View source for Farhud

{{Short description|1941 anti-Jewish massacre in Baghdad, Iraq}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = ''Farhud''
| partof = [[Anglo–Iraqi War]]
| image = Farhud mass grave.jpg
| caption = Mass grave for the victims, 1946
| location = [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]]
| target = [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraqi Jews]]
| date = 1–2 June 1941
| time = 
| timezone = 
| type = [[Pogrom]], [[genocidal massacre]], [[ethnic cleansing]], [[gang rape]], and [[mutilation]]
| fatalities =  135 to 189 Jews killed,<ref name="Rabeeya 2025">{{cite web |last=Rabeeya  |first=Naomi |title=The Farhud and the Enduring Legacy of Iraqi Jews |website=HUC |date=2025-06-09 |url=https://huc.edu/news/the-farhud-and-the-enduring-legacy-of-iraqi-jews/ |access-date=2025-08-31}}</ref><br>~300–400 pogromists killed during suppression
| injuries = 1,000
| perps = [[Rashid Ali al-Kaylani|Rashid Ali]], [[Al-Muthanna Club#Yunis al-Sabawi|Yunis al-Sabawi]], [[Futuwwa#Iraqi_Al-Futuwwa_(1930s_and_1940s)|al-Futuwa]] youths, and Iraqi mobs
| motive = [[Antisemitism]], [[Iraqi nationalism]]
}}

The '''{{Transliteration|ar|Farhud}}''' ({{langx|ar|الفرهود|translit=al-Farhūd}}) was a [[pogrom]] carried out against the [[Jewish]] population of [[Baghdad]], [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]], on 1–2 June 1941 (coinciding with the Jewish holiday of [[Shavuot]]), immediately following the British victory in the [[Anglo-Iraqi War]]. The riots occurred in a [[power vacuum]] that followed the collapse of the pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi government of [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani]] while the city was in a state of instability.<ref name="Tsimhoni 2001 pp. 570–588">{{cite book |last=Tsimhoni |first=Daphne |title=Remembering for the Future |chapter=The Pogrom (Farhud) against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941 |editor-last=Roth |editor-first=J. K. |editor2-last=Maxwell |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Levy |editor3-first=M. |editor4-last=Whitworth |editor4-first=W. |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |location=London |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-333-80486-5 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-66019-3_37 |pages=570–588 |oclc=1086547441}}</ref><ref name="Green 2013">{{cite web |last=Green |first=David B. |title=1941: The Beginning of the End of Iraq's Jewish Community — Jewish World |website=[[Haaretz]] |date=2013-06-02 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2013-06-02/ty-article/.premium/1941-pogrom-sends-iraqs-jews-fleeing/0000017f-f0c6-d8a1-a5ff-f0ced3eb0000 |access-date=2023-10-17}}</ref><ref name="Holocaust Encyclopedia">{{cite web |title=The Farhud |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-farhud |access-date=2023-10-18}}</ref> The violence came immediately after the rapid defeat of Rashid Ali by British forces, whose earlier coup had generated a short period of national euphoria, and was fueled by allegations that Iraqi Jews had aided the British.<ref name="Bashkin p115">{{harvnb |Bashkin |2012 |p=115}} "The quick defeat of Rashid 'Ali, after a short period of national euphoria, and the allegations that the Jews had aided the British, made for a volatile situation, which exploded violently on the first and second days of June."</ref> More than 180 Jews were killed<ref name="Atlantic 2014-04">{{cite magazine |last=Kaplan |first=Robert D. |title=In Defense of Empire |magazine=The Atlantic |date=April 2014 |pages=13–15 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/in-defense-of-empire/358645/ |url-access=limited}}</ref> and 1,000 injured, although some non-Jewish rioters were also killed in the attempt to quell the violence.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|p=121}} Looting of Jewish property took place and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.<ref name="Gilbert 1993 p. 113">{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=The Atlas of Jewish History |url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofjewishhis00mart |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |year=1993 |orig-year=1969 |isbn=978-0-688-12264-5 |oclc=813666695 |page=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofjewishhis00mart/page/114/mode/2up 113]<!--Scan identifies this as page 114, but page number is 113, then skips a page number so next page is 115.--> |quote='''June 1941''' During riots following collapse of pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi Government of Rashid Ali, 175 Jews killed and 1000 injured. Much looting of Jewish property. 900 Jewish houses destroyed. Many Jews tortured}}</ref>

