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NEWS
Iraq Jews Mark 70 Years Since Farhoud Pogrom
By R. Hoffner
Last week Iraqi Jews marked the 70-year anniversary of the Farhoud pogroms on Shavuos 5701 (June 1-2, 1941) in Baghdad, killing 1,797 men, women and children.
Thousands were wounded in the rampage and the property of 50,000 Jews was pillaged. Two hundred and forty-two children were orphaned. Some of the victims were buried in a mass grave in the Iraqi capital. Iraqi Jews recall the violence as an Arab "Kristallnacht." The pogrom accelerated the growth of the Jewish underground in Iraq and the process that eventually led to the aliya of the country's Jews in Operation Ezra and Nechemia.
The Babylonian Jewish community, which settled after the First Churban of the Beis Hamikdosh, is the oldest kehilloh outside of Eretz Yisroel. In 1932, the British mandate in Iraq came to an end and it gained autonomy. The early period was marked by a lack of government stability in the country, stemming from struggles among nationalist fascists that back the Axis nations and others who had pro-British leanings.
After years of blatant incitement against the Jews, in April 1941 a revolt broke out, during which a group of pro-Nazi army officers took over, leading to a rise in anti-Jewish harassment. The pogrom took place during the two days between the signing of the cease-fire and the British army's entry into the city.
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