Jewish Refugees and the British Nursing Profession: A Gendered Opportunity , by Jane Brooks

Historians Tobbell and D’Antonio (2024) recently argued the need for “more contextualized historical studies about the experiences of underrepresented groups in nursing.”1 Jane Brooks does just that in her book, Jewish Refugees and the British Nursing Profession: A Gendered Opportunity. She examines the lives of a small group of Jewish women who survived the Holocaust during WWII when over six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime. Great Britain offered safe passage to these refugees trying to escape a certain death through three types of visas. One visa was called the Kindertransport that allowed some families to send their children to safety in foster homes; another visa was for working as a domestic servant; and another visa was for trained nurses, or for nurses who received training while in the United Kingdom. Brooks focuses her study on the latter group, exploring the experiences of refugees in the profession. She contextualizes the experiences of these women (mostly) from Germany within the chaotic world events during the late 1930s. Jews faced imminent danger from the antisemitic Nazi regime and sought immigration avenues wherever they found countries with policies open to immigration. While these refugees faced many challenges, their stories reflect survival, hope, and opportunity. They led productive lives both personally and professionally and contributed to the developing nursing profession.Brooks relies on comprehensive primary and secondary sources throughout the text to expose the singular stories of these women. Oral histories of refugees, diaries, and archival material provide primary-source data. Secondary sources include histories of the period providing the context in which these women survived, adapted, and contributed to the profession during this difficult time in history. Brooks considers her study to be one of the first to examine the lives of refugee women in the profession. She provides an historical context for the intersection of nurses, nursing, and refugee studies.Brooks presents a rich history of this particularly underrepresented group in a well organized, meaningful, and contextualized manner. She weaves a compelling narrative that builds on the refugee stories, illustrating how they dealt with loneliness, loss of family and country, contention with being seen as alien enemies and then as accepted professionals (albeit in a gendered role), and their resilience to survive. Brooks analyzes how they were able to negotiate a new life in a new country. Nursing, she says, offered these female refugees an escape and opportunity to be independent. The book reads well, although a chart or other visual would have helped this reader to follow the various names and stories more closely. The voices of these nurses, as they tell their stories, resonate and are compelling. Historians of nursing, refugee studies, immigration, and gendered roles will find this book an important addition to the literature, especially during the current events surrounding immigration and the treatment of refugees.