Baghdad opens first museum of Iraqi Jewish history — Jerusalem Post

Baghdad opened Iraq’s first museum entirely dedicated to the history of the country’s Jewish community this weekend. The Shamash Jewish Museum began operating on Al-Rashid Street in the building of the historic Shamash School, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The school was founded by the Jewish community in 1928, and by 1939 it had 900 students. The school had not operated in this building since 1951, although the institution itself continued operating elsewhere until around 1973.

Exhibits and visitors

The museum displays official documents, old school records and academic certificates belonging to families and students who lived in Baghdad. The exhibition also includes family photographs, traditional clothing, household utensils and religious items. Permanent screens show recorded interviews and audiovisual materials featuring testimonies and stories from community members.

Local media reported that more than a thousand people visited the museum on its first day of operation.

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A community that has almost disappeared

Today, an estimated four to six Jews remain in Baghdad, while around 50 Jewish families live in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq’s Jewish community has a history of more than 2,500 years, dating back to the Babylonian exile. At the beginning of the 20th century, Jews made up nearly a quarter of Baghdad’s population, and before the Farhud pogrom of 1941, their number in the country was estimated at 100,000–150,000 people.

In 1950–1951, around 120,000 Iraqi Jews left for Israel as part of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. The legally recognized Administrative Committee of Iraqi Jews, headed by Khalida Eliyahu, handles the community’s financial affairs, including property and religious funds.

The American nonprofit organization JIMENA, which works with Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the restoration of the school but raised the issue of preserving a Jewish school that, in the organization’s wording, Jews cannot visit. JIMENA said that preserving heritage without the participation of the descendants of these families could turn into a display of Jewish absence rather than a restoration of Jewish presence.