The Farhud was a pogrom against Iraqi Jews that took place in Baghdad on June 1st and 2nd of 1941.
By early twentieth century the Jews had lived in Iraq, mainly in and around Baghdad, for about 2,500 years. Although they often faced discrimination, the Iraqi Jews viewed themselves as Arabs and considered themselves as a loyal part of Baghdadi society.
In the 1930s, Nazi propaganda ran high in Iraq, as with much of the Arab world. The Jews would become increased targets of anti-Semitism, as many were fired from their jobs and restricted from entering universities. Anti-Semitic propaganda would be often broadcasted on the radio, on both local shows and the Arabic version of Radio Berlin.
Anti-Semitic and pro Hitler writings were found on building walls. Mein Kampf became published in Iraqi newspapers. A youth movement known as Al-Fatwa was based on the Hitler Youth and supported by Nazi Germany.
In 1941, a group consisting of pro-Nazi officers attempted to overthrow the British-backed government. The group had close ties with Hitler and the German government. When the coup had failed, rumors of the Jews cooperating with the British army against were spread.
Leading up to the Farhud, Muslim shops would have "Muslim" on them in order to separate them in case of a riot. Meanwhile Jewish homes were marked with a special print just a few days before the pogroms begun.
The Farhud was initiated by a group of pro-Nazi Iraqis. What was initially an attack on a group of representatives of the Jewish community quickly became an assault on Jewish homes and shops by a large mob. Women were raped and infants were murdered, as the police looked on and refused to stop the massacre.
By the lowest estimates, the violence claimed the lives of about 180 Jews, while another 240 were left about wounded. 586 Jewish owned businesses were destroyed and robbed, while 99 Jewish homes were demolished. Other figures put death tolls as high as over 600, injuries at over 2000 and the number of homes and shops destroyed at over 2000 each. The Jews were not allowed to bury their relatives, as the victims were all thrown into one mass grave.
The persecution of Iraqi Jews would continue in the years following the Farhud. Although numbering around 125,000 in the early 1940's, most of the ancient Iraqi Jewish community would flee to Israel within the next decade.
There is a myth that Jews have always lived in peace and without persecution in Arab lands. In reality, almost all Jewish communities in the Arab lands had been subject to persecution. The Farhud is just one of example of the anti-Semitism endured by Jews in Arab lands.
