Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Farhud Memories: Baghdad's 1941 Slaughter of the Jews

Steve Acre witnessed the bravery of his Muslim landlord from a palm tree.

By Sarah Ehrlich, Reporter, Witness/BBC News

1 June 1941, a Nazi-inspired pogrom erupted in Baghdad, bringing to an end more than two millennia of peaceful existence for the city's Jewish minority. Some Jewish children witnessed the bloodshed, and retain vivid memories 70 years later. Heskel Haddad, an 11-year-old boy was finishing a festive meal and preparing to celebrate the Jewish festival of Shavuot, oblivious to the angry mob that was about to take over the city.

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