Israel marked on Monday the Farhud pogrom that took place 85 years ago to the day, shattering the Jewish community in Baghdad.
The two-day pogrom that started on June 1, 1941, unfolded with the collapse of the pro-Nazi government of Iraq.
Arab mobs murdered, assaulted and looted Jews, killing more than 180 people, wounded 1,000 more and destroying some 900 homes.
Some sources, such as the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, a museum and research center in Or Yehuda, central Israel, estimate the death toll at between 600 and 1,000 when unrecorded casualties and mass grave burials are taken into account.
The riots erupted after the quick defeat of Iraqi forces by the British, with conspiracies spreading that the Jewish community—one of the oldest in the world—had assisted the British.
Israel’s official account on X commemorated the victims of the pogrom, saying that the Farhud “became a symbol of the persecution faced by Jewish communities across the Middle East.”
85 years ago, the Farhud pogrom shattered one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) June 1, 2026
In June 1941, mobs in Baghdad brutally attacked, murdered, assaulted, and looted Jews simply for being Jewish. The Farhud was not only a tragedy for Iraqi Jewry - it became a symbol of… pic.twitter.com/iRapprvmfz
