𝗢𝗹𝗴𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲
10.04.2026
Unlike Manchester and London, the Jewish community of Birmingham is “very tiny”, according to one of its members.
But, Olga Swan added, it is one with a proud history and a community which has produced doctors, entertainers and cinema pioneers, such as Oscar Deutsch — the founder of the Odeon cinema chain.
Olga’s new book And the Walls Sang (The Book Guild, £10.99), which will be published on May 28, explores the rise of the Birmingham Jewish community through the lens of the Grade II*-listed Singers Hill Synagogue.
From the early Jewish families of the 17th century to the industrious artisans and entrepreneurs of the Victorian era, the book uncovers a world of tailors, jewellers, cinema pioneers and renowned professionals who helped to shape the city’s character.
Olga, who uses a nom de plume and is a member of Singers Hill, said: “My rationale in writing it is to show that it was never ‘just a building’ — as some detractors might say — but a catalyst which changed lives for the better during each of the eras covered.
“The book also gives a specific history of parts of Birmingham which will never exist again.
“In each chapter I have conflated stories of local Jewish people who were involved with Singers Hill Synagogue since before its inception in 1856 to the present day.”
Those stories include her Lithuanian-born paternal grandfather, a tailor who found work in the UK’s second city.
Olga explained: “The first history we have of Jewish people in this area was around the mid-1700s.
“They discovered that in this town, Birmingham, they could trade without anybody stopping them, so they all moved there.
“Eventually, by Victorian times, Jews were living in a load of what we call back-to-back houses, I imagine somewhat like those you see on Coronation Street.”
Olga, who has written 14 books, has a BA Hons in humanities, and majored in English language and literature.
For many years she worked at the University of Birmingham, following which she spent 12 years living in south-west France with her husband, before they returned to Birmingham in 2017.
Among those well-known Jews Olga writes about in her book are tailor to the stars Harry Cohen, light music composer Joseph Engleman, film producer Sir Michael Balcon, who led Ealing Studios and whose grandson is the legendary actor Daniel Day-Lewis, the Salberg family, which ran Birmingham’s The Alexandra Theatre, Sol Levy, who built its Scala Theatre and, of course, Deutsch, the son of Polish and Hungarian immigrants, who created the Odeon cinema chain and was a former president of Singers Hill.
Raised in Birmingham, 78-year-old Olga did not encounter much antisemitism.
She explained: “My father was in the army and both he and my mother grew up in a way where they didn’t like to say what their religion was.
“My father always liked to quote Queen Esther, saying that he never denied what he was, but that he didn’t need to shout it from the rooftops, either.
“He was fearful that, as we are now, but for different reasons.
“I went to the local school where, when they were doing carols and the Christmas stuff, I walked into another room while that was happening.
“I didn’t tell anybody why, that’s just what I did.
“In the morning assembly, when they were all singing the hymns, I stood there and listened to it all.
“Most people probably wouldn’t have known that I was Jewish, whereas my father spoke fluent Yiddish.
“That is why this book is all about memory and history, because to me, unless you know the history, you don’t know who you are today.”
Over the decades, there has been an influx of South Asian people into Birmingham, Muslims in particular.
And tensions between them and the local and wider Jewish communities came to the fore in November when Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were banned from attending the club’s UEFA Europa League game at Aston Villa.
Olga recalled: “There’s a majority of Muslim people, particularly living around the Villa Park area.
“And rather than confront that, the police decided, ‘let’s not annoy them’.
“Of course, this kind of philosophy annoyed us, the Jewish people, very much because that is not really how you should police things.
“I have not felt threatened as a Jew in Birmingham too much, but when we go to shul — which is every Shabbat, if we can — it is obvious that there are police everywhere and CST.
“As far as I know, no other faith in this area has to have that, only us.
“We haven’t done anything wrong, and yet we have to have all this police protection, so they must know the threat is there.”
The mother of two was fulsome in her praise of Singers Hill minister, Rabbi Yossi Jacobs and his wife, Rachel.
Olga beamed: “He has revolutionised the community here and he is absolutely wonderful.
“He uses modern technology and social media to liaise with the community, which no other rabbi in that shul has ever done.
“His wife comes from LA, and she is very glamorous — she has shown that if you’re an Orthodox rebbetzen, you don’t have to be dowdy.
“They are both so approachable and modern, yet they do that while retaining the Orthodoxy.”
She estimated that the current Jewish community in Birmingham is around 2,000, but is hopeful for its future.
Olga added: “Even though we’re a small community, we’d like to think we could attract people, maybe Londoners or Mancunians, where the houses are probably too expensive.
“In my father’s day, and in Victorian times, there was standing room only at Singers Hill during the High Holy Days.
“They had to book a seat, which shows you how many there were.”
