Moreh, Shmuel and Yehuda, Zvi, Edited by, Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2010
Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq is one of the few books about the attack upon Baghdad’s Jews after the conclusion of the Anglo-Iraq War. It has many first-hand accounts of the violence which is the highlight of the collection. Like any anthology there are other chapters that are flawed. The major contribution of the collection is that it gives the background causes to the attacks and then the impact it had upon the community.
The stories of the Farhud provide a harrowing tale. There were two days of attacks in Baghdad starting on June 1, 1941, after Iraq’s defeat in the Anglo-Iraq War. There are stories of soldiers and policeman shooting people in the street and in their homes. Women were raped. People broke into houses and looted them. Buses were stopped in the street and Jews were pulled off to be beaten and some were murdered. Jewish nurses at a Baghdad hospital said that the Muslim staff were poisoning Jewish patients. Gathering together all these accounts is by far the highlight of the book because it portrays the utter terror the community was facing at the time. It also gives a human face to the events.
The book also tries to collect together the immediate and larger causes of the violence. There is some controversy over how things started. One witness said some Jews taunted soldiers after their loss to the British leading to attacks. Another said Arab nationalists organized people at mosques seeking revenge for Iraq’s defeat in the war. The background issues are more apparent. Iraq had been a target for Nazi propaganda against the British and Jews. There were Palestinian and Syrian Arab nationalists employed in the Iraqi government especially in schools who promoted anti-Jewish stories over Palestine. The Mufti of Jerusalem came to Baghdad and spread antisemitic messages. One of the common themes of all these groups and individuals was that the Jews were pro-British which was greatly resented in a country who believed the English had been running the government since London created the country after World War I. This promotion of hate exploded in June 1941.
One of the more interesting chapters is on how the Farhud changed the attitude of the Zionist movement. Before Zionism was a European movement that looked down upon Eastern Jews as culturally and politically inferior. The 1941 pogrom against Baghdad’s Jews however brought the plight of Arab Jews to the attention of the group. The author thought his was a turning point where European and American Jews realized that their brethren in the Middle East were also threatened and that they could become Zionists and move to Palestine.
As in any anthology not all the contributions are equal. There is one chapter on German influence amongst political parties in the Middle East that has little to do with Iraq. Another on the Iraqi Communist Party is largely irrelevant to the subject. The low point is one contributor who was virulently anti-Arab. He wrote that the Palestinians planned the Farhud and were the cause of all the problems in the Middle East because they wanted to commit genocide against Jews to ensure the region was only Muslim. Another said that the Farhud proved that Arab secular governments were as bad as ones run by religious fanatics because of their hatred of Jews. Those chapters can all be skipped.
Despite the up and down nature of Al-Farhud there are a lot of positives. The documents section at the end includes story after story about the two days of attacks upon Baghdad’s Jews. The book also does a good job explaining how anti-Jewish messages were being spread in Iraq by Nazi Germany, the Iraqi government and the Mufti of Jerusalem which provided motivation for the Farhud. Unfortunately there are also some very bad chapters that should not have been included at all but one can simply skip over them and enjoy the rest of the book.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
No comments:
Post a Comment