On account of the role of Axis and pro-Axis elements in inciting and eventually carrying out the pogrom, it is often argued to have constituted the extension of the '''Shoah in Iraq''', though this classification, and even its inclusion as part of the wider [[Holocaust]], have been disputed.<ref name="Wien 2006 p. 108">{{cite book |last=Wien |first=Peter |title=Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian, and Pro-fascist Inclinations, 1932-1941 |url=https://archive.org/details/iraqiarabnationa0000wien |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-203-02886-5 |oclc=212623474 |page=[https://archive.org/details/iraqiarabnationa0000wien/page/108/mode/2up 108] |quote=The presence of German troops on the war scene, however, gave way to interpretations of the pogrom as a racial anti-Semitic endeavor 'in the fringes of the Shoah, the Jewish Holocaust.' While this is surely an exaggeration in its comparative perspective, the apologetic approach of several Arab authors is insufficient as well. According to them, the outbreak of violence resulted from the anti-Zionist zeal of the public{{nbs}}...}}</ref>{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|p=102|ps=: "As is to be expected, both Arab and Zionist national memories have silenced important aspects of the Farhud{{nbs}}... Zionist historiography{{nbs}}... has highlighted the Farhud as a watershed in the history of the Iraqi-Jewish community. From the Zionist standpoint, the Farhud was the outcome of the anti-Semitism and Iraqi nationalist rhetoric in the 1930s. It was also viewed as having galvanized the Zionist movement in Iraq and ultimately as causing Iraq's Jews to recognize that their country had rejected their attempts at integration and assimilation. In some Zionist circles, the event came to be understood as an extension of the European Holocaust into the Middle East. This connection is made manifest today by the archiving of certain documents relating to the Farhud in Yad Va-Shem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem."}} In any case, as with other [[Jews outside Europe under Axis occupation|persecutions of Jews outside of Europe]], it is often overlooked when compared to the Holocaust in Europe, especially outside of [[Israel]] (where the vast majority of [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraqi Jews]], as well as their descendants, currently live).

The event spurred a migration of Iraqi Jews out of the country, although a direct connection to the 1951–1952 [[Jewish exodus from Iraq]] is also disputed,{{NoteTag|Historian Moshe Gat writes, "On his first visit to Baghdad, [[Enzo Sereni]] noted that '[...] The Jews have adapted to the new situation with the British occupation, which has again given them the possibility of free movement after months of detention and fear.' It is not surprising, in light of the economic boom and the security granted by the government, that Jews who left Iraq immediately after the riots, later returned [...] Their dream of integration into Iraqi society had been dealt a severe blow by the ''farhud'' but as the years passed self-confidence was restored, since the state continued to protect the Jewish community and they continued to prosper."{{sfn |Gat |1997 |pp=23–24, 28p}}}}<ref name="Shatz 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Shatz |first1=Adam |title=Leaving Paradise |journal=London Review of Books |date=6 November 2008 |volume=30 |issue=21 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n21/adam-shatz/leaving-paradise |issn=0260-9592 |quote=Yet Sasson Somekh insists that the ''farhud'' was not 'the beginning of the end'. Indeed, he claims it was soon 'almost erased from the collective Jewish memory', washed away by 'the prosperity experienced by the entire city from 1941 to 1948'. Somekh, who was born in 1933, remembers the 1940s as a 'golden age' of 'security', 'recovery' and 'consolidation', in which the 'Jewish community had regained its full creative drive'. Jews built new homes, schools and hospitals, showing every sign of wanting to stay. They took part in politics as never before; at Bretton Woods, Iraq was represented by Ibrahim al-Kabir, the Jewish finance minister. Some joined the Zionist underground, but many more waved the red flag. Liberal nationalists and Communists rallied people behind a conception of national identity far more inclusive than the Golden Square's Pan-Arabism, allowing Jews to join ranks with other Iraqis{{snd}}even in opposition to the British and Nuri al-Said, who did not take their ingratitude lightly.}}</ref><ref name="Haddad 2014">{{cite web |last=Haddad |first=Heskel M. |title=World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC): History and Purpose  |website=[[The Jewish Voice]] |location=Brooklyn |date=2014-01-08 |url=http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2165:world-organization-of-jews-from-arab-countries-wojac-history-and-purpose&catid=113:oped&Itemid=296 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810011431/http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2165:world-organization-of-jews-from-arab-countries-wojac-history-and-purpose&catid=113:oped&Itemid=296 |archive-date=2017-08-10 |url-status=dead |quote=The turning point for the Jews in Iraq was not the Farhood, as it is wrongly assumed.}}</ref> as many Jews who left Iraq immediately following the Farhud later returned to the country, and permanent Jewish emigration out of Iraq did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.{{sfn |Gat |1997 |pp=23–24, 28p}}<ref name="Marqusee 2008 pp. 211–250">{{cite book |last=Marqusee |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Marqusee |chapter=Diasporic Dimensions |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ifiamnotformysel0000marq/page/210/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=If I am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew |url=https://archive.org/details/ifiamnotformysel0000marq |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Verso |location=London |year=2008 |oclc=607271749 |pages=211–250|isbn=9781844672141}}</ref>

==Background==
===Independence of Iraq===
After the [[Ottoman Empire]] was defeated in World War{{nbs}}I, the [[League of Nations]] granted the [[British mandate of Iraq|mandate of Iraq]] to [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. After King [[Ghazi of Iraq|Ghazi]] who inherited the throne of [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal{{nbs}}I]], died in a 1939 car accident, Britain installed [['Abd al-Ilah]] as Iraq's governing regent.

