Full Breakdown
85th Anniversary of Baghdad’s Farhud Pogrom: Survivors Speak, Memory Revived
6/3/2026, 11:46:32 AM
The Commemoration at the President’s Residence
On June 1-2, 2026, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog hosted a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem to mark 85 years since the Farhud, the June 1941 pogrom that devastated Baghdad’s Jewish community. About 200 attendees—including Farhud survivors, their descendants, scholars, and cultural figures—participated in a candle-lighting, a documentary excerpt, a panel discussion, and a portrait exhibition titled “Faces of the Farhud,” featuring 80 black-and-white images taken by photographer Rona Olshevsky.
Historical Context of the 1941 Pogrom
The Farhud erupted during Shavuot amid political turmoil following the collapse of a pro-Nazi coup led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani. British-backed forces had just retaken Iraq, and rumors circulated that Iraqi Jews had aided the British. Nazi-inspired antisemitic propaganda, spreading through the German legation and Arab youth movements, inflamed existing tensions. Arab mobs looted homes, assaulted residents, and set fire to synagogues, marking a turning point that precipitated the mass exodus of Iraqi Jewry in the 1950s under Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.
Key Voices and Personal Testimonies
Survivors recounted the chaos: Moshe Kahtan, aged three at the time, remembered being thrown across a roof to escape attackers. Nadia Cohen, who later married Israeli spy Eli Cohen, recalled seeing Jewish houses marked with paint and hearing her father bring cakes to police to secure protection. Edmond Mor described how his family survived only after his father produced a gun and how Muslim neighbors also intervened, saving many lives. Shlomo Mantzur, a child survivor, later perished in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, a tragedy his sister linked to the same pattern of hatred.
Numbers and Scope of the Violence
Sources differ on casualty figures: one account cites approximately 180 Jews killed and more than 1,000 wounded; another reports 179 deaths; a third mentions around 200 murders. All agree that women were raped, homes and businesses were looted, and the violence far exceeded official tallies.
Official Responses
President Herzog framed the Farhud as “one of the oldest and most significant Jewish communities in the Diaspora” and urged that its memory be integrated into Israeli education and public discourse. He emphasized that remembering the Farhud is both a historical justice and a warning against rising antisemitism worldwide. Documentary filmmaker David Kahtan, who organized the event, highlighted the urgency of recording survivor testimonies before the last eyewitnesses pass away.
Criticism of Historical Neglect
Panelists noted that, unlike the Holocaust, the Farhud receives limited coverage in Israeli curricula and media. Nadia Cohen warned that “the silence here in Israel about what happened in Iraq—and also in Libya” perpetuates collective amnesia, while others called for annual commemorations to prevent forgetting.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The disparity in death tolls (179, 180, 200) illustrates incomplete documentation. Survivors also contend that official numbers “don’t sufficiently reflect the scope of violence,” suggesting that many acts of looting, rape, and property destruction remain unrecorded.
Verbatim Quotes
- “When people started banging on our door, we went up on our roof, and my parents threw me across the roof to another apartment to save me,” — Moshe Kahtan, survivor
- “On that terrible night, frenzied rioters descended upon the homes of the Jews of Baghdad, beating them, killing and wounding them… for one reason alone: they were Jews,” — President Isaac Herzog
- “If it weren’t for the help of Muslims, there would have been two or three times as many people murdered,” — Edmond Mor
- “Memory is a form of resistance,” — David Kahtan
- “Our fate depends on learning and remembering—not on forgetting.” — Nadia Cohen
What’s Next
Kahtan’s documentary series *The Long Journey Home* will be rebroadcast on June 25, accompanied by a renewed call for systematic oral-history projects. Organizers hope the ceremony becomes an annual fixture, ensuring that the Farhud’s lessons inform both Israeli society and global efforts to combat antisemitism.
