School and attempt to get a student visa in the UK

After…in (19)72, I left Baghdad and went to England. I had a full scholarship there. In truth, I finished high school in (19)66, before the Six Day War. We entered university. I entered Baghdad University, in the engineering faculty. I started studying chemical engineering there. I finished the Baccalaureus of chemical engineering in Baghdad. I’ll tell you the story of the rest who finished in (19)67 and (19)68 - they didn’t let them (those who finished in 1967 and 1968) enter university. Life was different in terms of the government. So for example, between (19)50 and (19)58 after…there was the royal era. The Jews were stable. There were restrictions. For example, they couldn’t go to university either. But they didn’t suffer physically. As in, they didn’t kill them or torture them. There were many (Jews) in the prisons, accused of communism or accused of Zionism. So the courts before…in (19)50, (19)48…and when the sentence finished, they left. 

So I personally left in (19)72. I left with a passport. Passport. About at that time, they had started giving passports bit by bit. And because my father knew people who had left and got passports from the security services. But my exit was even harder maybe than smuggling, from travel. Smuggling is…travelling informally. It’s called smuggling in…part the word is Turkish. As in, smuggling…they say someone left “smuggling”. Meaning they left without a passport. Or someone escaped…he escaped by smuggling, they call it.

So I…they took me out […] of the security services. Of the security services. After, from the security services you go to the interior ministry. The interior ministry. Which was automatic. As in, a few weeks later you’d go out […] the security services was the main thing.

We…this story was September 1971. We were waiting and waiting to leave. (The outcome we received said) “You are forbidden from leaving. You are forbidden from travelling.” We didn’t understand what the story was. 

I went back to the security services. They saw it and said “okay”. Naturally, I was finishing as an engineer at college. So I will tell you another story about…I was working at…we’ll go back to that story.

After finishing…I was still in university, in the last year of chemical engineering. It was after (19)69. As in 69, 70, that year. The school principal of our Frank Einy and Shamash Jewish school came to me and a few students who had been at the school. He said, “look, your teachers…the teachers which were Muslim and Christian, some of them have left. So (can) you come and help the students (at the school)?”. So I was in my last year of university. I would go to the school and teach a chemistry class. And the year after that I finished too. I mean, (19)70, 71. I taught a few classes at the school.

So I didn’t work as an engineer. There was no work. It was forbidden. You’re Jewish - you can’t work. So I worked at the Jewish school. As a teacher. 

At the same time, I started trying to be accepted…to finish my masters abroad. So I received acceptance from a few universities in England. So I could finish…I mean, study a masters. At the same time also, there was…a few years after that, a special scholarship…a scholarship…for Iraqi Jews for the school to send them. But it was stopped for a few years. At the same time, I could obtain one of those scholarships…in England. And now I have permission at the university, and I have a scholarship…for example how would I leave Iraq?

I told you some of them had fled. My father was a bit scared of that topic. Scared not of the […] how to escape. But he had his reputation. As in, he was famous and patriotic and such things. And his son would leave? He said “I will try to help you and get you out. I know scapegoats and they can help you and get you a passport.”

In truth, my story was up to the Council of Ministers. Because I was Salim Basson’s son. Salim Basson, after my father. Famous, patriotic, and such and such. And his son…had permission at university. They […] he wanted to travel.

And so the issue got to the security services. And the security services gave permission. We said (to ourselves), “it’s over”. (But actually,) this was the start. 

After, they wouldn’t […] give them permission to travel. With a passport, with a passport.

I told you, my status was forbidden (to travel) from the interior ministry. We didn’t understand what the story was. I went back to the security services. The security services said we were successful. They wrote, again, that we were successful.

I went back to the interior ministry. Each of these occasions were a few weeks apart. I went back to the interior ministry. They said, “you are not successful”. We didn’t understand what…the interior ministry, the interior ministry, how…what they weren’t agreeing for. About what. I mean, the security services (said we were) successful, so how could they say we weren’t successful?

I came again again, for the third time, to the security services. They said, “but you are successful What’s the story?”. So now we thought we would return to the interior minister. The same thing happened.

I wrote letters. I mean, I wrote a letter to the interior minister. My mother was a bit stubborn. I mean, she didn’t get scared. She took the letter in her hand and went to the ministry. At that time the interior minister was Saadoun Ghaidan from the army. His car came out and she stopped in front of him like this. She stopped the car! She stopped the car until he…you know, everyone had machine guns and stuff. I mean, weapons. But he wound down the window and said to her, “what is it, my sister?”. As in, “what’s wrong with you?”. She went like this to him and had the letter. She said to him, this is my son and so and so, and they’re holding up his application at the interior ministry.

He said to her, “I remember such a name”. She said to him, “yes, but they won’t give him permission.” We took this…he took the letter and signed it for her. Now, the interior minister had signed - that’s the end of the story. As in, the interior ministry agreed. Whoever had interfered now stopped.

Afterwards, we understood the story. There was some person, a minor employee, at the interior ministry. He wanted to make a lesson out of me. A lesson, as in a lesson. What was the lesson? Look at this person - he can get approval from the security service, but I can stop it. Okay? Play your money. As in, give him a bribe, or give him some type of bribe.

The outcome was that the approval was given and the issue was finished.

Now we had to go to the office of travel and citizenship, which gave out passports. That also was the story as such. My mother took the thing and stopped in front of…in the queue. She came and arrived at the…what’s it called? The door. There was someone, a guard. He saw a Jewish woman, sent her away (and said) “go over there”. And this (happened) one, two, three times - the same thing. She didn’t know the story. Why…they were doing something not nice to her because she was Jewish.

Later she also…she didn’t get scared of these things. She went searching for the office of the manager, knocked on the door of his office and went inside. This manager was sitting - around him were sheikhs and such, who knows. He said “ah, what is it, my sister?”. She said to him, “I’m a Jewish woman.” He said to her, “yes? Welcome!”. She said to him, “I want to know…are we different, us Jews?” He said to her…like he was embarrassed. He said “what? What is it?”. She said to him, “such and such is the story. I came to the door and that man took me out.” He said to her, “ah, what happened? Bring this, bring that. I’ll sign it.” My mother returned again and stood in the queue. She arrived to that person - the same person. He said to her, “didn’t I tell you to go over there!”. This (was said) in the Muslim Baghdadi dialect. “You Jew, go there”. She picked up the signature and went like this with it in his face. So he saw the signature of the manager. He said to her, “we’ve finished”.

I obtained a passport. Okay? Supposedly, I was about to travel. After all that, at the same time, it had been three months since I’d taken the position at the university. And I didn’t…I still hadn’t travelled. So I wrote to them “I have a problem with…as in…I can’t come at this time.” They said to me, “don’t worry. Whenever you come - come.”