Keywords is exactly Basrah
Archival Materials

Correspondence among Jewish Community Committees

IJA Number: 1048 · Language: Multiple Languages

These are documents from the Baghdadi Jewish community. There is a letter from the British Military Governor for the allotment of lambs for the Jewish New Year 1918. Included are various correspondences: what students should bring to the Rabbinical College in Rhodes, Greece; verifications of birth certificates; letter and reply to the Jewish Lay Council from the Institute for the Blind to report its budget for 1934; letter from the Girls Sewing Charitable Society that lists its budget for 1934; letter from the head of Ozer Dalim Society to the President of the Jewish community regarding charity; 1933-1934 budget for Tomkhe Tora Society in Baghdad; letter from Chief Rabbi Benjamin Moshi; letter from the budget council of the Jewish Lay Council to all accountants in the Jewish community regarding decisions and instructions on budgets for 1934; letter from an accountant addressed to the head of the budget council regarding annual budget for 1934 - expenses, property tax, Jewish schools, wages for retired and needy people; spreadsheets containing expenses and revenues of the belongings of the Jewish community - hospitals, Morashi and education institutes; letter to a military figure asking for the release of six named war prisoners in 1919; letter from a legal codification department requesting deputy rabbi to look into a divorce subject to the rabbinical system in 1929; letters about a legal case of a woman claiming the right to collect her deceased husband's allowance, arguments stating she was divorced before he died; letter to the Lay Council concerning a house contract and a settlement; letter from the administration office of the Jewish community to a tenant regarding money for leasing a house; letter from the President of the Jewish community addressed to Iraqi government and Council of Ministers urging them to help distressed victims that were subjected to a catastrophic burglary and damage to their properties and shops, a total of 2731 families; letters to the Jewish Schools Committee regarding decreasing wages, transfers, retirements, sale of school belongings, requests interpretation of some amount to be reported, decrees and increases of allocated money; 1100 new students and their requirements from Jewish community funds; school debts and a copy of the annual budget; a teacher requests a teaching job in Almedrash School or any Jewish school in Baghdad appended by recommendation to the head of the Jewish Lay Council; request to make changes on class schedules and other educational arrangements. Correspondences from community members to the President of the Jewish Community regarding personal issues: help to finding relatives; dispute on a dowry issue; burials; a teacher requests a financial reward for 32 years of working in Midrash Talmud Torah, requests to continue to receive a retirement allowance of deceased husband; letter to Rabbi Sassoon Khedouri from a member of the Supreme Court requesting an additional salary for some extra work he does to help him financially; letter from workers requesting salary increases to the President of the Jewish Butchery; list of thirty names of needy and retired people whose allowances were decided upon by the Jewish Lay Council and approved by General Council. Also included are issues of the Iraqi Chronicle in 1973 on the nationalization of Exxon and Mobil Oil companies.

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Archival Materials

President of the Baghdadi Jewish Community, Personal and Communal Documents

IJA Number: 3077 · Language: Multiple Languages

These documents contain correspondence, mostly on a personal level, of the President of the Jewish Community in Baghdad. Included are requests for a telephone to be installed in a school, teacher labor issues, student transfers, receipts and invoices, thank you notes and condolences to members of the Jewish Diaspora in Europe, America, and the Middle East. The documents include an excerpt from the 1945 edition of the Biographical Encyclopedia of the World, featuring the president of the Jewish community of Baghdad, Sassoon Khedouri; a license to import one Chevrolet car from the U.S.; a wedding invitation; and several business cards of foreign dignitaries.

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Fragments

Fragments

IJA Number: 3172 · Language: Multiple Languages

These are groups of fragments of pages from books and archival documents. Included are revenue stamps and parts of two archival documents: a chart in Arabic and a letter from the British government.

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Archival Materials

Verification Certificates, Correspondence, Baghdadi Jewish Community

IJA Number: 3748 · Language: Multiple Languages

These are documents from the Baghdadi Jewish community. Included are certificates for birth, engagement, marriage, divorce, and death of community members. There is correspondence from the President of the Jewish Community regarding financial hardships, marriage disputes, medical assistance needs and travel for medical treatment, and confirmations of character, identity or citizenship. There are also documents confirming religious education and births in other countries including Austria, Greece, and Romania. Birth certificates verifying birth dates go as far back as the 1870s.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence from the Ministry of the Interior Regarding the Turkish Government and the British Embassy

IJA Number: 2194 · Language: Arabic

This is collected correspondence in a file folder from 1985 titled “Bulletin Condemning the Turkish Government's Policy with the Arabs”; the records themselves are from the early 1940s. They include a letter from the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior regarding flyers distributed in Mosul province condemning the Turkish government’s policy toward the Arabs and requests the Director of Mosul police to go after the distributors by mixing with students and reporting on them; a letter from the Directorate of Basrah to the Ministry of the Interior regarding the destruction of the logo sign of the British Embassy in Basrah by an Iranian individual assumed to have mental illness and sentenced to three months in prison; a letter from the British Embassy to the press attaché regarding pamphlets being sent to the office; a file folder from 1985 houses the records although the records themselves are from the early 1940s.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Regarding Court Cases

IJA Number: 2093 · Language: Arabic

These are archival documents from the Iraqi government and include correspondence between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iranian officials, and various government offices confirming several individual's identities, citizenship and family lineage regarding legal status in criminal court cases (1933-1938). There is one unrelated document, from 1919, from a British military official concerning the British Club in Basrah.

