The Farhud (Arabic: الفرهود, romanized: al-Farhūd) was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941 (coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot), immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War.
Start~End Jun 2, 1941 ~ Jun 2, 1941Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 3:33 PM
The Farhud (Arabic: الفرهود, romanized: al-Farhūd) was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941 (coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot), immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War. The riots occurred in a power vacuum that followed the collapse of the pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani while the city was in a state of instability.123 The violence came immediately after the rapid defeat of Rashid Ali by British forces, whose earlier coup had generated a short period of national euphoria, and was fueled by allegations that Iraqi Jews had aided the British.4 More than 180 Jews were killed,5 with some reports that as many as 600 Jewish victims were buried in a mass grave.6 A thousand Jews were injured, Jewish property was looted and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.7 Some non-Jewish rioters were killed in the attempt to quell the violence.8
On account of the role of Axis and pro-Axis elements in inciting and eventually carrying out the pogrom, it is often argued to have constituted the extension of the Shoah in Iraq, though this classification, and even its inclusion as part of the wider , have been disputed. In any case, as with other , it is often overlooked when compared to the Holocaust in Europe, especially outside of (where the vast majority of , as well as their descendants, currently live).
This page is based on “Farhud” from English Wikipedia, (r1376864291) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
The event spurred a migration of Iraqi Jews out of the country, although a direct connection to the 1951–1952 Jewish exodus from Iraq is also disputed,111213 as many Jews who left Iraq immediately following the Farhud later returned to the country, and permanent Jewish emigration out of Iraq did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.1415
Background
Jews in Baghdad
In the 1930s, the situation of the Jews in Iraq deteriorated.16 Previously, the growing Iraqi Arab nationalist sentiment included Iraqi Jews as fellow Arabs,16 but these views changed with the ongoing conflict in Mandatory Palestine and the introduction of Nazi propaganda directed at the Arab world.1716 Despite protestations of their loyalty to Iraq, Iraqi Jews were increasingly subject to discrimination and anti-Jewish actions.16 In September 1934, following the appointment of Arshad al-Umari as the new minister of economics and communications, tens of Jews were dismissed from their posts in that ministry; and, subsequently, there were unofficial quotas of Jews that could be appointed in the civil service or admitted to secondary schools and colleges.18Zionist activity in Iraq had continued covertly even after 1929, but in 1935 the last two Palestinian Jewish teachers were deported, and the president of the Zionist organization was put on trial and ultimately required to leave the country.19
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.
Iraq in World War II
Iraqi nationalist Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was appointed prime minister again in 1940, and attempted to ally with the Axis powers in order to remove the remaining British influence in the country.
Much of the population had retained significant anti-British sentiments since the 1920 Iraqi revolt, although the Jewish population was viewed as pro-British during World War II, contributing to the separation of the Muslim and Jewish communities.
In addition, between 1932 and 1941, the German embassy in Iraq, headed by Dr. Fritz Grobba, significantly supported antisemitic and fascist movements. Intellectuals and army officers were invited to Germany as guests of the Nazi party, and antisemitic material was published in the newspapers. The German embassy purchased the newspaper Al-alam Al-arabi ("The Arab world") which published, in addition to antisemitic propaganda, a translation of Mein Kampf in Arabic. Adolf Hitler's speeches were translated and distributed in Arabic.20 The German embassy also supported the establishment of Al-Fatwa, a youth organization based upon the model of the Hitler Youth. Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, came to Baghdad in 1939, where he was active in spreading antisemitic and pro-German propaganda.20
Events preceding the Farhud
The Golden Square coup
In 1941 a group of pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi Iraqi officers, known as the "Golden Square" and led by GeneralRashid Ali, overthrew RegentAbdul Ilah on April 1 after staging a successful coup. The coup had significant popular support, particularly in Baghdad. Historian Orit Bashkin writes that "All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs".21
Iraq's new government then was quickly involved in confrontation with the British over the terms of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed in 1930. The treaty gave the British unlimited rights to base and transit forces through Iraq. In response to the coup, the British landed the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade at Basra. Officials of the new regime 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 RAF Habbaniya which was defeated.
Winston Churchill sent a telegram to US 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 25 May 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 31 May Regent Abdul Illah prepared to fly back into Baghdad to reclaim his leadership. To avoid the impression of a British-organized countercoup, the regent entered Baghdad without a British escort.22
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.
Antisemitic actions preceding the Farhud
Sami Michael, a witness to the Farhud, testified: "Antisemite propaganda was broadcast routinely by the local radio and Radio Berlin in Arabic. Various anti-Jewish slogans were written on walls on the way to school, such as "Hitler was killing the Jewish germs". Shops owned by Muslims had 'Muslim' written on them, so they would not be damaged in the case of anti-Jewish riots."
