Born | Baghdad, Iraq, 1930 |
Story | Survivor of the 1941 Farhud; fled Iraq in 1949 and arrived in Israel in 1950 |
Today | Author and speaker, Los Angeles |
Book | Beyond the Rivers of Babylon (2020) |
Speaks to | Middle and high schools, universities, museums, synagogues, churches, and community groups |
Joe Samuels was born in 1930 in Taht El Takia, the Jewish quarter of Baghdad’s old city, to a family that traced its roots in Iraq back more than 2,500 years. One of eight children in a family of textile traders whose business reached India, England, and Italy, he grew up in a vibrant Jewish community that numbered well over 100,000 people.
On June 1 and 2, 1941, when he was 11 years old, Joe lived through the Farhud, the pogrom in which rioters inspired by Nazi propaganda attacked Baghdad’s Jews, killing well over a hundred people and looting and burning homes and shops. He remembers his family and neighbors defending their home, and the Muslim neighbors who risked their own safety to protect Jewish friends.
After high school, Joe was accepted to universities in the United States, but the Iraqi government refused to let him leave. In 1949, at 19, he left his family behind and was smuggled out of Iraq, hidden in the secret hold of a riverboat in Basra, then crossed into Iran and reached Israel in 1950 as a penniless refugee. He lived in a refugee camp and on a kibbutz, served three years in the Israeli Navy, and then moved to Montreal, where he built a successful real estate business. In 1959 he married Rebecca (Ruby), and they raised three children. The family moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1978.
Decades later, a memoir writing class encouraged Joe to tell his story. He has been sharing it ever since, as a member of JIMENA’s Speakers Bureau for more than a decade, and today, in his mid nineties, he continues to speak to students and communities across Los Angeles and online.
His story shows that the Holocaust extended beyond Europe.
Holocaust Museum LA
Speaking Topics
What Joe talks about
1. Jewish life in Baghdad
Growing up in one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, with its schools, synagogues, food, language, and close ties to its Muslim and Christian neighbors.
2. The Farhud and the Holocaust beyond Europe
An eyewitness account of the 1941 Farhud and the spread of pro Nazi propaganda in Iraq during World War II.
3. Escape and the life of a refugee
Being denied the right to leave, escaping by smuggler’s boat, and arriving in Israel with nothing, as one of more than 850,000 Jews who left or were forced out of Arab countries and Iran.
4. Rebuilding a life
Immigrating twice, to Israel and to Canada, building a business and a family, and finally settling in California.
5. Optimism and resilience
How faith, family, and gratitude carried him through a turbulent century, and what young people can take from his story today.
6. Iraq’s Jewish heritage
Why the Iraqi Jewish archive and the memory of Iraq’s Jews matter, a cause he has championed in print.
Where He Has Spoken
Selected appearances
2026 | Holocaust Museum LA adds a panel featuring Joe’s audio testimony on the Farhud to its exhibits. |
2025 | Lincoln Middle School, Santa Monica, with Holocaust Museum LA; JIMENA online program. |
2024 | Book talk with Holocaust Museum LA at Barnes & Noble at The Grove, Los Angeles; special guest, JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship, Los Angeles. |
2022 | Holocaust Museum LA, in person survivor talk for Mizrahi Heritage Month; University of New Hampshire, Hans Heilbronner Lecture. |
2021 | Vanderbilt University, Holocaust Lecture Series; Club Z, JIMENA, and CAMERA teen program. |
2016 to 2018 | Long Beach Hillel; Los Angeles City Hall commemoration for Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran; Santa Monica College; University of Southern California; Sinai Temple. |
Earlier | UCLA Hillel; Congregation Kahal Joseph; YULA High Schools; Christians United for Israel. |
Publications and Media
Read and listen
Memoir
Beyond the Rivers of Babylon: My Journey of Optimism and Resilience in a Turbulent Century
Joe’s memoir, written with Julie Gruenbaum Fax (2020). Also available as an audiobook. Book details · Audiobook
Essay
The Vanished Iraqi Jews
Joe reflects on Iraq’s rescued Jewish artifacts and his own childhood in Baghdad. The Times of Israel, 2016. Read the essay
Opinion
A plea to keep the Iraqi Jewish archive safe
Joe urged U.S. leaders not to return the Iraqi Jewish archive to Iraq. Miami Herald, 2017, as reposted by Point of No Return. Read the piece
Profile
Joseph Samuels: Exposing Crime Against Iraqi Jews
A profile of Joe’s work raising awareness of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Jewish Journal, 2015. Read the profile
Coverage
Farhud Survivor Speaks at Vanderbilt
Student coverage of Joe’s talk for Vanderbilt’s Holocaust Lecture Series. The Vanderbilt Hustler, 2021. Read the article
Museum
Holocaust Museum LA adds the Farhud to its exhibits
A new panel features Joe’s testimony. Point of No Return, 2026. Read more
Affiliations
Organizations
- JIMENA Speakers Bureau
- Holocaust Museum LA, survivor speaker
Book Joe
Bring his story to your audience
Joe speaks in person in the Los Angeles area and online. To invite him to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.