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Archival Materials

Telegrams To and From Nazih al-Swaid Co., Ltd

IJA Number: 3780 · Language: Multiple Languages

This is a group of telegrams about business transactions, including travel plans and financial confirmations. Most seem to be from the same company, the Nazih al-Swaid Co., Ltd., and include information about sugar transactions, oil, financial transactions, and construction plans. Many offer well wishes for the new years and holidays and concerns of health of family members and business partners. The travel plans include when someone is arriving in a city (which flight or train) and what hotel that person is staying at or if travel arrangements need to be made. The correspondence is to and from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities (Basrah, Mosul, Kirkuk), cities in Germany (Dusseldorf, Cologne), Teheran (Iran), Istanbul, London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, cities in Italy (Rome), Switzerland, New York, Los Angeles, Beirut (Lebanon), Damascus (Syria), Saudi Arabia, Tripoli (Libya) and Amman (Jordan). Telegrams are in English, Arabic, French, and German.

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Archival Materials

Official Letters to Jewish Organizations and Government Office, President of the Jewish Community

IJA Number: 3764 · Language: Multiple Languages

These are archival documents from the Baghdadi Jewish Community. They include correspondence from the President of the Jewish Community in Baghdad to Jewish community presidents in Sulaymaniyah, Irbil, Mosul, Basrah, Kirkuk, Fallujah, regarding condolences, regulations, hospitals, permits, religious dietary laws, smallpox, distributions to the poor, employment and unemployment, financial settlements, legal settlements, charitable donations and requests for documentation. There is also correspondence with various government and community organizations including the Office of Information – Mosul; National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iraq; The British Bank of Iran; Office of the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain; Chevrolet; Iraqi Red Crescent Society; The Society for Improving the Conditions of the Blind in Iraq; French Ambassador in Iraq; The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China; The Great Synagogue of Baghdad; and the President of the Catholic Diaspora. The item also includes the newspapers: الزمان (Al-Zamān), Issue #4764 from May 1, 1953; and الحوادث (Al-Ḥawādth), Issue #3096 from 1953.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence from Baghdadi Jewish Community Including Legal Issues (Marriage, Inheritance, Endowments), Financial Matters, School Administration

IJA Number: 3712 · Language: Arabic

These are archival documents from the Baghdadi Jewish Community. They contain requests for community records and residency confirmations; wire transfers; correspondence regarding the adoption of Jewish laws in the Diaspora; communication from the Ambassador of Iraq in Rabat regarding Moroccan officials requesting information on laws applicable to the Iraqi Jewish community (customary laws pertaining to marriage, inheritance, etc.); legal agreements for engagement and marriage; requests for marriage confirmations, death certificates; employment separations; lawsuit regarding the management of an endowment; repairs to school buildings; correspondence regarding sending sefarim (Jewish religious books) to New York; letters referencing the Law of Acquisitions, 43/1934; discussions about tearing down or rebuilding a wall; invoices and accounting information from the Ezra Menahem Daniel Sports-Ground Committee; school administration; requests for vaccines; property laws; deeds; the administration of scholarships; announcements about community meetings and ceremonies; requests for food provisions for prisoners during the holidays; and requests for clarification of laws in conflict with the interim constitution of 1958. These documents reflect the Baghdadi Jewish community's name change to the Mosaic community.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence about Anti-Jewish Sentiments, Education Information; Statement Condemning Zionism

IJA Number: 3785 · Language: Arabic

Included in this item are correspondence from the Baghdadi Jewish community to the Iraqi and British governments concerning increasing anti-Jewish and sectarian harassment experienced by community members, correspondence signed by Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, and summaries of the Jewish Daily Post. This item also contains documents describing the arrest of individuals, restrictions on movement, and a violent attack on the Jewish residents of a village near Mosul in early 1941. Also in the documents are: newspaper clippings announcing students accepted into different institutions of higher education; a section of a 1948 newspaper with articles pertaining to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948; documents discussing education issues, such as Baghdadi Jewish students encountering difficulty in being accepted to certain state schools and failing tests at an unusually high rate, enrollment rates in schools, and teachers at Jewish schools suspected of propagating Zionism; a file folder with a student record, photograph, doctor’s notes, and examination results; a statement condemning Zionism signed by several prominent members of the Baghdadi Jewish community addressed to the Secretary of the League of Nations, Geneva.

