Farhud

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Farhud (translation from Arabic: "pogrom", "violent dispossession") was a violent pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad, Iraq on June 1-2, 1941. It took place when the city was without a political leadership after Rashid Ali al-Kaylani had fled but before British and Transjordanian forces had arrived. It was the only pogrom in the history of Iraqi Jews,[1] although there were many instances of violence against Jews during their long history in Iraq [2] as well as numerous enacted decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues in Iraq and some forced conversion to Islam. [3]

Contents

[edit] Historical background

The Jews lived in the land of Babylon for more than 2,500 years that followed the Babylonian captivity (see History of the Jews in Iraq). By 1941, the approximately 150,000 Iraqi Jews played active roles in many aspects of Iraqi life, including farming, banking, commerce and the government bureaucracy.

After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the First World War, the League of Nations granted the mandate of Iraq to Britain. After King Ghazi who inherited the throne of Faisal I, died in a 1939 car accident, Britain installed 'Abd al-Ilah as Iraq’s governing regent.

[edit] The Golden Square coup

Main article: Iraq coup (1941)

Michael Eppel, in his book "The Palestinian Conflict in Modern Iraq" blames the Farhud on the influence of German ideology on the Iraqi people, as well as extreme nationalism, both of which were heightened by the Golden Square coup:

In 1940, a group of pro-Nazi Iraqi officers, known as the "Golden Square" led by General Rashid Ali, overthrew the regent. On April 1, 1941, the "Golden Square" staged a coup, forcing the regent to flee. Iraq's new government then was quickly involved in confrontation with the British over the terms of the military treaty forced on Iraq at independence. The treaty gave the British unlimited rights to base troops in Iraq and transit troops through Iraq. The British arranged to land large numbers of soldiers from India in Iraq to force the country to show its intentions. Iraq refused to let them land and confrontations afterward occurred both near Basra in the south and to the west of Baghdad near the British base complex and airfield. The Germans dispatched a group of 26 heavy fighters to aid in a futile air attack on the British airbase at Habbaniya which accomplished nothing.

Winston Churchill sent a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning him that if the Middle East fell to Germany, victory against the Nazis would be a "hard, long and bleak proposition" given that Hitler would have access to the oil reserves there. The telegram dealt with the larger issues of war in the middle east rather than Iraq exclusively.

On May 25, Hitler issued his Order 30, stepping up German offensive operations: "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East is our natural ally against England. In this connection special importance is attached to the liberation of Iraq... I have therefore decided to move forward in the Middle East by supporting Iraq."

On May 30, the British-organized force called Kingcol led by Brigadier J.J. Kingstone reached Baghdad, causing the "Golden Square" and their supporters to escape via Iran to Germany. Kingcol included some elements of the Arab Legion led by Major John Glubb known as Glubb Pasha.

On May 31, Regent Illah prepared to fly back into Baghdad to reclaim his leadership. To avoid the reality of a British-organized countercoup, the regent entered Baghdad without a British escort. At the same time, false rumors circulated that "the Jews" may have passed the British information by using reflecting mirrors to signal British scout planes in code.

[edit] Farhud (June 1-2, 1941)

A delegation of Iraqi Jews, sent to meet the Regent Abdul Illah arriving at Baghdad airport, was attacked by the mob as they crossed Al Khurr Bridge. Violence quickly spread to the Al Rusafa and Abu Sifyan districts and got worse the next day, when Iraqi policemen joined in on the attacks on the Jewish community. Shops belonging to Jews were burned, and a synagogue was destroyed.

In the afternoon of June 2, British forces quelled the violence by imposing the curfew and shot violators on sight. According to some testimonies it is possible that the British delayed their entry into Baghdad for 48 hours because they wanted passions in the city to boil over and had an interest in a clash between Jews and Muslims.[4]

[edit] Aftermath

As a result of Farhud, about 180 Jews were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.[5] Eight assailants, including army officers and police, were condemned to death after the violence by the Iraqi government.

In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq’s Jews who, following this event, were targeted for violence, persecution, boycotts, confiscations, and near complete expulsion in 1951.

It is estimated that in 2003, the Iraqi Jewish population numbered less than 100. The total population of Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa was reduced from about 900,000 in 1948 to less than 8,000 today.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Shenhav, 2002, p. 29.
  2. ^ The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus by Julia Magnet (The Telegraph, April 16, 2003)
  3. ^ Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi, 1985, p.61
  4. ^ Shenhav, 2002, p. 30.
  5. ^ Levin, 2001, p. 6.

[edit] Further reading

  • Cohen, Hayyim (1996). The Anti Jewish Farhud in Baghdad 1941. (Middle Eastern Studies, 3, 2–17)
  • Levin, Itamar (2001). Locked Doors: The Seizure of Jewish Property in Arab Countries. (Praeger/Greenwood) ISBN 0-275-97134-1
  • Shenhav, Yehouda (2002). Ethnicity and National Memory: The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) in the Context of the Palestinian National Struggle. (British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 29(1), 27–56)
  • Kedouri Elie (1974) The Sack of Basra and the Farhud in Baghdad, (Arabic Political Memoirs. London), pp. 283-314.
  • Meir-Glitzenstein Esther (2004). Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s. (London and New York: Routledge)

[edit] External links

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