Jewish Organization Applauds Recognition of Forgotten Holocaust Event that Occurred in Iraq
Jewish organization applauds both The Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and the California State University for recognizing the Farhud, an event that was the culmination of the Hitler-Arab Axis to destroy the Iraqi Jews.
(PRWEB) January 21, 2005 -- Two California Holocaust organizations have
jointly announced that henceforth they will recognize “the Farhud” against Iraqi
Jewry as a Holocaust-era pogrom that needs to be taught in future Holocaust and
genocidal education programs and be explored in Holocaust museum exhibits, noted
Shelomo Alfassa, executive director of the International Society for Sephardic
Progress.
The two California institutions taking the lead in recognizing
the Farhud are the State of California Center for Excellence on the Study of the
Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights, and Tolerance and the Los Angeles Museum of
the Holocaust. The two organizations made their joint announcement January 21,
2005 at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in press conference supported by
other institutions across the country, called upon all Holocaust educators and
museums worldwide to do likewise.
“The Farhud” was the vicious June 1,
1941 pogrom against Iraqi Jews, launched in conjunction with an Iraqi-Nazi
alliance. Hundreds of Iraqi Jews were killed, maimed and raped, as their homes
and businesses were torched and looted during a 48-hour pogrom. The forgotten
Farhud was the result of an Arab-Nazi axis, organized by the Mufti of Jerusalem
while headquartered in Baghdad, which traded Iraqi oil for Hitler’s invasion of
Russia in exchange for the annihilation of Jews in Palestine and Eastern Europe.
The turning point incident was the beginning of the end of the Iraqi Jewish
Community, which thrived for 2,600 years. Within a decade some 120,000, all but
a few thousand, were expelled to Israel. “The Farhud,” in Arabic means “violent
dispossession.”
Memory of the Farhud was resurrected by the recent
award-winning book 'Banking on Baghdad' by Edwin Black, and by his many
associated articles and lectures around the country. The result was the Farhud
Recognition Project launched by Sephardic Jewish groups and Holocaust
organizations.
In the coming week, Black will speak on the Farhud at an
Iraqi Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles, as well as other Jewish congregations and
university campuses in California, and the nation’s largest Holocaust museum,
the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center.
“We are grateful to Edwin Black
for telling the world what happened to this important Jewish community, and for
documenting how Hitler’s Holocaust was not confined to Europe but was intended
as a world war against the Jews,” stated Alfassa.
He continued, “After
nearly 65 years, this forgotten event of the Holocaust which enveloped the
Jewish people, will now—finally—be recognized and studied,” added
Alfassa.
The ISFSP welcomes the statement of the two California based
institutions, and looks forward to other organizations and institutions coming
forward to do the same and join the Farhud Recognition Project.
Persons
wanting to learn more about the Farhud can visit the Farhud Recognition Project
at www.farhud.org or Black’s
website at www.bankingonbaghdad.com.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb199253.htm