June 1: The Farhud

The Farhud, a two-day attack on Baghdad’s Jews, began on this date in 1941 after a group of pro-Nazi officers and politicians came to power in an anti-British coup. The 90,000 Jews of Baghdad were instructed to remain in their homes from May 31 to June 2 (during the holiday of Shavuot) “for their own protection,” and a paramilitary youth group was sent to mark Jewish homes and businesses with red paint. A British-organized counter-coup took place on May 31st; nonetheless, a two-day pogrom broke out, costing hundreds of Jewish lives before British and Transjordian soldiers quelled it. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Many civilians in Baghdad and Bedouins from the city’s outskirts joined the rioters, taking part in the violence and helping themselves to a share in the booty. During the two days of violence, rioters murdered between 150 and 180 Jews, injured 600 others, and raped an undetermined number of women. They also looted some 1,500 stores and homes.” (Unofficial estimates of victim deaths go considerably higher.) The Farhud marked the beginning of the end for a Jewish community that had existed in Iraq (Babylon) for 2,600 years. By 1951, 124,000 of the country’s 135,000 Jews had fled from Iraq, mostly to Israel.

“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 . . .” —Adolf Hitler, Order 30, May 25, 1941