At the same time as European Jews were being marched off to the concentration camps, the historic community of Baghdad was suffering at the hands of a pro-Hitler regime.
It was Shavuot, around 3 o clock in the afternoon, when a mob attacked the Jewish community – at the time 150,000 strong. What began was one of the most horrific episodes in Jewish history, and certainly a sign of the beginning of the end for Jews in Arab lands.
Thousands were injured and hundreds killed during the brutal riots, while hundreds of houses were destroyed. The attack came nine years after Iraq won a quasi-independence from the British and a few weeks after the country's ruler was deposed in favour of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and his Golden Square cohorts.
Al-Gaylani was a friend of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and a man with strong Nazi sympathies. But very soon, his plan to weaken the British presence in the city backfired, and he was forced to flee on May 30.
