On This Day in Jewish History: June 1st, 1941. ,,
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5lhAAlxvY/

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The beginning of the end of Iraqi Jewish presence in Iraq: Farhud | June 1-2, 1941 – 180 Jews would be killed, 1,000 injured; 900 of their homes destroyed and rampant looting of Jewish property throughout Baghdad. ~

This pogrom started during the holiday of Shavuot and would signal the beginning of the end of a historic Jewish presence in a place where it had once thrived. Although not strangers to violence & discrimination towards them, the Jewish community in Iraq had dated to the times of the Babylonian Exile in 597 BCE during which point the Babylonian Talmud was composed. In modern history, Jews participated in the arts, culture, medicine, legal and state affairs. ~

Nazi influence in Baghdad steadly increased after 1932 when the German embassy ramped up their antisemitic projects. Perception towards Jews began to decline, especially when the embassy bought the newspaper, Al-alam Al-arabi (The Arab World), and began publishing antisemitic propaganda including an Arab translation of Mein Kampf. The embassy also pushed the creation of Al Fatwa, a mirrored program to that of the Hitler Youth. ~

Matters in Iraq seemed to return to normal following ’41 as Jews that ran away even found their way back. By the end of the decade, Israel had been established and opinion / violence towards Jews took a sharp decline. By 1952, most had either been kicked out, left on their own accord or rescued by covert Israeli missions. [More on this in future posts] ~

What was once a Jewish population of ~130,000 in 1930, is now in 2020, under 10. . . .

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#judaism#jewish#history#farhud#holocaust#iraqijews#iraq#history#neverforget

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Text Source:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-farhud

Image Source:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/53088000/jpg/_53088937_demo304.jpg