Shalom Darwish, the secretary of the Jewish community in Baghdad, testified that several days before the Farhud, the homes of Jews were marked with a red palm print ("Hamsa"), by al-Futuwa youth. Al-Sabawi also instructed Jews in Baghdad to pack suitcases and to wait to be taken to "detention camps" "for their own safety".23
Two days before the Farhud, Yunis al-Sabawi, a government minister who proclaimed himself the governor of Baghdad, summoned Rabbi Sasson Khaduri, the community leader, and recommended to him that Jews stay in their homes for the next three days as a protective measure. He had planned for a larger massacre, preparing to broadcast a call for the Baghdad public to massacre Jews. However, the broadcast was never made since al-Sabawi was forced to flee the country.2423
During the fall of the Rashid Ali government, false rumors were circulated that Jews used radios to signal the Royal Air Force and distributed British propaganda.25
According to Hayyim Cohen, the Farhud "was the only such instance of Jewish shops and synagogues destroyed, Jewish girls being gang raped, and mob violence26 known to the Jews of Iraq, at least during their last hundred years of life there".2728 Historian Edy Cohen writes that up until the Farhud, Jews had enjoyed relatively favorable conditions and coexistence with Muslims in Iraq.2930
Farhud (1–2 June 1941)
According to Iraqi government and British historical sources violence started when a delegation of Jewish Iraqis arrived at the Palace of Flowers (Qasr al Zuhur) to meet with the Regent Abdullah, and were attacked en route by an Iraqi Arab mob as they crossed Al Khurr Bridge. Iraqi Arab civil disorder and violence then swiftly spread to the Al Rusafa and Abu Sifyan districts, and got worse the next day when elements of the Iraqi police began joining in with the attacks upon the Jewish population, involving shops belonging to it being set on fire and a synagogue being destroyed. Many Jewish girls were gang-raped and children maimed and killed in front of their families.26
However, Zvi Yehuda, a professor of Jewish Studies, has suggested that the event that set off the rioting was anti-Jewish preaching in the Jami-Al-Gaylani mosque, and that the violence was premeditated rather than a spontaneous outburst.31Mordechai Ben-Porat, who later became the leader of the Iraqi Zionists, described his experience as follows:
We were mostly cut off from the center of the Jewish community and our Muslim neighbors became our friends. It was because of one Muslim neighbor, in fact, that we survived the Farhoud. We had no weapons to defend ourselves and were utterly helpless. We put furniture up against the doors and windows to prevent the rioters from breaking in. Then, Colonel Arif's wife came rushing out of her house with a grenade and a pistol and shouted at the rioters, 'If you don’t leave, I will explode this grenade right here!' Her husband was apparently not home and she had either been instructed by him to defend us or decided on her own to help. They dispersed, and that was that – she saved our lives.32
In some instances, common criminals came to the help of the Jews. In one case, a young Muslim woman, who, ironically, had been looting with her sister, saw a pogromist attacking a young Jewish man. The attacker responded by stabbing her to death. He was later convicted of murder and hanged. A man known to be a thief protected roughly 100 Jews in his neighborhood, forcing the local baker and grocery store owner to give them food. Jews themselves also fought back, using knives, rocks, pistols, and clubs.3323
The dean of Midrash Bet Zilkha, Yaakov Mutzafi, raced to open up the gates of the yeshiva to shelter the victims of the Farhud who were displaced from their homes, and secured money for their upkeep from philanthropists in the community.34
Civil order was restored after two days of violence in the afternoon of 2 June, when Prime Minister Jamil Al Midfai imposed a curfew and shot violators on sight. An investigation conducted by British journalist Tony Rocca of the Sunday Times attributed the delay to a personal decision by Kinahan Cornwallis, the British Ambassador to Iraq, who failed to immediately carry out orders he received from the Foreign Office in the matter, and initially denied requests from British Imperial military and civil officers on the scene for permission to act against the attacking Arab mobs.35 The British also delayed their entry into Baghdad for 48 hours, which some testimonies suggest was due to having ulterior motives in allowing a clash to happen between Muslims and Jews in the city.36
Casualties
The exact number of victims is uncertain. With respect to Jewish victims, some sources say that about 180 Jewish Iraqis were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.37 Other accounts state that nearly 200 were killed and more than 2,000 injured, while 900 Jewish homes and hundreds of Jewish-owned shops destroyed and looted. The Israeli-based Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center maintains that in addition to 180 identified victims, around another 600 unidentified ones were buried in a mass grave.6 Zvi Zameret of Israel's Education Ministry says 180 were killed and 700 wounded.38 Bashkin writes that "a constant element that appears in most accounts of the Farhud is a narrative relating to a good neighbor [...] Judging by the lists of the Jewish dead, it seems that Jews in mixed neighborhoods stood a better chance of surviving the riots than those in uniformly Jewish areas."39 A document discovered from the Iraqi Jewish Archive estimated that more than a thousand Jews were murdered or disappeared.4041
When the forces loyal to the regent entered to restore order, many rioters were killed.8 The Iraqi Commission Report noted that: "After some delay the Regent ... arranged for the dispatch of troops to take control ... There was no more aimless firing into the air; their machine guns swept the streets clear of people and quickly put a stop to looting and rioting."42 The British Ambassador noted that the second day was more violent than the first, and that "Iraqi troops killed as many rioters as the rioters killed Jews."8 The Iraqi Commission Report estimated the total number of Jews and Muslims killed at 130.42Eliahu Eilat, a Jewish Agency agent estimated 1,000 as the total number of Jews and Muslims who died, with other similar accounts estimating 300–400 pogromists killed by the Regent's army.8
Aftermath
Iraqi monarchist response
Within a week of the riots, on 7 June, the reinstated monarchist Iraqi government set up a committee of inquiry to investigate the events.43 According to Peter Wien, the regime "made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism".44
The monarchist government acted quickly to suppress supporters of Rashid Ali. Many Iraqis were exiled as a result, and hundreds were jailed. Military courts were convened to try the rioters and those responsible for the coup. A number of men, including Yunis al-Sabawi and multiple Iraqi Army officers and policemen, were legally sentenced to death in consequence of the violence by the newly established pro-British Iraqi government.45
Long-term impact
In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews.464748 Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities prospered along with the rest of the country throughout most of the 1940s,14121349 and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.1415 Bashkin writes that "In the context of Jewish-Iraqi history, moreover, a distinction should be made between an analysis of the Farhud and the Farhudization of Jewish Iraqi history – viewing the Farhud as typifying the history of the relationship between Jews and greater Iraqi society. The Jewish community strived for integration in Iraq before and after the Farhud. In fact, the attachment of the community to Iraq was so tenacious that even after such a horrible event, most Jews continued to believe that Iraq was their homeland."50
Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily amongst the younger population, especially as a result of the impact it had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq itself.51 At the same time the Iraqi government which had taken over after the Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon returned to Baghdad, which saw a marked betterment of its economic situation during World War II.525354
It was only after the Iraqi government initiated a policy shift towards the Iraqi Jews in 1948, curtailing their civil rights and firing many Jewish state employees, that the Farhud began to be regarded as more than just an outburst of violence instigated by foreign influences, namely Nazi propaganda.
