The Preservation of Jewish Languages and Cultures in memory of Hayyim (Marani) Trabelsy
In memory of Perla and Mordechai Nagad Z"L
In memory of Perla and Mordechai Nagad Z"L
In memory of my parents, Victoria and Meʾir ʿAbeda
The recording took place at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
In memory of my son Victor and my husband Eliyahu Latif, who was a prisoner of Zion in Iraq
The recording took place at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
In memory of my son Victor and my husband Latif Eliyahu, who was a prisoner of Zion in Iraq
Recorded in collaboration with the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
In memory of my parents, Victoria and Mʾeir ʿAbeda
The recording took place at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
In memory of my sister Janet and my mother Najia Rabiʿa, Z"L
A: So they were not (involved) in… smuggling… the people
B: They didn't take money. They (just) assisted.
A: They assisted, yes
B: Yes. Anyone who wanted… they arranged a way (out) for him.
A: It's a pity that they were caught. It's a pity that they were caught.
B: Yes. That (smuggling from) Baṣġa was a disaster. A: How terrible was Baṣġa and its
B: I… I knew more or less all these boys. I used to go to my sister Widād. She was married (and lived) there. I used to go. They were all my age
A: Oh no! B: All of them were the same… age of mine. So
A: The one that they killed by hanging, a boy, they said (he was) 16 years old
B: This… Dawūd Ġāli, 1 Refers to Iraqi Jews that cooperated with the Jewish Agency and assisted Jews in being smuggled out of Iraq through the Iranian border. 2 Refers to 9 Jewish boys that were caught while trying to escape out of Iraq and were hung in Baghdad on January 27th 1969. (was) our neighbor. The other Dawūd, he…
.A: How many boys did they kill by hanging in Baṣġa? From the boys, They said that only one boy
C: No! How come only one boy? B: No! How come one? Six (or) seven. A: From the… from the Jews
B: Six (or) seve… Yes! C: Yes! What (did you think) then
B: Six (or) seven. (coffee is brought to the participants
D: This coffee didn't turn out good. You confused us with the talking and it boiled
C: What's that? D: The coffee. (back to the subject
A: (Just) a second! B: They had killed six (or) seven by hangin
A: Jews
B: Jews. They were eleven. Eleven (who were) hung at the same day. and I, I got out of the… at night we heard the… They said they are killing them by hanging. A: How terrible is !that /B: There was… a trial. Ok, I had… I had (to go to) my college. We lived in Masbaḥ, I had to go to Bāb ᵊl-Mˁad̠̟d̠̟am
A: I… (but) We are talking about Baṣġa. B: They hung them in Baghdad, In Sāḥǝt ᵊl-Taḥrīr
A: They brought Nāǧi Zǝlxa to Baghdad? B: They hung all of them in Sāḥǝt ᵊl-Taḥrīr. (Did you think) Otherwise
C: Yes. (Did you think) Otherwise? All of them. A: Not in Baṣġa? B: Which Baṣġa? (Rhetorically
C: No! A: Oh I wish their heads would come off! Oh let their name be erased
C: All of them in Baghdad. B: So I took one of these service taxis. I got out of the house I took a service taxi, (and) went to the college. I didn't know! How could I know? I saw that the streets look different. The people are troubled and so on. I got till Sāhǝt ᵊt-Taḥrīr. And I saw them hung in front of me
A: Oh no! (Literally: grief
B: Ok. I wouldn't go to the college anymore. (Rhetorically: who will go to the college anymore?) (Said to the taxi driver:) please let me get down! I got off, I made a turn from Sāhǝt ᵊt-Taḥrīr, (and) I went through Nid̠̟āl street, not through Saˁadūn street. I walked on Nid̠̟āl street and I went back, I went to Xālda's at the time.
Translation is provided by courtesy of Dr. Assaf Bar-Moshe
The recording took place at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda
I will tell you another funny story. The main thing is…after two, three hours ago I was able to arrive…to that…the person who had a phone. I said to him, “how are you?”. He said to me “take a taxi”. I wasn’t used to that. In Baghdad, if someone came from overseas, (would anyone say to them) “take a taxi”? And everything you will find…and I have about two hundred dinars. For a cucumber of this (small) length was (cost) ten pence. We (could) buy fifteen kilos of that in Baghdad! The main thing is, I got to his place. I got to his place…a little after 1967, in the 1970s. As soon as he opened (the door), (he had) a Star of David (necklace) like this (on his chest). Okay? I stared and stopped. He said to me, “I was, you know, in Manchester. This is my girlfriend.” Girlfriend? How (what do you mean) girlfriend? My girlfriend? (Seemingly addressing someone in the room) Just a minute. I said to him - he said to me, “what do you want…what do you want to drink?”. I said to him, “tea”. Okay? I said to him “tea”. This person brought a glass of water and dangled some type of thing and put it…in the glass. I said to him, “what is this?”. He said to me, “this is called a ‘teabag’”.
