נישואי ילדות יהודיות למוסלמים בכפיה

The Farhud, it seems to me (I think) was in the year…(19)40…I don’t know, (19)41. Do you know? It seems to me (I think) (it was) in (19)41. In our place in Baaquba, the Arabs…divided up the (Jewish) girls. (As an) example, in our house, there were four girls. The Arabs divided them up (like so); one would take Rachelle, one would take Marcelle, one would take Daisy, one would take…like that. When they did the Farhud, they all came to..Baaquba. Each one (man) would take one (girl). Every…every guy (would) take a girl. Jews (girls). Jews (girls). So we, my dad, may G-d have mercy on him, put (something) like guards (who) guarded the house. And…(that’s) how…they didn’t…they (the men) didn’t do such a thing. They didn’t divide up the (Jewish) girls, the Arab (men), or take us to…to marry them. The king’s mother, king…Faisal the second, his mother and father fled Baghdad (and) came to Baaquba. And they started…the (Farhud rioters) didn’t do such a thing. As in, they didn’t take the (Jewish) girls, and didn’t…(they) didn’t divide up the girls, and didn’t marry them off. I remember this…I remember it well. In the end, they didn’t take even one (Jewish) girl. And the girl…they didn’t take even one girl, (no Jewish girl) married (forcefully) the Arabs. Because, the king’s mother came to us, and one of the guards told him, and so on. So…there wasn’t such a thing. They didn’t divide us up, this I know, because dad was (there). Dad was alive in those days. In the year…it seems to me (I think)…(19)41. It was in the war, the Farhud. What they did in Baghdad…we didn’t see, (because) we were in Baaquba. We didn’t see. But Baghdad…they stole…they robbed all the houses. They killed the old people. They would…Arabs (would) pull them (the old Jewish men), by their beards, and they would kill them. The boy(s)…the boy(s)…had anklets, on the feet. They were called “jnijel”. On the foot. They (the Farhud rioters) cut his legs from here, the boy(s’ legs), and do this (shake) the jnijel. They would do this with their hands, the Arab men. Do you understand, sweetie? (People) told us, we didn’t see. There was one Arab woman, there was one Muslim woman…next to our house […]. She also…she also stole, (this) Muslim girl was an enemy. She also stole, she took as much as she could. So it….it was good that we didn’t see, but…we were lucky that the queen came to us in Baaquba. Otherwise, they (the Farhud rioters) would have divided up the girls. One for each. Every Arab (man) for one Jewish (girl). So…(it was) like that. I was…I was little then. In the year…it seems to me (I think) in the year (19)41, (19)42. Yes, yes. (During the) war…yes. It was the Farhud, the Farhud happened. They killed many in Baghdad, they killed many. Above and beyond. But it’s good that we weren’t there, and we didn’t see. We were living in Baaquba.