By 1941 the approximately 150,000 Iraqi Jews played active roles in many aspects of Iraqi life, including farming, banking, commerce and the government bureaucracy.

===Iraq in World War II===
Iraqi nationalist [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani]] was appointed prime minister again in 1940, and attempted to ally with the [[Axis powers]] in order to remove the remaining British influence in the country.

Much of the population had retained significant anti-British sentiments since the [[1920 Iraqi revolt]], although the Jewish population was viewed as pro-British during World War{{nbs}}II, contributing to the separation of the Muslim and Jewish communities.

In addition, between 1932 and 1941, the German embassy in Iraq, headed by Dr. [[Fritz Grobba]], significantly supported antisemitic and fascist movements. Intellectuals and army officers were invited to Germany as guests of the Nazi party, and antisemitic material was published in the newspapers. The German embassy purchased the newspaper ''Al-alam Al-arabi'' ("The Arab world") which published, in addition to antisemitic propaganda, a translation of ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' in Arabic. The German embassy also supported the establishment of Al-Fatwa, a youth organization based upon the model of the [[Hitler Youth]].

==Events preceding the Farhud==
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2014}}

===The Golden Square coup===
{{Main|1941 Iraqi coup d'état|Anglo-Iraqi War}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 7886 quot;prayerquot; in ramat-gan.jpg|thumb|Monument "Prayer" in [[Ramat Gan]] in memory of the [[Jew]]s who were killed in [[Iraq]] in the [[Pogrom]] "Farhud" (1941) and in the 1960s]]

In 1941 a group of pro-[[Fascist]] and pro-[[Nazi]] Iraqi officers, known as the "Golden Square" and led by [[General]] [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani|Rashid Ali]], overthrew [[Regent]] [['Abd al-Ilah|Abdul Ilah]] on April 1 after staging a successful coup. The coup had significant popular support, particularly in Baghdad. Historian [[Orit Bashkin]] writes that "All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs".{{sfn |Bashkin|2012|p=113|ps =: "The government seemed to have enjoyed a great deal of popular support in Baghdad, and was hailed by many intellectuals, who saw in the Kaylani movement a national and patriotic act of defiance against Britain and its influence in Iraq. Groups and individuals ranging from the communists to Haj Amin al-Husayni, who disagreed on almost every political issue, all backed the regime. Their reasons for doing so naturally varied greatly: some saw the Kaylani government as leading the fight against colonialism, while others hoped for a more sympathetic attitude toward Italy and Germany. All, apparently, yearned for the departure of the British after two long decades of interference in Iraqi affairs."}}

Iraq's new government then was quickly involved in confrontation with the British over the terms of the [[Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930)|Anglo-Iraqi Treaty]] signed in 1930. The treaty gave the British unlimited rights to base and transit forces through Iraq. In response to the coup, the British landed the [[10th Indian Infantry Brigade]] at [[Basra]]. Officials of the new regime refused to let them land and confrontations afterward occurred both near Basra in the south and to the west of Baghdad near the British base complex and airfield. The Germans dispatched a [[Fliegerführer Irak|group of 26 heavy fighters]] to aid in a futile air attack on [[RAF Habbaniya]] which was defeated.

[[Winston Churchill]] sent a telegram to US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], warning him that if the Middle East fell to Germany, victory against the Nazis would be a "hard, long and bleak proposition" given that Hitler would have access to the [[oil reserves]] there. The telegram dealt with the larger issues of war in the Middle East rather than Iraq exclusively.

On 25 May Hitler issued his ''Order 30'', stepping up German offensive operations: "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East is our natural ally against England. In this connection special importance is attached to the liberation of Iraq{{nbs}}... I have therefore decided to move forward in the Middle East by supporting Iraq."

On 30 May the British-organized force called ''[[Kingcol]]'' led by [[Brigadier]] [[James Joseph Kingstone|J.J. Kingstone]] reached [[Baghdad]], causing the "Golden Square" and their supporters to escape via [[Iran]] to [[Germany]]. ''Kingcol'' included some elements of the [[Arab Legion]] led by [[Major (rank)|Major]] [[John Bagot Glubb]] known as [[Glubb Pasha]].

On 31 May Regent Abdul Illah prepared to fly back into Baghdad to reclaim his leadership. To avoid the impression of a British-organized countercoup, the regent entered Baghdad without a British escort.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Edwin |date=2004-10-04 |title=The forgotten pogrom of Baghdad |url=https://www.jta.org/2004/10/04/lifestyle/the-forgotten-pogrom-of-baghdad |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>

Michael Eppel, in his book "The Palestinian Conflict in Modern Iraq", blames the Farhud on the influence of German ideology on the Iraqi people, as well as extreme nationalism, both of which were heightened by the Golden Square coup.

===Antisemitic actions preceding the Farhud===
[[Sami Michael]], a witness to the Farhud, testified: "Antisemite propaganda was broadcast routinely by the local radio and Radio Berlin in Arabic. Various anti-Jewish slogans were written on walls on the way to school, such as "Hitler was killing the Jewish germs". Shops owned by Muslims had 'Muslim' written on them, so they would not be damaged in the case of anti-Jewish riots."