On 23 October 1948, Shafiq Ades, a respected Jewish businessman, was publicly hanged in Basra on charges of selling weapons to Israel and the Iraqi Communist Party, despite the fact he was an outspoken anti-Zionist. The event increased the sense of insecurity among Jews.55 The Jewish community general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer,56 and the Farhud was no longer seen as an isolated incident.53 During this period, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful.57
Remembrances
A monument, called Prayer, located in Ramat Gan, is in memory of the Jews who were killed in Iraq during the Farhud and in the 1960s.58
Bashkin, Orit (1 January 2012). New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq. Stanford University Press. doi:10.1515/9780804782012. ISBN 978-0-8047-8201-2. OCLC811502389.
Kedouri Elie (1974) The Sack of Basra and the Farhud in Baghdad (Arabic Political Memoirs. London), pp. 283–314.
Shamash, Violette (2008, 2010) Memories of Eden: A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad (Forum Books, London; Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Ill.) ISBN 978-0-9557095-0-0.
Zvi Yehuda and Shmuel Moreh (ed.): Al-Farhud: the 1941 Pogrom in Iraq (Magnes Press and The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism), 1992 Hebrew, 2010 English: plus the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center as editor; ISBN 978-965-493-490-9, e-book: ISBN 978-965-493-491-6
Nissim Kazzaz, "Report of the Governmental Commission of Inquiry on the Events of June 1–2, 1941," Pe’amim 8 (1981), pp. 46–59 [Hebrew].
Notes
Footnotes
Tsimhoni, Daphne (2001). "The Pogrom (Farhud) against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941". In Roth, J. K.; Maxwell, E.; Levy, M.; Whitworth, W. (eds.). Remembering for the Future. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 570–588. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-66019-3_37. ISBN 978-0-333-80486-5. OCLC1086547441. ↩
"The Farhud". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 October 2023. ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 115 "The quick defeat of Rashid 'Ali, after a short period of national euphoria, and the allegations that the Jews had aided the British, made for a volatile situation, which exploded violently on the first and second days of June." ↩
Gilbert, Martin (1993) [1969]. The Atlas of Jewish History. New York: Morrow. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-688-12264-5. OCLC813666695 – via Internet Archive. June 1941 During riots following collapse of pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi Government of Rashid Ali, 175 Jews killed and 1000 injured. Much looting of Jewish property. 900 Jewish houses destroyed. Many Jews tortured ↩
Wien, Peter (2006). Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian, and Pro-fascist Inclinations, 1932-1941. London: Routledge. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-203-02886-5. OCLC212623474 – via Internet Archive. The presence of German troops on the war scene, however, gave way to interpretations of the pogrom as a racial anti-Semitic endeavor 'in the fringes of the Shoah, the Jewish Holocaust.' While this is surely an exaggeration in its comparative perspective, the apologetic approach of several Arab authors is insufficient as well. According to them, the outbreak of violence resulted from the anti-Zionist zeal of the public ... ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 102: "As is to be expected, both Arab and Zionist national memories have silenced important aspects of the Farhud ... Zionist historiography ... has highlighted the Farhud as a watershed in the history of the Iraqi-Jewish community. From the Zionist standpoint, the Farhud was the outcome of the anti-Semitism and Iraqi nationalist rhetoric in the 1930s. It was also viewed as having galvanized the Zionist movement in Iraq and ultimately as causing Iraq's Jews to recognize that their country had rejected their attempts at integration and assimilation. In some Zionist circles, the event came to be understood as an extension of the European Holocaust into the Middle East. This connection is made manifest today by the archiving of certain documents relating to the Farhud in Yad Va-Shem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem." ↩
Historian Moshe Gat writes, "On his first visit to Baghdad, Enzo Sereni noted that '[...] The Jews have adapted to the new situation with the British occupation, which has again given them the possibility of free movement after months of detention and fear.' It is not surprising, in light of the economic boom and the security granted by the government, that Jews who left Iraq immediately after the riots, later returned [...] Their dream of integration into Iraqi society had been dealt a severe blow by the farhud but as the years passed self-confidence was restored, since the state continued to protect the Jewish community and they continued to prosper."12 ↩
Shatz, Adam (6 November 2008). "Leaving Paradise". London Review of Books. 30 (21). ISSN0260-9592. Yet Sasson Somekh insists that the farhud was not 'the beginning of the end'. Indeed, he claims it was soon 'almost erased from the collective Jewish memory', washed away by 'the prosperity experienced by the entire city from 1941 to 1948'. Somekh, who was born in 1933, remembers the 1940s as a 'golden age' of 'security', 'recovery' and 'consolidation', in which the 'Jewish community had regained its full creative drive'. Jews built new homes, schools and hospitals, showing every sign of wanting to stay. They took part in politics as never before; at Bretton Woods, Iraq was represented by Ibrahim al-Kabir, the Jewish finance minister. Some joined the Zionist underground, but many more waved the red flag. Liberal nationalists and Communists rallied people behind a conception of national identity far more inclusive than the Golden Square's Pan-Arabism, allowing Jews to join ranks with other Iraqis – even in opposition to the British and Nuri al-Said, who did not take their ingratitude lightly. ↩↩2
Batatu, Hanna (2004). The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq. Saqi Books. p. 258. ISBN 0-86356-520-4. It is not without significance that, in their earliest phase and when they were still under the influence of racial theories, Arab nationalists or, at least some of them, considered the Jews of the Arab countries as an indivisible part of the Arab "race." 'Arabs of the Christian and Jewish faith,' appealed a Manifesto by the Arab Revolutionary Committee in 1915, two years before the Balfour Declaration, 'join ranks with your Moslem brethren. Do not listen to those who say that they prefer the Turks without religion to Arabs of different beliefs; they are ignorant people who have no understanding of the vital interests of the race.' ↩↩2↩3↩4
