Ghetto Warriors - Minority Boxers in Britain - The Jewish Museum

A small but perfectly formed exhibition about “minority” boxers at the small but perfectly formed Jewish Museum in Camden. To my shame, I hadn’t been there before, and they had some great stuff in their permanent exhibition, including a Pesach moustache cup – a cup with an internal strip of ceramic I guess intended to keep one’s ‘tache dry. But I was there for the boxing.

The exhibition began with some of the great Jewish pugilists of the 18th Century like Daniel Mendoza (who wrote the first boxing manual) and “Dutch Sam” who invented the upper cut, and featured some amazing prints and souvenirs from this period.

The second period covered was pre WWII where many Jewish boxers from the East End came to prominence - I particularly enjoyed the display of cigarette cards from these times, and Elliot [of Yabbok – see March 07] Tucker’s film featuring various cigar chomping old timers (did you know Mickey Duff’s grandfather was the Belzer Rabbi?).

Finally the exhibition covered the rise of Black and Asian boxers after the war, including a great picture of Chris Eubank in all his pomp.

A must see.

The museum is normally only open in the day, but I went at night as part of a talk given by Professor Sander Gilman on “Imagining Jewish Bodies”, a disconcerting rollercoaster ride through 2000 years plus of anti-Semitic stereotyping, deconstructing the physical characteristics associated with “the jew” through the ages. For example, “the jew” was often portrayed as having flat feet, signifying his unsuitability for military service, thus his inability to serve his [adopted] country, hence highlighting his innate disloyalty. I will be raising this issue with my podiatrist when I next see him about my collapsed arches. Prof Gilman was as stimulating a speaker as I’ve had the pleasure to come across in recent years.