On 1 June 1941, a Nazi-inspired pogrom erupted in Baghdad. When the violence ceased the next day, over 180 Jews were dead, thousands injured, and Jewish business suffered billions of pounds of damage. This talk explores the modern history of Jews in Iraq through the tragic events of the Farhud in 1941. Although this pogrom occurred in 1941, at the height of the Second World War, its aftermath and the experiences of Iraqi Jewry post-Farhud was markedly different than their European co-religionists post-Kristallnacht. By analysing Iraqi Jewish and non-Jewish responses to the Farhud this talk will offer insight on Jewish life in Iraq and the significance of the Jewish community within the wider Iraqi society in the twentieth century.
Sasha Goldstein-Sabbah is assistant professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. She is specialised in the modern history of Middle Eastern and North African Jewry and her research considers how, disparate Jewish communities interacted with each other through philanthropic, business, and religious networks. She is the author of numerous scholarly and trade publications including her recent monograph Baghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism (Brill, 2021).