{{ill|Shalom Darwish|he|שלום דרוויש}}, the secretary of the Jewish community in Baghdad, testified that several days before the Farhud, the homes of Jews were marked with a red palm print ("[[Hamsa]]"), by [[Futuwa|al-Futuwa]] youth. Al-Sabawi also instructed Jews in Baghdad to pack suitcases and to wait to be taken to "detention camps" "for their own safety".<ref name="Gilbert 2010 p. 189" />

Two days before the Farhud, [[Al-Muthanna Club#Yunis al-Sabawi|Yunis al-Sabawi]]<!-- {{ill|Younus Al-Sabaawi|ar|يونس السبعاوي}} -->, a government minister who proclaimed himself the governor of Baghdad, summoned Rabbi Sasson Khaduri, the community leader, and recommended to him that Jews stay in their homes for the next three days as a protective measure. He had planned for a larger massacre, preparing to broadcast a call for the Baghdad public to massacre Jews. However, the broadcast was never made since al-Sabawi was forced to flee the country.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|p=116|ps=: "The most convincing evidence, though, was Sab‘awi's warning to Rabbi Sasun Khaduri shortly before the Farhud that Jews should not leave their homes for three days and should have enough food to do so{{nbs}}... Sab‘awi may well have intended to harm Jews, but it is also possible that he was indirectly expressing his fear that something bad might happen to the Jewish community because of the anti-Jewish atmosphere that was prevalent in Baghdad."}}<ref name="Gilbert 2010 p. 189">{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands |url=https://archive.org/details/inishmaelshouseh0000gilb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Conn. |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-300-17080-1 |oclc=890477060 |page=[https://archive.org/details/inishmaelshouseh0000gilb/page/188/mode/2up 189]}}</ref>

During the fall of the [[Rashid Ali]] government, false rumors were circulated that Jews used radios to signal the [[Royal Air Force]] and distributed British propaganda.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|p=114|ps=: "Worse yet, it was thought that Jews were actively aiding the British war effort, despite the fact that they were serving in the Iraqi military. Jews, rumor had it, used their radios to broadcast information and to signal to British airplanes, and distributed British propaganda, especially the leaflets that the British dropped from their airplanes on Baghdad. There was no truth to these rumors, but they nonetheless circulated in the city."}}

According to Hayyim Cohen, the Farhud "was the only such instance of Jewish shops and synagogues destroyed, Jewish girls being gang raped, and mob violence<ref name="massacre1941" /> known to the Jews of Iraq, at least during their last hundred years of life there".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Hayyim |date=October 1966 |title=The Anti-Jewish ''Farhūd'' in Baghdad, 1941 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=2–17 |doi=10.1080/00263206608700059 |issn=1743-7881 |jstor=4282184}}</ref><ref name="Shenhav 2002">{{cite journal |last=Shenhav |first=Yehouda |date=May 2002 |title=Ethnicity and National Memory: The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) in the Context of the Palestinian National Struggle |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=29 |issue=1 |page=29 |doi=10.1080/13530190220124052 |issn=1353-0194 |jstor=826147 |s2cid=144466568 |quote=In 1941 a two-day pogrom (known as the ''farhud'') was perpetrated in Baghdad. It was the only pogrom in the history of Iraqi Jews and it did not spread to other cities: it was confined to Baghdad alone. Historians agree that this was an exceptional event in the history of Jewish-Muslim relations in Iraq.}}</ref> Historian [[Edy Cohen]] writes that up until the Farhud, Jews had enjoyed relatively favorable conditions and coexistence with Muslims in Iraq.<ref name="European Holocaust Research Infrastructure 2014">{{cite web |date=2014-08-12 |title=Shoah Memorial, Paris |url=https://www.ehri-project.eu/Edy-Cohen |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=European Holocaust Research Infrastructure}}</ref><ref name="Cohen 2022">{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Edy |date=2022-10-01 |title=This Day in History: The Nazi-Arab Massacre of Iraqi Jews |url=https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/this-day-in-history-the-nazi-arab-massacre-of-iraqi-jews/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Israel Today}}</ref>

==Farhud (1–2 June 1941)==

According to Iraqi government and British historical sources violence started when a delegation of Jewish Iraqis arrived at the Palace of Flowers (Qasr al Zuhur) to meet with the Regent Abdullah, and were attacked en route by an Iraqi Arab mob as they crossed Al Khurr Bridge. Iraqi Arab civil disorder and violence then swiftly spread to the Al Rusafa and Abu Sifyan districts, and got worse the next day when elements of the Iraqi police began joining in with the attacks upon the Jewish population, involving shops belonging to it being set on fire and a [[synagogue]] being destroyed. Many Jewish girls were gang-raped and children maimed and killed in front of their families.<ref name="massacre1941">{{Cite web |last=columnist |first=Edwin Black/Guest |date=2015-05-31 |title=Edwin Black: Remembering the Farhud massacre of June 1941 |url=https://journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/edwin-black-remembering-the-farhud-massacre-of-june-1941/article_8c241c06-062c-11e5-b8dd-7f5856f9fa31.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Winston-Salem Journal |language=en}}</ref>

