The Farhud

Part Two of The Current

The Farhud - Steven Acre

We start this segment with the Ten Commandments being recited in Judaism's Babylonian tradition. Today is Shavuot, the holiday commemorating the day its believed God gave Moses the laws on Mount Sinai. But for the former Jews of Baghdad, it is hardly a day for celebrations.

Steven Acre remembers this time well from seventy years ago. He was just nine years old when racial attacks broke out in the Iraqi capital in an event known as the Farhud. The massacre marked the beginning of the end of 2600 hundred years of Jewish history in Iraq. Today Steven Acre lives in Montreal and that is where we reached him.

Last year, investigative reporter Edwin Black wrote about those two bloody days seventy years ago in his book The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust. We reached him in Melbourne, Australia.

The Farhud - Tony Rocca

Tony Rocca immersed himself in the story of Iraq's Jews when he researched and edited the book Memories of Eden: A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad. He is a former features writer for the Sunday Times of London. Tony Rocca joined us from London, England.

Related Links:

• Recounting 'Farhud' that ended 2,400 years of Iraqi Jewry BySarah Erlich - The Jerusalem Post
• When Iraq had its Kristallnacht By Sarah Ehrlich - The Jewish Chronicle

Other segments from today's show:

• Rotating Postal Strike
• Dandelions