I was pleased to read in Lionel Kochan's review of The Journal of Holocaust Education ("Holocaust engulfs the Jews' story", THES , April 20), an acknowledgement of the critical engagement this periodical encourages.
That the editors are somehow responsible for "the decline of Anglo-Jewry", however, would seem to be taking his argument that the Holocaust has engulfed Jewish history a little far. Indeed, no centre for Jewish studies in the United Kingdom rivals the Parkes Centre for Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations - the platform for JHE - in its dynamic approach to preserving Anglo-Jewish archives and learning about Jewish history.
Students are as likely to study Josephus and Israel Zangwill as Anne Frank and Adolf Eichmann. In the research plan of the Arts and Humanities Research Board Parkes Centre, established in October 2000, four of the five big research projects are not concerned with the Holocaust. This diversity of approach is reflected in another of the centre's journals, Jewish Culture and History (Frank Cass), which Kochan might find more to his liking.
Jo Reilly
Editor, Journal of Holocaust Education