However, Zvi Yehuda, a professor of Jewish Studies, has suggested that the event that set off the rioting was anti-Jewish preaching in the Jami-Al-Gaylani [[mosque]], and that the violence was premeditated rather than a spontaneous outburst.<ref name="Yehuda Winter 2005–2006">{{cite journal |last=Yehuda |first=Zvi |title=The Outbreak of the Progom (Farhud) of June 1941 in Baghdad |url=http://www.babylonjewry.org.il/new/english/nehardea/15/4.htm |journal=Nehardea Journal |location=Or Yehuda, Israel |publisher=The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center |date=Winter 2005–2006 |orig-year=1941 |issue=15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810004655/http://babylonjewry.org.il/new/english/nehardea/15/4.htm |archive-date=2014-08-10 |oclc=176790061 |issn=0333-6905}}</ref>
[[Mordechai Ben-Porat]], who later became the leader of the Iraqi Zionists, described his experience as follows:
<blockquote>We were mostly cut off from the center of the Jewish community and our Muslim neighbors became our friends. It was because of one Muslim neighbor, in fact, that we survived the Farhoud. We had no weapons to defend ourselves and were utterly helpless. We put furniture up against the doors and windows to prevent the rioters from breaking in. Then, Colonel Arif's wife came rushing out of her house with a grenade and a pistol and shouted at the rioters, 'If you don’t leave, I will explode this grenade right here!' Her husband was apparently not home and she had either been instructed by him to defend us or decided on her own to help. They dispersed, and that was that{{snd}}she saved our lives.<ref name="Morad Shasha Shasha 2008 pp. 134–135">{{cite book |last1=Morad |first1=Tamar |last2=Shasha |first2=Dennis Elliott |last3=Shasha |first3=Robert |chapter=Our Country No More |title=Iraq's last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-61623-3 |doi=10.1057/9780230616233_4|oclc=314828538 |pages=134–135}}</ref></blockquote>

In some instances, common criminals came to the help of the Jews. In one case, a young Muslim woman, who, ironically, had been looting with her sister, saw a pogromist attacking a young Jewish man. The attacker responded by stabbing her to death. He was later convicted of murder and hanged. A man known to be a thief protected roughly 100 Jews in his neighborhood, forcing the local baker and grocery store owner to give them food. Jews themselves also fought back, using knives, rocks, pistols, and clubs.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|pp=123–124}}<ref name="Gilbert 2010 p. 189" />

The dean of [[Midrash Bet Zilkha]], [[Yaakov Mutzafi]], raced to open up the gates of the yeshiva to shelter the victims of the Farhud who were displaced from their homes, and secured money for their upkeep from philanthropists in the community.<ref>Hakhmei Bavel, Yeshivath Hod Yosef Publishing House, pp. 229–230.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Civil order was restored after two days of violence in the afternoon of 2 June, when Prime Minister [[Jamil Al Midfai]] imposed a [[curfew]] and shot violators on sight. An investigation conducted by British journalist Tony Rocca of the ''[[Sunday Times]]'' attributed the delay to a personal decision by [[Kinahan Cornwallis]], the British Ambassador to Iraq, who failed to immediately carry out orders he received from the [[Foreign Office]] in the matter, and initially denied requests from [[British Empire|British Imperial]] military and civil officers on the scene for permission to act against the attacking Arab mobs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966686.html |title=Memories of Eden |author=Tom Segev |work=Haaretz |access-date=19 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330000809/https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966686.html |archive-date=30 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The British also delayed their entry into Baghdad for 48 hours, which some testimonies suggest was due to having ulterior motives in allowing a clash to happen between Muslims and Jews in the city.{{sfn|Shenhav|2002|p=30|ps=: "For unclear reasons, the British themselves delayed their entry into the city by 48 hours. According to some testimonies, it is possible that the British wanted passions to boil over in the city and actually had an interest in a clash between Jews and Muslims."}}

