Conclusion

Abstract

This collection of personal histories has sketched the story of how a vibrant community of nearly 140,000 in the years before the mass exodus with a 2,500-year history in Babylonia lived, struggled against oppression, and finally left, most with almost nothing. At Iraq’s birth in the 1920s, the country’s Jews helped build the foundations of Iraqi society. They made music, treated the sick, taught in universities, published newspapers, participated in the civilian government, and traded goods. Some ventured to the Far East where they made fortunes and established schools, hospitals, and jobs.