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At the end of World War One, soldiers returning to the port cities from the horrors of war were in conflict with Asian, Arab, West Indian and African seamen who had also been in the thick of war, bringing convoys of supplies across the Atlantic. Violent riots broke out in 1919 in Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow and South Shields which resulted in some deaths. In some cases, mobs stirred up with racist taunts attacked the seamen’s lodging houses, and they fought back.

The period between World War One and Two was one of high unemployment and low immigration as immigration laws and restrictions on merchant seamen were tightened.

The rise of the anti-Semitic fascist Blackshirts in Britain culminated in their attempted march through East London’s Jewish area. This was prevented by anti-fascist protesters at the Battle of Cable Street. The fact that Jews and non-Jews came together to defend their streets from attack showed that a united community response to racism was possible and could succeed.

When Jews were being persecuted in Nazi Germany and Austria after the rise of Hitler in 1933, human rights groups argued that the UK should take refugees and about 40,000 were accepted, although many more were refused. In 1938 and 1939, thanks to the work of campaigners, around 10,000 Jewish children came to safety in Britain from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia in what is known as the Kindertransport. Their parents, however, were not allowed to come with them and many died in the Holocaust.