===Casualties===
The exact number of victims is uncertain. With respect to Jewish victims, some sources say that about 180 Jewish Iraqis were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.<ref name="Levin p6">{{cite book |last=Levin |first=Itamar |title=Locked Doors |ol=9717056M |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9717056M/Locked_Doors |url-access=registration |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Conn. |date=2001-08-30 |isbn=978-0-275-97134-2 |oclc=1200491197 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lockeddoorsseizu0000levi/page/6/mode/2up 6]}}</ref> Other accounts state that nearly 200 were killed and more than 2,000 injured, while 900 Jewish homes and hundreds of Jewish-owned shops destroyed and looted. The Israeli-based [[Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center]] maintains that in addition to 180 identified victims, around another 600 unidentified ones were buried in a mass grave.<ref name="farhudmemories">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13610702|title=Farhud memories: Baghdad's 1941 slaughter of the Jews|date=June 2011 |publisher=BBC News|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref> Zvi Zameret of Israel's [[Ministry of Education (Israel)|Education Ministry]] says 180 were killed and 700 wounded.<ref name="Alwaya 2005">{{cite news |last=Alwaya |first=Semha |title=The vanishing Jews of the Arab world / Baghdad native tells the story of being a Middle East refugee |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |department=Opinion |date=2005-03-28 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/The-vanishing-Jews-of-the-Arab-world-Baghdad-2694221.php |url-access=subscription}} Reprinted as {{cite web |last=Alwaya |first=Semha |title=The Middle East's Forgotten Refugees |website=aish.com |date=2010-08-13 |url=http://www.aish.com/jw/me/48914692.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514033838/http://www.aish.com/jw/me/48914692.html |archive-date=2011-05-14 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{better source needed |reason=This is an editorial. |date=October 2023}} Bashkin writes that "a constant element that appears in most accounts of the Farhud is a narrative relating to a good neighbor [...] Judging by the lists of the Jewish dead, it seems that Jews in mixed neighborhoods stood a better chance of surviving the riots than those in uniformly Jewish areas."{{sfn |Bashkin|2012 |p=122}} According to documents discovered from the [[Iraqi Jewish Archive]], more than a thousand Jews were murdered or disappeared.<ref name="Basri 2021-06-02">{{cite web |last=Basri |first=Carole |title=First came the Farhud: The 2-stage ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Jewry |date=2 June 2021 |work=The Times of Israel |url= https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-farhud-the-2-stage-ethnic-cleansing-of-iraqi-jewry/ |quote=The height of the slaughter occurred at the local hospital where poison injections were administered, causing the deaths of 120 Jewish patients{{nbs}}... The hospital director in charge had his privileges to treat patients as a doctor taken away for five years. Based on estimates, the number of murdered and disappeared is over 1,000.}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2021}}

When the forces loyal to the regent entered to restore order, many rioters were killed.{{sfn |Bashkin|2012 |p=121}} The Iraqi Commission Report noted that: "After some delay the Regent{{nbs}}... arranged for the dispatch of troops to take control{{nbs}}... There was no more aimless firing into the air; their machine guns swept the streets clear of people and quickly put a stop to looting and rioting."<ref name="Iraqi Commission of Inquiry">Iraqi Commission of Inquiry.{{full citation needed|date=June 2021}}</ref> The British Ambassador noted that the second day was more violent than the first, and that "Iraqi troops killed as many rioters as the rioters killed Jews."{{sfn |Bashkin|2012 |p=121}} The Iraqi Commission Report estimated the total number of Jews and Muslims killed at 130.<ref name="Iraqi Commission of Inquiry" /> [[Eliahu Eilat]], a [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] agent estimated 1,000 as the total number of Jews and Muslims who died, with other similar accounts estimating 300–400 pogromists killed by the Regent's army.{{sfn |Bashkin|2012|p=121}}

==Aftermath==
===Iraqi monarchist response===
Within a week of the riots, on 7 June, the reinstated monarchist Iraqi government set up a committee of inquiry to investigate the events.{{sfn|Gat|1997|p=23}} According to Peter Wien, the regime "made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism".<ref name="Tejel 2012">{{cite book |title=Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges |last=Tejel |first=Jordi |author-link=Jordi Tejel |location=Singapore |publisher=World Scientific |year=2012 |isbn=978-981-4390-55-2 |oclc=814318765 |quote=This is not surprising if we consider that the Old Regime, once reinstalled after the war of May 1941, made every effort to present the followers of the Rashid 'Ali movement as proxies of Nazism.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2023}}

The monarchist government acted quickly to suppress supporters of Rashid Ali. Many Iraqis were exiled as a result, and hundreds were jailed. Military courts were convened to try the rioters and those responsible for the coup. A number of men, including Yunis al-Sabawi and multiple [[Iraqi Army]] officers and policemen, were legally sentenced to death in consequence of the violence by the newly established pro-British Iraqi government.{{NoteTag|According to Gat, "The government{{snd}}particularly after Nuri as-Said came to power in October 1941{{snd}}took swift action to suppress pro-Nazi elements and other supporters of Rashid Ali. They were placed on trial, many of them were exiled, hundreds were incarcerated in concentration camps and a very small minority were even executed. In parallel, the government acted swiftly to defend Jewish quarters and was resolved to prevent any similar events from occurring in the future. On the decision of the Iraqi government, a committee of enquiry was set up on 7 June a few days after the pogrom, to examine the facts and find who was culpable."{{sfn|Gat|1997|p=23}}}}

===Long-term impact===
{{Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries}}
{{Also|Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries}}

