Beautiful Baghdad

IraqIraq

A journey through…

…old Baghdad

My mother

lived in this remarkableplace at a remarkable time

A hundred years ago the scene had hardly changed since Biblical times

Water from the river was supplied by sakka with goatskins

Country women carried stacks of yogurt to sell in the city’s markets

Street barbers were much in demand despite the lack of privacy

Bread and drinks for sale

Kebab seller, Rashid Street

Porters were capable of carrying incredible loads

When Violette was born, in 1912, Mesopotamia had been part of the Turkish OttomanEmpire for almost 400 years.

The Jewish communitywas the oldest in the world. It formed

40%of the populationof Baghdad

Source: OTTOMAN YEARBOOK, 1917

The Ancient WorldROUTE OF ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS

(Early 2nd Millennium B.C.)

Muslims, Christians and Jews lived peaceably together in this old Eden.

‘JUDEN-VIERTEL’ The Jewish Quarter

The city

Inside the Great Synagogue, dating from the 5th century B.C.

Shanaashiil loggias projected over the streets and riverbank

Rashid Street

Café life formed the centre of the business world for men

Taxi! Arabaaaana!!

Omnibus

On the Tigris

A sfeenee barge bringing cargo upriver from Basra PHOTO by GERTRUDE BELL

A guffa, the type of coracle in daily use for transporting everything

This is firewood

Melons

There was only one crossing point on the river: a bridge made of boats

The bridge also spanned the centuries: from 1458 (left) to 1920 A Persian miniature, now in the British Library

It was given the name Maude Bridge in 1918 after the British army chief Sir Stanley Maude

At home

Baba was the first merchant to build a qasr (‘castle’ or ‘palace’) on the banks of the Tigris

Baba: Menashe Ishayak Nana: Khatoon Ishayek

OLD CITY

• THE NEW

HOME

It was two hours from the old city

After the crowded city, the children thought they were in paradise

VIOLETTE WROTE:

‘It seemed as if we were flying on a magiccarpet alongside the songbirds thatnested there and filled the air with musicalnotes of incredible beauty.

‘We were, after all, in the land ofthe Garden of Eden.’

Violette’s grandparents, Heskel and Ghalla A 19th century engraving from their time

Inside a qasr: a typical courtyard, with taraar cloisters beneath tarma balconies

The kabeshkaan, where Pessah items were stored out of reach

Family life

Paintings by ELI SAWDAYEE

Making sherbets, in various fruit flavours

Making silaan date syrup

The ‘titipampa’ mattress-fluffer at work

Making rose-water with an alembic still

The delicate art of depilation

Preparing for Yom Kippur: the kappara and the shohet

‘Saturday of the Ladies’: an excuse to go visiting

School

L’Alliance Israélite Universelle

Alliance teaching staff

Violette’s teachers Sett Farah andMme. Sabagh(seated, front row)

Markets

1920-1940

The Mandates, 1920

S Y R I A

P A L E S T I N E

I R A QPalestine TransjordNn

FRANCE GREAT BRITAIN

The Mandates, 1920

S Y R I A

P A L E S T I N E

I R A Q

BAGHDAD

Palestine Transjordan

The Modern WorldTHE COLONIAL DIVISION OF SPOILS(Early 20th Century A.D.)

British troops entered Baghdad in 1917 after defeating the Turks

In 1921 the Mandate was proclaimed

Britain’s top diplomat, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis

Prince Faisal

Faisal’s coronation, with British officials in proud attendance (Cornwallis, left)

The new king

Faisal with leading members of the Jewish community

Important supplies arrive

Drive on the Left!

The city was growing and expanding

Imperial Airways began regular flights

The British were clearly expecting a long stay

In fact the Hunt continued until 1955, long after they had left!

The Nairn desert bus enroute to Palestine, with sister Fahima (1931)

1932: the Mandate ends and an ‘independent’ Iraq joins the League of Nations

American cars were available, but the old bridge looked just the same in 1932

1933: Violette (left) and sister Daisy visit Palestine

Back in Baghdad, social clubs (naadi) and the cinema became popular

Jewish musicians from Baghdad Radio, in the 1930’s

Women adopted western dress at home but often wore the abaaya to go out (Violette, right)

Violette inside the qasr

There were picnics such as this one to Hilla, suffering from a water shortage

Violette with her future husband, David

David’s father, Shm’oon, wearing the sidaara

Violette with Baba and Nana in the garden of the qasr

Country life

Basra

Babylon: a British officer surveys the ruins

British soldiers astride the Great Lion of Babylon, 1921

Al-Kifil: the tomb of Nabi Hesqeil

Kerbala

Kadhimain

Oil streams to the surface in northern Iraq, possibly near Kirkuk

1941

Haj Amin el-Huseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and friend of Hitler, inspecting SS stormtroops after fleeing Iraq disguised as a woman

From a German magazine cover

Hitler Youth, Iraqi style, commanded by the Mufti and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

MAY

The black month of Rashid Ali

Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

Whipped up by the Mufti and the German ambassador, the mob takes to the streets

The Iraqis strike back, helped by the Luftwaffe

June 1: Ambassador Cornwallis and the British army commander, Maj.-Gen. George Clark

Moving on

Rashid Street in the post-war years

In all the heat people still slept on rooftops, even downtown on Rashid Street

Boys still flew their kites from there, just as they did in Violette’s day

G R E E N Z O N E

• SITE OF THE QASR

Baghdad today

The qasr was demolished and a new hotel, the Babylon, was built in its place

As it must have looked during demolition

It is directly across the river from the new U.S.Embassy, top left (right, the reverse view)

‘Our Baghdad, my Baghdad, is gone for ever. I just wonder if the new builders found the treasure that Baba placed in the foundations of the qasr, on the right-hand side under the mezuza for good luck at the front door.

‘He told us about it in great secrecy: it was an amphora of gold coins with a letter in ancient Hebrew that he himself had buried at night after the masons had gone home, walling it in with bricks in the morning.’

VIOLETTE SHAMASH

When Violette was born, two-fifths of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. Today the number of survivors can be counted on two hands.

V.S. 1912-2006

Paintings courtesy of

Eli Sawdayee, Nilesh Mistry and Lorna Selim

www.memoriesofeden.comwww.memoriesofeden.wordpress.com

© 2012 Mira & Tony Rocca