AI English Translation, Pages 301-325
Baghdad on - 6 June 1949
To the Honorable Jewish Cemetery Association Committee in Baghdad
After greetings and respect,
I would like to inform you that upon my visit to the old cemetery
on Thursday morning, June 2, 1949, to receive the iron pieces and other materials that
were kept in the room located there, the details of which are shown in the attached list, I passed through some of the
corridors that I noticed had been established in the cemetery. I saw it as my duty to inform you
of them in detail.
First - The room I intended to use was occupied as a police post at one
point by one of the policemen accompanying His Excellency the Head of the Community. When I inquired from the persons
residing there about the materials that were present in it, the details of which are listed in the attached list,
I was told that they did not see anything in it except three rolls of (mats) and seven pieces of (benkank)
all of which were used for their own purposes. When I asked them how the room was opened, which was locked from
both sides, I did not receive a satisfactory answer, but I noticed that one of the doors - the one facing
the cemetery - had been broken. These acts took place without the guards present in the cemetery having knowledge of them,
as they claimed. Furthermore, one of the corners adjacent to the mentioned room was used as toilets for them inside
the cemetery.
Second - Three shacks made of mats and two large rooms made of brick and mud were constructed,
which appear to be of the same type of brick built on some of the old and unusual graves. When
I inquired from the cemetery guards about that, they replied that they saw them tearing the mentioned bricks from the old
graves, so they forbade them once, but they continued to take them without any regard for their orders. The number of
those bricks is estimated at more than a thousand bricks, and this appears clearly from the size of the two rooms built with them.
Third - Three (ovens) for baking were also built for use by the mentioned
residents. I also found that there are two large areas surrounded by pieces of mats, inside of which
large quantities of manure and other filth were placed, which it appears they are collecting for the purpose of benefiting
from them later.
Fourth - Fearing trespassing by passersby, they surrounded this residential area of theirs, which
exceeds two hundred square meters in area, with a fence of barbed wire. As a result, 43 graves
of the new graves were separated from the rest of the other nearby graves, making it difficult for the relatives of
the deceased who were buried in this spot to cross these wires and approach the mentioned graves to perform
( To be continued )
Their religious rituals
Then I contacted Mr. Ezekiel Haddad, the cemetery superintendent, to clarify some information in this
regard, and I asked him about the issue of removing bricks from old graves. He confirmed that these bricks
were not removed by those strangers as the guards mentioned, but rather they had been removed previously and piled up in one
part of the cemetery for the purpose of rebuilding those graves, so they moved them to use them ⟦...⟧
for their own purposes.
As for the general situation of this area, it might seem to the observer that these shacks
and rooms were built to be lived in for several years because of the durability of the materials used and the strength
of the construction.
This is everything concerning this area.
And since I noticed other areas in the cemetery where large quantities of
manure were piled up near the main cemetery entrance, Mr. Ezekiel Haddad explained
that this manure is not new, but rather its owner - who is one of the residents of the same neighborhood -
had placed it near some graves, and when he was asked to remove it from that place, he brought it
near the main gate and stated that he could not under any circumstances remove it
permanently from there.
Then I asked him about the station near the khan located in the mentioned cemetery which is filled
with straw. He said that this happens every year by the same person who puts straw there, and that
he can prevent him from doing that at all.
This is all I wanted to explain to your honors so that the committee would be aware of everything that is happening
in the mentioned cemetery. With all due respect to your honors.
⟦illegible signature⟧
Youssef Saleh Murad
Clerk of the Israeli Cemeteries Association
Baghdad
The Israeli Community
Committee in Baghdad
1942
15 / Y
True copy
⟦illegible signature⟧
⟦line⟧
Baghdad on - May 14, 1946
Number - 173
Honorable Mr. Yusuf Abboudi
Greetings,
Today, I visited the two rooms established in the cemetery, as per your request, accompanied by the municipal clerk of the cemeteries.
After auditing the list of materials delivered to the cemetery guard on 29/9/1945 as recorded in the register,
and after observing the condition of the two rooms and questioning both the burial official, Mr. Heskel Haddad, and the cemetery
guard present there, I noticed that some of the materials listed in your list are missing, as recorded
in Table (A) below. I also noticed that there are materials missing from the building itself, the details of which are shown
in Table (B) below.
Please accept our highest respects;
Sincerely,
Secretary of the Community Administration
Table (A) | Actually Present | Deficit
Picks | - | 2
Tins | 7 | 9
Trolleys | - | 5
Jars | - | 2
Bowls | 4 | 18
Hazar Shammar | - | 5
Awl with threads | - | 1
Mats (3m) rolls | - | present
Rail iron | - | 3
Pins | - | 3
Wooden floats for plaster | - | 3
Zinc cup | 8 | -
Rolls of thick iron rebar for (27) pieces | 3 | -
Roll of very fine rebar for (19) pieces | 1 | -
Roll of very fine rebar for (15) pieces | 1 | -
Roll of ⟦...⟧ | 1 | -
Empty cement bag | 3 | -
Table (B) | Materials missing from the construction of the two rooms
A - 12 glass panes belonging to three windows
B - Two I-beam locks belonging to the stairs
C - A door for the toilets
D - A bench that was fixed inside the cemetery
E - The railing of the stairs leading to the roof of the rooms was destroyed
⟦line⟧
(True Copy)
Jewish Cemeteries Association in Baghdad
⟦line⟧
Presidency of the Jewish Community
Special Number 712
Date 21 / 6 / 949
Number -: 222
Baghdad on: June 21, 1949
Presidency of the Lay Council
Baghdad
⟦line⟧
After greetings
The committee reviewed in its meeting held on
June 10 a report submitted by the clerk of this association regarding shacks
established inside the old cemetery and other actions in
the mentioned cemetery and decided to send a copy of the mentioned report to
your esteemed council with a copy of the list of materials that were kept in
the room under discussion in the mentioned report for your kind action as
necessary according to jurisdiction and competence.