In some accounts the ''Farhud'' marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews.<ref name="Stillman 2010 Farhūd">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Stillman |first=Norman A. |author-link=Norman Stillman |title=Farhūd |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, Netherlands |year=2010 |issn=1878-9781 |oclc=613355404 |doi=10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_com_0007660 |quote=Either way, the farhūd was a significant turning-point for the Jewish community. In addition to its effect on relations between Iraqi Muslims and Jews, it exacerbated the tensions between the pro-British Jewish notables and the younger elements of the community, who now looked to the Communist Party and Zionism and began to consider emigration.}}</ref><ref name="Simon 2003 p. 350">{{cite book |last=Simon |first=Reeva S. |chapter=19: Iraq |editor-last=Simon |editor-first=Reeva S. |editor-last2=Laskier |editor-first2=Michael M. |editor-last3=Reguer |editor-first3=Sara|title=The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-231-50759-2 |oclc=614998544 |jstor=simo10796.25 |page=[{{GBurl |id=VxEJrEY22egC&pg=350}} 350]}}</ref><ref name="Meir-Glitzenstein">{{cite book |last=Meir-Glitzenstein |first=Esther |author-link=Esther Meir-Glitzenstein |title=Zionism in an Arab Country |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-135-76862-1 |doi=10.4324/9780203344064 |id={{OCLC|275261268|252734372|814291885}} |page=213}}</ref> Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities prospered along with the rest of the country throughout most of the 1940s,{{sfn |Gat |1997 |pp=23–24, 28p}}<ref name="Shatz 2008" /><ref name="Haddad 2014" />{{sfn|Bashkin|2012}}{{Page needed|date=June 2021}} and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate significantly until 1950–1951.{{sfn |Gat |1997 |pp=23–24, 28p}}<ref name="Marqusee 2008 pp. 211–250" /> Bashkin writes that "In the context of Jewish-Iraqi history, moreover, a distinction should be made between an analysis of the Farhud and the Farhudization of Jewish Iraqi history{{snd}}viewing the Farhud as typifying the history of the relationship between Jews and greater Iraqi society. The Jewish community strived for integration in Iraq before and after the Farhud. In fact, the attachment of the community to Iraq was so tenacious that even after such a horrible event, most Jews continued to believe that Iraq was their homeland."{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|pp=138–139}}

Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily amongst the younger population, especially as a result of the impact it had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq itself.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|pp=141–182}} At the same time the Iraqi government which had taken over after the Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon returned to Baghdad, which saw a marked betterment of its economic situation during World War{{nbs}}II.{{sfn|Gat|1997|pp=23–24}}{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|pp=189–190}}<ref name="Hillel 1988 p.">{{cite book |last=Hillel |first=Shlomo |author-link=Shlomo Hillel |translator-last=Friedman |translator-first=Ina |title=Operation Babylon |publisher=Collins |location=London |year=1988 |orig-year=1985 |oclc=1330620329 |page= |isbn=978-0-00-217984-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/operationbabylon00hill |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2023}}

It was only after the Iraqi government initiated a policy shift towards the Iraqi Jews in 1948, curtailing their civil rights and firing many Jewish state employees, that the Farhud began to be regarded as more than just an outburst of violence instigated by foreign influences, namely Nazi propaganda.

On 23 October 1948, [[Shafiq Ades]], a respected Jewish businessman, was publicly hanged in [[Basra]] on charges of selling weapons to Israel and the Iraqi Communist Party, despite the fact he was an outspoken anti-Zionist. The event increased the sense of insecurity among Jews.{{sfn|Gat|1997|p=36}} The Jewish community general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer,{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|p=90|ps=: "The general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Adas could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer."}} and the Farhud was no longer seen as an isolated incident.{{sfn|Bashkin|2012|pp=189–190}} During this period, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful.<ref name="Tripp 2001 p. 142">{{harvnb |Tripp |2001 |p=[https://archive.org/details/warforpalestiner0000unse/page/142/mode/2up 142]}} "During this time, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful [...]"</ref>

===Remembrances===
A monument, called ''Prayer'', located in [[Ramat Gan]], is in memory of the Jews who were killed in Iraq during the Farhud and in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sokol |first=Sam |url=https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/At-UN-Jewish-organizations-mark-seminal-Iraqi-pogrom-404767 |title=At UN, Jewish organizations mark seminal Iraqi pogrom |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=2 June 2015 |access-date=2015-07-17}}</ref>

1 June 2015, was the first [[International Farhud Day]] at the [[United Nations]].<ref name="Black 2015">{{cite web |last=Black |first=Edwin |author-link=Edwin Black |title=Farhud Day marks forgotten pogrom of Jews in Arab lands |website=J. The Jewish News of Northern California |location=San Francisco|date=2015-07-17 |url=https://jweekly.com/2015/07/17/farhud-day-marks-forgotten-pogrom-of-jews-in-arab-lands/ |access-date=2023-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Rambam Mesivta |url=http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/Rambam-students-join-Farhud-Day-at-UN,6111?page=1&content_source= |title=Rambam students join Farhud Day at U.N. |work=The Jewish Star |date=2015-06-11 |access-date=2015-07-17}}</ref><ref name="www.standwithus.com 2015">{{cite web |title=International Farhud Day Declared at the United Nations on June 1, 2015 |publisher=[[StandWithUs]] |date=2015-06-01 |url=https://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=3978 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721045525/https://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=3978 |archive-date=2015-07-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[1945 Anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania]]
* [[1947 Aden riots]]
* [[Al-Muthanna Club]]
* [[1950–1951 Baghdad bombings]]
* [[Antisemitism in the Arab world]]
* [[Islam and antisemitism]]
* [[List of massacres in Iraq]]
* [[Shafiq Ades]]
* [[The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism]]
* [[1969 Baghdad hangings]]

