FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2015
National Archives and Records Administration’s Exhibition on Iraqi Jewry
“Discovery and Recovery” comes to Southern California
September 4, 2015 – November 15, 2015
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA 92866
On Friday, September 4, 2015 at 10AM Doris A. Hamburg, Director, National Archives Preservation Programs will give a free public lecture on the IJA. To RSVP, click here
Looted Iraqi Archives Must Be Returned To Rightful Jewish Owners
On September 4th, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum will open an exhibit titled “Discovery and Recovery”, comprising part of an invaluable archive of individual and communal Jewish artifacts relating to a 2,500 year-old disenfranchised Jewish community of Iraq. This collection of Holy Scriptures, rare books and communal record, which was discovered in the basement of the Mukhabarat (Iraq’s Secret Service headquarters), was seized and expropriated from Jewish community institutions in Iraq. These Jewish artifacts were never the property of the Iraqi Government.
The materials, which were discovered in 2003, were badly damaged by water but were retrieved and brought to the US for restoration and preservation, with the caveat that they ultimately be returned to Iraq. This Agreement between the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of Iraq was expedited without any consultation with Iraqi Jewry or any other representative Jewish organization.
Nathaniel Malka, a Los Angeles Jewish communal leader of Iraqi descent and Vice President of JIMENA’s (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) Los Angeles chapter reflects, “The Iraqi government ‘acquired’ the materials found in the archive by expropriating them from the Jewish community. We urge the US Government to bar the return of the Jewish Archives to Iraq and ensure that this collection of sacred Jewish records remain the patrimony of Iraqi Jewry”.
For more information on the Iraqi Jewish Archive, click here
