Sami Sourani was born in Baghdad on April 14, 1934. He was born into a Jewish family in a country where Jews had resided for thousands of years. Sami provides here an overview of Iraqi history, weaving his personal story into the narrative. The time period during and after World War Two was a dark one though, and Iraqi Jews were forced out in 1950-1951. During the war, there was a pro-Nazi regime, and his family did their best to shelter him. All Jewish homes were identified with a painted red sign, a prelude to the terrible events of the Farhud, where many Iraqi Jews were murdered in a massacre that mirrored the early events of the Shoah. After those events, the British took over and removed the pro-Nazi regime, bringing about a measure of stability. After the war the partition of Palestine brought renewed conflict, and Sami’s family left Baghdad in 1950 via Cyprus to Israel. Sami recalled that in moving his family gave up everything and did not even save any documents or photos out of fear of reprisal. On arrival in Israel, Sami’s family lived in a refugee tent city and adapted to their new life, which Sami remembered as difficult. Sami lived in Israel until his emigration to Montreal, Canada in 1963. He worked for a survey company as a statistician, after which he took a job with the federal government in Ottawa as Chief Statistician for the Department of Defense Production. Sami remarked that “history is a hobby” and that “there is a message in every event”; the story of Iraqi Jews is not a well-known one, and Sami believes we can all benefit and learn from one another. Sami Sourani was interviewed over zoom by Crestwood students in May 2024.