==Notes==
{{NoteFoot}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book |last=Bashkin |first=Orit |title=New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq  |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2012-01-01 |isbn=978-0-8047-8201-2 |doi=10.1515/9780804782012 |oclc=811502389}}
*{{cite book |last=Gat |first=Moshe |title=The Jewish exodus from Iraq, 1948-1951 |publisher=Frank Cass |location=London |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-299-73041-0 |oclc=853240584 |ol=991630M |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL991630M/The_Jewish_exodus_from_Iraq_1948-1951 |url-access=registration |via=The Open Library}}
* {{cite book |last=Tripp |first=Charles R. H. |author-link=Charles R. H. Tripp |chapter=The Jewish community in Iraq and 1948 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/warforpalestiner0000unse/page/124/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |editor1-last=Rogan |editor1-first=Eugene L. |editor1-link=Eugene Rogan |editor-last2=Shlaim |editor-first2=Avi |editor2-link=Avi Shlaim |title=The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 |url=https://archive.org/details/warforpalestiner0000unse |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |year=2001 |oclc=1259662821 |isbn=978-0-521-79139-7 |pages=125–150}}

==Further reading==
* Kedouri Elie (1974) ''The Sack of Basra and the Farhud in Baghdad'' (Arabic Political Memoirs. London), pp.&nbsp;283–314.
* Shamash, Violette (2008, 2010) ''Memories of Eden: A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad'' (Forum Books, London; Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Ill.) {{ISBN|978-0-9557095-0-0}}.
* Zvi Yehuda and Shmuel Moreh (ed.): ''Al-Farhud: the 1941 Pogrom in Iraq'' (Magnes Press and The [[Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism]]), 1992 Hebrew, 2010 English: plus the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center as editor; {{ISBN|978-965-493-490-9}}, e-book: {{ISBN|978-965-493-491-6}}
* Nissim Kazzaz, "Report of the Governmental Commission of Inquiry on the Events of June 1–2, 1941," Pe’amim 8 (1981), pp.&nbsp;46–59 [Hebrew].

==External links==
* [http://www.midrash.org/articles/farhud/ The Farhud of 1941 in Iraq]
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iraqijews.html The Jews of Iraq]
* [http://www.bankingonbaghdad.com/archive/JewishTimes20041005/International%20News.htm Baghdad & Forgotten Pogrom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030044647/https://bankingonbaghdad.com/archive/JewishTimes20041005/International%20News.htm |date=2018-10-30}} by Edwin Black (''The Jewish Times'') October 5, 2004
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1427687/The-terror-behind-Iraqs-Jewish-exodus.html The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 16 April 2003.
* [http://www.jimena.org JIMENA]
* [http://www.babylonjewry.org.il/ Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center]
* [http://www.iraqijews.org/ The Iraqi Jews]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090720080913/http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=1940442 Hebrew documentary video about the Farhud]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13610702 Farhud memories: Baghdad's 1941 slaughter of the Jews], BBC News, 1 June 2011.
* [http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-expulsion-that-backfired-when-iraq-kicked-out-its-jews/ The expulsion that backfired: When Iraq kicked out its Jews], ''The Times of Israel''
* [https://farhudinfo.com Remembering The Farhud]

{{coord missing|Iraq}}

{{Massacres of Jews}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Anglo-Iraqi War]]
[[Category:1941 murders in Iraq]]
[[Category:1941 in Judaism]]
[[Category:1941 riots]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1941]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1941]]
[[Category:June 1941 in Asia]]
[[Category:1940s in Baghdad]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murder in Iraq]]
[[Category:Holocaust massacres and pogroms]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in Iraq]]
[[Category:Fascism in Iraq]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Iraq]]
[[Category:Iraqi war crimes]]
[[Category:Islam and antisemitism]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Baghdad]]
[[Category:Massacres in Iraq]]
[[Category:Massacres of Jews]]
[[Category:Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Middle East]]
[[Category:Baghdad in World War II]]
[[Category:Mass murder in Baghdad]]
[[Category:Arson in Iraq]]
[[Category:Attacks on religious buildings and structures during World War II]]
[[Category:Looting in Iraq]]
[[Category:Marketplace attacks in Baghdad]]
[[Category:Art theft and looting during World War II]]
[[Category:Attacks on religious buildings and structures in Iraq]]
[[Category:Rape in Iraq]]
[[Category:Gang rape in Asia]]
[[Category:Sexual violence in Asia during World War II]]
[[Category:Sexual violence during the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Anti-British sentiment]]