Saar-Man, Dor. "Nazi Germany and the Farhud in Iraq", Museum of the Jewish People, January 9, 2018. Accessed July 3, 2026. "The Germans encouraged Iraq’s support. Mein Kampf and Hitler’s speeches were translated into Arabic, and German educators came to Iraq to spread anti-Semitic propaganda. Iraqi newspapers became vocally pro-Germany, especially post-1939.... In 1939 the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, settled in Iraq and began promoting a pro-German agenda while spreading damaging anti-Semitic propaganda." ↩↩2
Bashkin 2012, p. 113: "The government seemed to have enjoyed a great deal of popular support in Baghdad, and was hailed by many intellectuals, who saw in the Kaylani movement a national and patriotic act of defiance against Britain and its influence in Iraq. Groups and individuals ranging from the communists to Haj Amin al-Husayni, who disagreed on almost every political issue, all backed the regime. Their reasons for doing so naturally varied greatly: some saw the Kaylani government as leading the fight against colonialism, while others hoped for a more sympathetic attitude toward Italy and Germany. All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs." ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 116: "The most convincing evidence, though, was Sab‘awi's warning to Rabbi Sasun Khaduri shortly before the Farhud that Jews should not leave their homes for three days and should have enough food to do so ... Sab‘awi may well have intended to harm Jews, but it is also possible that he was indirectly expressing his fear that something bad might happen to the Jewish community because of the anti-Jewish atmosphere that was prevalent in Baghdad." ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 114: "Worse yet, it was thought that Jews were actively aiding the British war effort, despite the fact that they were serving in the Iraqi military. Jews, rumor had it, used their radios to broadcast information and to signal to British airplanes, and distributed British propaganda, especially the leaflets that the British dropped from their airplanes on Baghdad. There was no truth to these rumors, but they nonetheless circulated in the city." ↩
Shenhav, Yehouda (May 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): 29. doi:10.1080/13530190220124052. ISSN1353-0194. JSTOR826147. S2CID144466568. In 1941 a two-day pogrom (known as the farhud) was perpetrated in Baghdad. It was the only pogrom in the history of Iraqi Jews and it did not spread to other cities: it was confined to Baghdad alone. Historians agree that this was an exceptional event in the history of Jewish-Muslim relations in Iraq. ↩
"Shoah Memorial, Paris". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2023. ↩
Morad, Tamar; Shasha, Dennis Elliott; Shasha, Robert (2008). "Our Country No More". Iraq's last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 134–135. doi:10.1057/9780230616233_4. ISBN 978-0-230-61623-3. OCLC314828538. ↩
Shenhav 2002, p. 30: "For unclear reasons, the British themselves delayed their entry into the city by 48 hours. According to some testimonies, it is possible that the British wanted passions to boil over in the city and actually had an interest in a clash between Jews and Muslims." ↩
Basri, Carole (2 June 2021). "First came the Farhud: The 2-stage ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Jewry". The Times of Israel. The height of the slaughter occurred at the local hospital where poison injections were administered, causing the deaths of 120 Jewish patients ... The hospital director in charge had his privileges to treat patients as a doctor taken away for five years. Based on estimates, the number of murdered and disappeared is over 1,000. ↩
Tejel, Jordi (2012). Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4390-55-2. OCLC814318765. This is not surprising if we consider that the Old Regime, once reinstalled after the war of May 1941, made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism. ↩
According to Gat, "The government – particularly after Nuri as-Said came to power in October 1941 – took swift action to suppress pro-Nazi elements and other supporters of Rashid Ali. They were placed on trial, many of them were exiled, hundreds were incarcerated in concentration camps and a very small minority were even executed. In parallel, the government acted swiftly to defend Jewish quarters and was resolved to prevent any similar events from occurring in the future. On the decision of the Iraqi government, a committee of enquiry was set up on 7 June a few days after the pogrom, to examine the facts and find who was culpable."43 ↩
Stillman, Norman A. (2010). "Farhūd". Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_com_0007660. ISSN1878-9781. OCLC613355404. Either way, the farhūd was a significant turning-point for the Jewish community. In addition to its effect on relations between Iraqi Muslims and Jews, it exacerbated the tensions between the pro-British Jewish notables and the younger elements of the community, who now looked to the Communist Party and Zionism and began to consider emigration. ↩
Simon, Reeva S. (2003). "19: Iraq". In Simon, Reeva S.; Laskier, Michael M.; Reguer, Sara (eds.). The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-231-50759-2. JSTORsimo10796.25. OCLC614998544. ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 90: "The general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Adas could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer." ↩
Tripp 2001, p. 142 "During this time, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful [...]" ↩
The Farhud (Arabic: الفرهود, romanized: al-Farhūd) was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941 (coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot), immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War. The riots occurred in a power vacuum that followed the collapse of the pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani while the city was in a state of instability.123 The violence came immediately after the rapid defeat of Rashid Ali by British forces, whose earlier coup had generated a short period of national euphoria, and was fueled by allegations that Iraqi Jews had aided the British.4 More than 180 Jews were killed,5 with some reports that as many as 600 Jewish victims were buried in a mass grave.6 A thousand Jews were injured, Jewish property was looted and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.7 Some non-Jewish rioters were killed in the attempt to quell the violence.8
On account of the role of Axis and pro-Axis elements in inciting and eventually carrying out the pogrom, it is often argued to have constituted the extension of the , though this classification, and even its inclusion as part of the wider , have been disputed. In any case, as with other , it is often overlooked when compared to the Holocaust in Europe, especially outside of (where the vast majority of , as well as their descendants, currently live).
