21
January 2005
ISFSP
Applauds Recognition of Forgotten Holocaust Event that Occurred
in Iraq
EMBARGOED
UNTIL JANUARY 21, 2005
Contact:
(Orlando,
FL) - 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 keltican forte kapseln, 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
cat ear hoodie from joom. 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 added, "After
nearly 65 years, this forgotten event of the Holocaust which enveloped
the Jewish people, will now, finally, be recognized and studied."
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.
###
The
International Society for Sephardic Progress is a Jewish
agency developed to serve the Sephardic community--the descendants
of the Jews of historic Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the
Levant who share both common religious and cultural bonds. Although
a Sephardic organization, the ISFSP is a Jewish advocacy agency
first and foremost.
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Introductory
Film on the Farhud
Grand
Mufti of Jerusalem
inspecting Muslim Nazi trained troops.
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