I made this slideshow to link to MEMORIES OF EDEN, the book Mira and I edited based on the reminiscences of her mother, sent to us in note form over a period of 20 years. Website: http://www.memoriesofeden.com Blog: http://memoriesofeden.wordpress.com

1. Iraq

3. A journey through…

4. …old Baghdad

5. My mother
lived in this remarkable
place at a remarkable time

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

8. Water from the river was supplied by sakka with goatskins

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

10. Street barbers were much in demand despite the lack of privacy

11. Bread and drinks for sale

12. Kebab seller, Rashid Street

13. Porters were capable of carrying incredible loads

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

16. The Jewish community
was the oldest in
the world. It formed
40%
of the population
of Baghdad
Source: OTTOMAN YEARBOOK, 1917

17. The Ancient World
ROUTE OF ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS
(Early 2nd Millennium B.C.)

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

19. ‘JUDEN-VIERTEL’ The Jewish Quarter

20. The city

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

22. Shanaashiil loggias projected over the streets and riverbank

26. Rashid Street

27. Café life formed the centre of the business world for men

30. Taxi! Arabaaaana!!

31. Omnibus

33. On the Tigris

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

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

41. This is firewood

42. Melons

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

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

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

46. At home

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

48. Baba: Menashe Ishayak Nana: Khatoon Ishayek

49. OLD CITY
• THE NEW
HOME
It was two hours from the old city

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

51. VIOLETTE WROTE:
‘It seemed as if we were flying on a magic
carpet alongside the songbirds that
nested there and filled the air with musical
notes of incredible beauty.
‘We were, after all, in the land of
the Garden of Eden.’

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

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

54. The kabeshkaan, where Pessah items were stored out of reach

55. Family life
Paintings by ELI SAWDAYEE

56. Making sherbets, in various fruit flavours

57. Making silaan date
syrup

58. The ‘titipampa’ mattress-fluffer at work

59. Making rose-water with an alembic still

60. The delicate art of depilation

61. Preparing for Yom Kippur: the kappara and the shohet

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

63. School

64. L’Alliance Israélite Universelle

66. Violette’s teachers
Sett Farah and
Mme. Sabagh
(seated, front row)
Alliance teaching staff

67. Markets

76. 1920-1940

77. The Mandates, 1920
The Mandates, 1920
FRANCE GREAT BRITAIN
S YY R AA
S RII
BAGHDAD
P A LL E S T N N E
PA ESTI I E
Palestine
Transjordan
Palestine TransjordNn IRAQ
IRAQ
The Modern World
THE COLONIAL DIVISION OF SPOILS
(Early 20th Century A.D.)

78. British troops entered Baghdad in 1917 after defeating the Turks

79. In 1921 the Mandate was proclaimed

81. Britain’s top diplomat, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis

82. Prince Faisal

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

84. The new king

85. Faisal with leading members of the Jewish community

86. Important supplies arrive

87. Drive on the Left!

88. The city was growing and expanding

89. Imperial Airways began regular flights

90. The British were clearly expecting a long stay

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

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

93. 1932: the Mandate ends and an ‘independent’ Iraq joins the League of Nations

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

96. 1933: Violette (left) and sister Daisy visit Palestine

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

98. Jewish musicians from Baghdad Radio, in the 1930’s

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

100. Violette inside the qasr

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

102. Violette with her future husband, David

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

104. Violette with Baba and Nana in the garden of the qasr

105. Country life

107. Basra

109. Babylon: a British officer surveys the ruins

110. British soldiers astride the Great Lion of Babylon, 1921

111. Al-Kifil: the tomb of Nabi Hesqeil

112. Kerbala

113. Kadhimain

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

115. 1941

116. 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

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

118. MAY
The black month of Rashid Ali
Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

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

121. The Iraqis strike back, helped by the Luftwaffe

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

123. Moving on

124. Rashid Street in the post-war years

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

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

127. GREEN ZONE
• SITE OF THE QASR
Baghdad today

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

129. As it must have looked during demolition

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

131. ‘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.

132. ‘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

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

134. V.S. 1912-2006

135. Paintings courtesy of
Eli Sawdayee, Nilesh Mistry and Lorna Selim

136. www.memoriesofeden.com
www.memoriesofeden.wordpress.com
© 2012 Mira & Tony Rocca