The event spurred a migration of Iraqi Jews out of the country, although a direct connection to the 1951–1952 Jewish exodus from Iraq is also disputed,111213 as many Jews who left Iraq immediately following the Farhud later returned to the country, and permanent Jewish emigration out of Iraq did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.1415
Background
Jews in Baghdad
In the 1930s, the situation of the Jews in Iraq deteriorated.16 Previously, the growing Iraqi Arab nationalist sentiment included Iraqi Jews as fellow Arabs,16 but these views changed with the ongoing conflict in Mandatory Palestine and the introduction of Nazi propaganda directed at the Arab world.1716 Despite protestations of their loyalty to Iraq, Iraqi Jews were increasingly subject to discrimination and anti-Jewish actions.16 In September 1934, following the appointment of Arshad al-Umari as the new minister of economics and communications, tens of Jews were dismissed from their posts in that ministry; and, subsequently, there were unofficial quotas of Jews that could be appointed in the civil service or admitted to secondary schools and colleges.18Zionist activity in Iraq had continued covertly even after 1929, but in 1935 the last two Palestinian Jewish teachers were deported, and the president of the Zionist organization was put on trial and ultimately required to leave the country.19
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.
Iraq in World War II
Iraqi nationalist Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was appointed prime minister again in 1940, and attempted to ally with the Axis powers in order to remove the remaining British influence in the country.
Much of the population had retained significant anti-British sentiments since the 1920 Iraqi revolt, although the Jewish population was viewed as pro-British during World War II, contributing to the separation of the Muslim and Jewish communities.
In addition, between 1932 and 1941, the German embassy in Iraq, headed by Dr. Fritz Grobba, significantly supported antisemitic and fascist movements. Intellectuals and army officers were invited to Germany as guests of the Nazi party, and antisemitic material was published in the newspapers. The German embassy purchased the newspaper Al-alam Al-arabi ("The Arab world") which published, in addition to antisemitic propaganda, a translation of Mein Kampf in Arabic. Adolf Hitler's speeches were translated and distributed in Arabic.20 The German embassy also supported the establishment of Al-Fatwa, a youth organization based upon the model of the Hitler Youth. Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, came to Baghdad in 1939, where he was active in spreading antisemitic and pro-German propaganda.20
Events preceding the Farhud
The Golden Square coup
In 1941 a group of pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi Iraqi officers, known as the "Golden Square" and led by GeneralRashid Ali, overthrew RegentAbdul Ilah on April 1 after staging a successful coup. The coup had significant popular support, particularly in Baghdad. Historian Orit Bashkin writes that "All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs".21
Iraq's new government then was quickly involved in confrontation with the British over the terms of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed in 1930. The treaty gave the British unlimited rights to base and transit forces through Iraq. In response to the coup, the British landed the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade at Basra. Officials of the new regime 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 RAF Habbaniya which was defeated.
Winston Churchill sent a telegram to US 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 25 May 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 31 May Regent Abdul Illah prepared to fly back into Baghdad to reclaim his leadership. To avoid the impression of a British-organized countercoup, the regent entered Baghdad without a British escort.22
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.
Antisemitic actions preceding the Farhud
Sami Michael, a witness to the Farhud, testified: "Antisemite propaganda was broadcast routinely by the local radio and Radio Berlin in Arabic. Various anti-Jewish slogans were written on walls on the way to school, such as "Hitler was killing the Jewish germs". Shops owned by Muslims had 'Muslim' written on them, so they would not be damaged in the case of anti-Jewish riots."
