It was a bad time. But, to quote John Seymour (hardly a leftie), the working people of this country had little time for the Jews but they were damned if they were going to stand by while they were herded into death camps. I lived and worked in that part of the East End for seven years and the memory was still strong (my favourite pub, alas a pub no more, was a habitat of the Krays too but they were dissed by the locals. You can always trust ordinary working people to be on the right side in the end. Living and working among them for over a decade taught me that. I think it's beginning to happen again right now).

Great post, Jim. I wish everyone posting to this thread could be so positive.