credit; British National Party; Peace Pledge Union; Society of Individualists; National League of Freedom and 'Black Hundred' and copies of documents on the activities, interrogation and internment of Oliver Gilbert, prominent British Fascist of the 1930s and 1940s.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Original order

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Finding aids:

Detailed description on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

David Spector

Allied Materials

Related material:

David Spector's post World War Two papers relating how he helped thousands of displaced Holocaust survivors make their way to Palestine, are housed with in the museum and archives of the Israel Defence Forces.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Mar 2008