Shalom Darwish, the secretary of the Jewish community in Baghdad, testified that several days before the Farhud, the homes of Jews were marked with a red palm print ("Hamsa"), by al-Futuwa youth. Al-Sabawi also instructed Jews in Baghdad to pack suitcases and to wait to be taken to "detention camps" "for their own safety".23
Two days before the Farhud, Yunis al-Sabawi, a government minister who proclaimed himself the governor of Baghdad, summoned Rabbi Sasson Khaduri, the community leader, and recommended to him that Jews stay in their homes for the next three days as a protective measure. He had planned for a larger massacre, preparing to broadcast a call for the Baghdad public to massacre Jews. However, the broadcast was never made since al-Sabawi was forced to flee the country.2423
During the fall of the Rashid Ali government, false rumors were circulated that Jews used radios to signal the Royal Air Force and distributed British propaganda.25
According to Hayyim Cohen, the Farhud "was the only such instance of Jewish shops and synagogues destroyed, Jewish girls being gang raped, and mob violence26 known to the Jews of Iraq, at least during their last hundred years of life there".2728 Historian Edy Cohen writes that up until the Farhud, Jews had enjoyed relatively favorable conditions and coexistence with Muslims in Iraq.2930
Farhud (1–2 June 1941)
According to Iraqi government and British historical sources violence started when a delegation of Jewish Iraqis arrived at the Palace of Flowers (Qasr al Zuhur) to meet with the Regent Abdullah, and were attacked en route by an Iraqi Arab mob as they crossed Al Khurr Bridge. Iraqi Arab civil disorder and violence then swiftly spread to the Al Rusafa and Abu Sifyan districts, and got worse the next day when elements of the Iraqi police began joining in with the attacks upon the Jewish population, involving shops belonging to it being set on fire and a synagogue being destroyed. Many Jewish girls were gang-raped and children maimed and killed in front of their families.26
However, Zvi Yehuda, a professor of Jewish Studies, has suggested that the event that set off the rioting was anti-Jewish preaching in the Jami-Al-Gaylani mosque, and that the violence was premeditated rather than a spontaneous outburst.31Mordechai Ben-Porat, who later became the leader of the Iraqi Zionists, described his experience as follows:
We were mostly cut off from the center of the Jewish community and our Muslim neighbors became our friends. It was because of one Muslim neighbor, in fact, that we survived the Farhoud. We had no weapons to defend ourselves and were utterly helpless. We put furniture up against the doors and windows to prevent the rioters from breaking in. Then, Colonel Arif's wife came rushing out of her house with a grenade and a pistol and shouted at the rioters, 'If you don’t leave, I will explode this grenade right here!' Her husband was apparently not home and she had either been instructed by him to defend us or decided on her own to help. They dispersed, and that was that – she saved our lives.32
In some instances, common criminals came to the help of the Jews. In one case, a young Muslim woman, who, ironically, had been looting with her sister, saw a pogromist attacking a young Jewish man. The attacker responded by stabbing her to death. He was later convicted of murder and hanged. A man known to be a thief protected roughly 100 Jews in his neighborhood, forcing the local baker and grocery store owner to give them food. Jews themselves also fought back, using knives, rocks, pistols, and clubs.3323
The dean of Midrash Bet Zilkha, Yaakov Mutzafi, raced to open up the gates of the yeshiva to shelter the victims of the Farhud who were displaced from their homes, and secured money for their upkeep from philanthropists in the community.34
Civil order was restored after two days of violence in the afternoon of 2 June, when Prime Minister Jamil Al Midfai imposed a curfew and shot violators on sight. An investigation conducted by British journalist Tony Rocca of the Sunday Times attributed the delay to a personal decision by Kinahan Cornwallis, the British Ambassador to Iraq, who failed to immediately carry out orders he received from the Foreign Office in the matter, and initially denied requests from British Imperial military and civil officers on the scene for permission to act against the attacking Arab mobs.35 The British also delayed their entry into Baghdad for 48 hours, which some testimonies suggest was due to having ulterior motives in allowing a clash to happen between Muslims and Jews in the city.36
Casualties
The exact number of victims is uncertain. With respect to Jewish victims, some sources say that about 180 Jewish Iraqis were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.37 Other accounts state that nearly 200 were killed and more than 2,000 injured, while 900 Jewish homes and hundreds of Jewish-owned shops destroyed and looted. The Israeli-based Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center maintains that in addition to 180 identified victims, around another 600 unidentified ones were buried in a mass grave.6 Zvi Zameret of Israel's Education Ministry says 180 were killed and 700 wounded.38 Bashkin writes that "a constant element that appears in most accounts of the Farhud is a narrative relating to a good neighbor [...] Judging by the lists of the Jewish dead, it seems that Jews in mixed neighborhoods stood a better chance of surviving the riots than those in uniformly Jewish areas."39 A document discovered from the Iraqi Jewish Archive estimated that more than a thousand Jews were murdered or disappeared.4041
When the forces loyal to the regent entered to restore order, many rioters were killed.8 The Iraqi Commission Report noted that: "After some delay the Regent ... arranged for the dispatch of troops to take control ... There was no more aimless firing into the air; their machine guns swept the streets clear of people and quickly put a stop to looting and rioting."42 The British Ambassador noted that the second day was more violent than the first, and that "Iraqi troops killed as many rioters as the rioters killed Jews."8 The Iraqi Commission Report estimated the total number of Jews and Muslims killed at 130.42Eliahu Eilat, a Jewish Agency agent estimated 1,000 as the total number of Jews and Muslims who died, with other similar accounts estimating 300–400 pogromists killed by the Regent's army.8
Aftermath
Iraqi monarchist response
Within a week of the riots, on 7 June, the reinstated monarchist Iraqi government set up a committee of inquiry to investigate the events.43 According to Peter Wien, the regime "made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism".44
The monarchist government acted quickly to suppress supporters of Rashid Ali. Many Iraqis were exiled as a result, and hundreds were jailed. Military courts were convened to try the rioters and those responsible for the coup. A number of men, including Yunis al-Sabawi and multiple Iraqi Army officers and policemen, were legally sentenced to death in consequence of the violence by the newly established pro-British Iraqi government.45
Long-term impact
In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews.464748 Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities prospered along with the rest of the country throughout most of the 1940s,14121349 and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.1415 Bashkin writes that "In the context of Jewish-Iraqi history, moreover, a distinction should be made between an analysis of the Farhud and the Farhudization of Jewish Iraqi history – viewing the Farhud as typifying the history of the relationship between Jews and greater Iraqi society. The Jewish community strived for integration in Iraq before and after the Farhud. In fact, the attachment of the community to Iraq was so tenacious that even after such a horrible event, most Jews continued to believe that Iraq was their homeland."50
Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily amongst the younger population, especially as a result of the impact it had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq itself.51 At the same time the Iraqi government which had taken over after the Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon returned to Baghdad, which saw a marked betterment of its economic situation during World War II.525354
It was only after the Iraqi government initiated a policy shift towards the Iraqi Jews in 1948, curtailing their civil rights and firing many Jewish state employees, that the Farhud began to be regarded as more than just an outburst of violence instigated by foreign influences, namely Nazi propaganda.