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Archival Materials

Arranging Travel for Operation Ezra & Nehemiah; Issues Pertaining to Jews Abrogating Citizenship

IJA Number: 3699 · Language: Multiple Languages

These are archival documents from the Baghdadi Jewish community. This item contains documents and correspondences pertaining to Baghdadi Jews abrogating their Iraqi citizenship in order to travel abroad. Included is an offer from a travel company about arranging transportation for the airlift of Iraqi Jews from Iraq to Israel (Operation Ezra and Nehemiah), complaints to the Iraqi government concerning police interference with Jews traveling, announcements to the Baghdadi Jewish community about opportunities to learn more about the citizenship laws and to forfeit citizenship, and correspondence between the government and the Jewish community concerning citizens who desire to forfeit their citizenship but have complicated circumstances. The item also contains letters in Judeo-Arabic, many which include community members' names.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence between President of Baghdadi Jewish Community and Iraqi Government

IJA Number: 1546 · Language: Arabic

These documents contain correspondence between the Iraqi government and the President of the Jewish community regarding individuals within the Baghdadi Jewish community. There is also internal government correspondence between departments. Contents include: verification of religion, citizenship, addresses, death, student attendance, names of heirs, and physical exam forms. This item also contains correspondence between the Iraqi Jewish community and the Iraqi government concerning the maintenance of properties owned by the community. These documents reflect the Baghdadi Jewish community's name change to the Mosaic community.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence between the President of the Jewish Community, Jewish Religious Court

IJA Number: 3713 · Language: Multiple Languages

This is correspondence between the President of the Jewish Community, the Jewish Religious Court, Iraqi government departments, and public and private employers regarding salaries, legal cases, payments, receipts and invoices.

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Archival Materials

Correspondence between Iraqi Government and Jewish Community – Citizenship Issues; Financial Matters; New Community Leaders

IJA Number: 2747 · Language: Arabic

These are archival materials from the Baghdadi Jewish community containing correspondence from the Administrative Committee for Iraqi Jews and the President of the Jewish Community. It includes: letters to and from the Minister of Justice concerning the death of Rabbi Sassoon Khedouri; requests for assistance from community members; elections for the Jewish community council; donation of Torahs to the Ministry of Justice’s library upon request; letters to and from the General Organization for Housing regarding the Jewish cemetery; correspondence with the Secretary of Frozen Funds regarding: the sale of frozen shares in the Times publishing company; shareholders with revoked nationality; company liquidation; and debt repayment; correspondence with the Revolutionary Command Council including letters to Saddam Hussein, then Deputy of the Revolutionary Command Council, regarding complaints about the seizure of property revenues and confiscation of a bank account belonging to Iraqi Jews; correspondence with the Director of Public Security regarding new citizenship laws; correspondence with the president of the Alliance of Non-Zionist Jews in Canada regarding his visit to Iraq; and correspondence to the United Nations, expressing the Iraqi Jewish community’s loyalty to Iraq. There is also a request to the Ministry of Information for Assyrian, Sabean, Yazidi, and Jewish holidays to be included in the annual calendar; a letter from the General Broadcasting and Television Office regarding the film, Man of Peace; a letter regarding the gift of Torah scrolls to the Jewish communities in England and Sweden; a letter to Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (President of Iraq), complaining of the continuation of discrimination against Jews in spite of the decree to treat Iraqi Jews equally as Iraqi citizens; letters to the Ministry of the Interior regarding the freezing of bank accounts; permission to sell properties; the confiscation of a synagogue in Basrah; maintaining and revocation of Iraqi nationality; and a list of community members eligible to serve on the administrative council. There are also copies of the Iraqi Gazette from 1958, 1961 and 1973.

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Archival Materials

Arabic Newspaper Clippings Regarding Jews Emigrating from Iraq

IJA Number: 2746 · Language: Arabic

This is a collection of newspaper clippings in Arabic. Articles include content such as: Anti-Jewish themes; the Iraqi government's response to Jewish emigration; Jews in Muslim and/or Arab countries; citizenship laws and the abrogation of citizenship; Zionism; Anti-Jewish legislation. The newspapers are: النباء (Al-Nabā’); الامة (Al-‘Umma); الحصون (Al-Ḥaṣūn); اليقظة (Al-Yaqaẓa/Al-Yaqẓa); الدخبار (Al-Dakhbār); لواء الاستقلال (Lawā’ Al-Istiqlāl); الزمان (Al-Zamān); الحواداث (Al-Ḥawādth); الدفة (Al-Dafah); الاخبار (Al-Akbār); النهار (Al-Nahār); الفخ (Al-Fakh); الاراء (Al-Arā’)

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