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When the Mob Came for the Jews of Baghdad

(Wall Street Journal) Joseph Samuels - I was 10 when mobs attacked the Jewish community of Baghdad with cruel and unimaginable violence. Rioters maimed, raped, killed and robbed the unsuspecting Jews. This massacre, which began June 1, 1941, was called the Farhud, Arabic for "violent dispossession" or pogrom. Two months earlier, on April 1, a pro-Nazi coup d'etat overthrew the pro-British Iraqi government and seized power. On May 31, 1941, the British army arrived at the outskirts of Baghdad and the pro-Nazi government collapsed. The Jewish community in Baghdad felt a sense of relief. But the absence of a functioning government created a power vacuum and lawlessness followed. On June 1, soldiers in civilian clothes, policemen and large crowds of Iraqi men, including Bedouins brandishing swords and daggers, plundered more than 1,500 Jewish homes and stores. For two days, the rioters murdered between 150 and 780 Jews, injured 600 to 2,000 others, and raped an indeterminable number of women. Unarmed and unprepared to defend themselves, Jews were vulnerable and helpless. On the first day, my brother Eliyahu returned home traumatized. He had seen men on a main thoroughfare dragging Jewish passengers from a minibus, stabbing them to death, and then robbing them in broad daylight. My family stacked heavy furniture against our front door. I carried buckets of water to the roof to boil and stay ready to toss on marauders should they attempt to break in. We stayed up through the night, barricaded in our home. My uncles Moshi and Meir had their homes totally ransacked. They escaped with their lives by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. The riots ended in the late afternoon of June 2 when Iraqi, Kurdish and British forces entered Baghdad, killing some of the rioters and establishing order.
2021-06-03 00:00:00
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