On 23 October 1948, Shafiq Ades, a respected Jewish businessman, was publicly hanged in Basra on charges of selling weapons to Israel and the Iraqi Communist Party, despite the fact he was an outspoken anti-Zionist. The event increased the sense of insecurity among Jews.55 The Jewish community general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer,56 and the Farhud was no longer seen as an isolated incident.53 During this period, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful.57
Remembrances
A monument, called Prayer, located in Ramat Gan, is in memory of the Jews who were killed in Iraq during the Farhud and in the 1960s.58
Bashkin, Orit (1 January 2012). New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq. Stanford University Press. doi:10.1515/9780804782012. ISBN 978-0-8047-8201-2. OCLC811502389.
Kedouri Elie (1974) The Sack of Basra and the Farhud in Baghdad (Arabic Political Memoirs. London), pp. 283–314.
Shamash, Violette (2008, 2010) Memories of Eden: A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad (Forum Books, London; Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Ill.) ISBN 978-0-9557095-0-0.
Zvi Yehuda and Shmuel Moreh (ed.): Al-Farhud: the 1941 Pogrom in Iraq (Magnes Press and The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism), 1992 Hebrew, 2010 English: plus the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center as editor; ISBN 978-965-493-490-9, e-book: ISBN 978-965-493-491-6
Nissim Kazzaz, "Report of the Governmental Commission of Inquiry on the Events of June 1–2, 1941," Pe’amim 8 (1981), pp. 46–59 [Hebrew].
Notes
Footnotes
Tsimhoni, Daphne (2001). "The Pogrom (Farhud) against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941". In Roth, J. K.; Maxwell, E.; Levy, M.; Whitworth, W. (eds.). Remembering for the Future. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 570–588. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-66019-3_37. ISBN 978-0-333-80486-5. OCLC1086547441. ↩
"The Farhud". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 October 2023. ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 115 "The quick defeat of Rashid 'Ali, after a short period of national euphoria, and the allegations that the Jews had aided the British, made for a volatile situation, which exploded violently on the first and second days of June." ↩
Gilbert, Martin (1993) [1969]. The Atlas of Jewish History. New York: Morrow. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-688-12264-5. OCLC813666695 – via Internet Archive. June 1941 During riots following collapse of pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi Government of Rashid Ali, 175 Jews killed and 1000 injured. Much looting of Jewish property. 900 Jewish houses destroyed. Many Jews tortured ↩
Wien, Peter (2006). Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian, and Pro-fascist Inclinations, 1932-1941. London: Routledge. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-203-02886-5. OCLC212623474 – via Internet Archive. The presence of German troops on the war scene, however, gave way to interpretations of the pogrom as a racial anti-Semitic endeavor 'in the fringes of the Shoah, the Jewish Holocaust.' While this is surely an exaggeration in its comparative perspective, the apologetic approach of several Arab authors is insufficient as well. According to them, the outbreak of violence resulted from the anti-Zionist zeal of the public ... ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 102: "As is to be expected, both Arab and Zionist national memories have silenced important aspects of the Farhud ... Zionist historiography ... has highlighted the Farhud as a watershed in the history of the Iraqi-Jewish community. From the Zionist standpoint, the Farhud was the outcome of the anti-Semitism and Iraqi nationalist rhetoric in the 1930s. It was also viewed as having galvanized the Zionist movement in Iraq and ultimately as causing Iraq's Jews to recognize that their country had rejected their attempts at integration and assimilation. In some Zionist circles, the event came to be understood as an extension of the European Holocaust into the Middle East. This connection is made manifest today by the archiving of certain documents relating to the Farhud in Yad Va-Shem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem." ↩
Historian Moshe Gat writes, "On his first visit to Baghdad, Enzo Sereni noted that '[...] The Jews have adapted to the new situation with the British occupation, which has again given them the possibility of free movement after months of detention and fear.' It is not surprising, in light of the economic boom and the security granted by the government, that Jews who left Iraq immediately after the riots, later returned [...] Their dream of integration into Iraqi society had been dealt a severe blow by the farhud but as the years passed self-confidence was restored, since the state continued to protect the Jewish community and they continued to prosper."12 ↩
Shatz, Adam (6 November 2008). "Leaving Paradise". London Review of Books. 30 (21). ISSN0260-9592. Yet Sasson Somekh insists that the farhud was not 'the beginning of the end'. Indeed, he claims it was soon 'almost erased from the collective Jewish memory', washed away by 'the prosperity experienced by the entire city from 1941 to 1948'. Somekh, who was born in 1933, remembers the 1940s as a 'golden age' of 'security', 'recovery' and 'consolidation', in which the 'Jewish community had regained its full creative drive'. Jews built new homes, schools and hospitals, showing every sign of wanting to stay. They took part in politics as never before; at Bretton Woods, Iraq was represented by Ibrahim al-Kabir, the Jewish finance minister. Some joined the Zionist underground, but many more waved the red flag. Liberal nationalists and Communists rallied people behind a conception of national identity far more inclusive than the Golden Square's Pan-Arabism, allowing Jews to join ranks with other Iraqis – even in opposition to the British and Nuri al-Said, who did not take their ingratitude lightly. ↩↩2
