VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: Memories of dear Morris

Hearts sank at Jewish News this week when word reached us of Morris Beckman’s passing. As a founder member of The 43 Group, Morris was among a band of Jewish soldiers who returned from the battlefields of Europe believing they had defeated the evil of Nazism for good, only to find it on their own doorstep.

These veterans did not meekly accept that anti-Semitism would never die and hope they would be left alone to get on with lives that had been halted by the war. Instead, they set to work and took the fight to the enemy.

Between 1946 and 1949, they broke up as many as 2,000 meetings in their bid to prevent Oswald Mosely’s fascist movement from gaining a foothold in post-war Britain. Morris was a regular caller to this newspaper.

We will miss him.

With neo-Nazis planning an anti-Jewish rally in Golders Green in just a few weeks time, perhaps Morris’ memory is best served by pledging to never turn a blind eye to the threat posed by extremists.