Batatu, Hanna (2004). The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq. Saqi Books. p. 258. ISBN 0-86356-520-4. It is not without significance that, in their earliest phase and when they were still under the influence of racial theories, Arab nationalists or, at least some of them, considered the Jews of the Arab countries as an indivisible part of the Arab "race." 'Arabs of the Christian and Jewish faith,' appealed a Manifesto by the Arab Revolutionary Committee in 1915, two years before the Balfour Declaration, 'join ranks with your Moslem brethren. Do not listen to those who say that they prefer the Turks without religion to Arabs of different beliefs; they are ignorant people who have no understanding of the vital interests of the race.' ↩↩2↩3↩4
Saar-Man, Dor. "Nazi Germany and the Farhud in Iraq", Museum of the Jewish People, January 9, 2018. Accessed July 3, 2026. "The Germans encouraged Iraq’s support. Mein Kampf and Hitler’s speeches were translated into Arabic, and German educators came to Iraq to spread anti-Semitic propaganda. Iraqi newspapers became vocally pro-Germany, especially post-1939.... In 1939 the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, settled in Iraq and began promoting a pro-German agenda while spreading damaging anti-Semitic propaganda." ↩↩2
Bashkin 2012, p. 113: "The government seemed to have enjoyed a great deal of popular support in Baghdad, and was hailed by many intellectuals, who saw in the Kaylani movement a national and patriotic act of defiance against Britain and its influence in Iraq. Groups and individuals ranging from the communists to Haj Amin al-Husayni, who disagreed on almost every political issue, all backed the regime. Their reasons for doing so naturally varied greatly: some saw the Kaylani government as leading the fight against colonialism, while others hoped for a more sympathetic attitude toward Italy and Germany. All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs." ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 116: "The most convincing evidence, though, was Sab‘awi's warning to Rabbi Sasun Khaduri shortly before the Farhud that Jews should not leave their homes for three days and should have enough food to do so ... Sab‘awi may well have intended to harm Jews, but it is also possible that he was indirectly expressing his fear that something bad might happen to the Jewish community because of the anti-Jewish atmosphere that was prevalent in Baghdad." ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 114: "Worse yet, it was thought that Jews were actively aiding the British war effort, despite the fact that they were serving in the Iraqi military. Jews, rumor had it, used their radios to broadcast information and to signal to British airplanes, and distributed British propaganda, especially the leaflets that the British dropped from their airplanes on Baghdad. There was no truth to these rumors, but they nonetheless circulated in the city." ↩
Shenhav, Yehouda (May 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): 29. doi:10.1080/13530190220124052. ISSN1353-0194. JSTOR826147. S2CID144466568. In 1941 a two-day pogrom (known as the farhud) was perpetrated in Baghdad. It was the only pogrom in the history of Iraqi Jews and it did not spread to other cities: it was confined to Baghdad alone. Historians agree that this was an exceptional event in the history of Jewish-Muslim relations in Iraq. ↩
"Shoah Memorial, Paris". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2023. ↩
Morad, Tamar; Shasha, Dennis Elliott; Shasha, Robert (2008). "Our Country No More". Iraq's last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 134–135. doi:10.1057/9780230616233_4. ISBN 978-0-230-61623-3. OCLC314828538. ↩
Shenhav 2002, p. 30: "For unclear reasons, the British themselves delayed their entry into the city by 48 hours. According to some testimonies, it is possible that the British wanted passions to boil over in the city and actually had an interest in a clash between Jews and Muslims." ↩
Basri, Carole (2 June 2021). "First came the Farhud: The 2-stage ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Jewry". The Times of Israel. The height of the slaughter occurred at the local hospital where poison injections were administered, causing the deaths of 120 Jewish patients ... The hospital director in charge had his privileges to treat patients as a doctor taken away for five years. Based on estimates, the number of murdered and disappeared is over 1,000. ↩
Tejel, Jordi (2012). Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4390-55-2. OCLC814318765. This is not surprising if we consider that the Old Regime, once reinstalled after the war of May 1941, made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism. ↩
According to Gat, "The government – particularly after Nuri as-Said came to power in October 1941 – took swift action to suppress pro-Nazi elements and other supporters of Rashid Ali. They were placed on trial, many of them were exiled, hundreds were incarcerated in concentration camps and a very small minority were even executed. In parallel, the government acted swiftly to defend Jewish quarters and was resolved to prevent any similar events from occurring in the future. On the decision of the Iraqi government, a committee of enquiry was set up on 7 June a few days after the pogrom, to examine the facts and find who was culpable."43 ↩
Stillman, Norman A. (2010). "Farhūd". Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_com_0007660. ISSN1878-9781. OCLC613355404. Either way, the farhūd was a significant turning-point for the Jewish community. In addition to its effect on relations between Iraqi Muslims and Jews, it exacerbated the tensions between the pro-British Jewish notables and the younger elements of the community, who now looked to the Communist Party and Zionism and began to consider emigration. ↩
Simon, Reeva S. (2003). "19: Iraq". In Simon, Reeva S.; Laskier, Michael M.; Reguer, Sara (eds.). The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-231-50759-2. JSTORsimo10796.25. OCLC614998544. ↩
Bashkin 2012, p. 90: "The general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Adas could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer." ↩
Tripp 2001, p. 142 "During this time, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful [...]" ↩