Please accept our respects
Honorary Secretary
Copy to
To / His Excellency the Head of the Community - for kind review
To be filed
Reports
Baghdad on - 6 June 1949
To the Respected Committee of the Jewish Cemeteries Association in Baghdad
After greetings and respect,
I would like to inform your honors that upon my visit to the old cemetery
on Thursday morning, 2 June 1949, to receive the iron pieces and other materials that
were kept in the room located there, whose details are shown in the attached list, I passed on my way to
the huts that I noticed had been set up in the cemetery. I saw it as my duty to inform your honors
about them in detail.
First - The room I intended to use was occupied as a police post at one
point in time by one of the policemen accompanying His Excellency the President of the Community. When I inquired from the persons
residing there about the materials that were present in it, whose details are listed in the attached list,
I was told that they did not see anything in it except for three rolls of (mats) and seven pieces of (corrugated iron sheet),
all of which were used for their private purposes. When I asked them how the room was opened, which was locked from
its side, I did not receive a satisfactory answer for that, except I noticed that one of the doors - the one facing
the cemetery - had been broken. These acts took place without the guards present in the cemetery having knowledge of them,
as they claimed. Furthermore, one of the corners adjacent to the mentioned room was used as latrines for them inside
the cemetery.
Second - Three huts made of mats and two large rooms made of brick and clay were built,
which appears to be of the same type of brick built on some old graves near them. When
I inquired with the cemetery guards about that, they answered that they saw them tearing the mentioned bricks from the old
graves; they prevented them once from doing so, but they continued to take it without any regard for their orders. The number of
those bricks is estimated at more than a thousand bricks, and this appears clearly from the size of the two rooms built with them.
Third - Three (ovens) for baking were also built for use by the mentioned
residents. I also found that there are two large areas surrounded by pieces of mats, inside
which large quantities of dung and other filth were placed, which it appears they are collecting for the purpose of utilizing
it later.
Fourth - For fear of passers-by encroaching on them, they surrounded this residential area of theirs, which
exceeds two hundred square meters in area, with a fence of barbed wire. As a result, 43 graves
of the new graves were separated from the rest of the other graves near them. It has thus become very difficult for the relatives
of the deceased who were buried in this spot to cross these wires and approach the mentioned graves to perform
(To be continued)
Copy of the list
⟦line⟧
Baghdad on - 14 May 1946
Number - 173
The Honorable Mr. Yusuf Abboudi, Respected
After greetings
I visited today with the secretary of the Cemeteries Association the two rooms constructed in the cemetery per your request
And after checking the list of materials delivered to the cemetery guard on 29 / 9 / 1945 as recorded in the register
And after noting the condition of the two rooms and questioning both the burial official Mr. Heskel Haddad and the guard
of the cemetery present there, I noticed that there are some materials listed in your list missing according to what is recorded
in Table (A) below, and I also noticed that there are materials missing from the building itself, its items shown
in Table (B) below.
Please accept the highest respect;
Sincerely
Secretary of the Community Administration
Register | Actually present | Table (A)
3 | - | Pickaxes
9 | 7 | Tins
5 | - | Small staircase
2 | - | Water jars
18 | 4 | Bowls
5 | - | Hair shakers
1 | - | Awl with threads
Present | Reed mats (3) rolls |
2 | - | Rail iron
3 | - | Sieves
2 | - | Wooden racks for plaster
- | 8 | Zinc sheets
- | 3 | Rolls of thick iron bars for reinforcement for (27) pieces
- | 1 | Roll of very fine iron bars for (19) pieces
- | 1 | Roll of very fine iron bars for (15) pieces
- | 1 | Roll of reeds
- | 2 | Empty cement bags
Table (B) | Materials missing from the construction of the two rooms
A - 12 glass panes belonging to three windows
B - Two I-beams belonging to the staircase
C - Door for the latrines
D - A bench that was fixed inside the cemetery
E - Destruction of the staircase fence leading to the roof of the two rooms
⟦line⟧
Y / (True copy)
Secretary
Presidency of the Jewish Community
in Baghdad
Baghdad 26 / 9 / 949
Mr. President
Based on your orders, I visited the Priests' Cemetery this morning
accompanied by the accountant and the cemetery guard Ali Mahmoud, and I found
with regret that all the graves of the mentioned cemetery are demolished and that
a large quantity of bricks has been stolen by the residents
neighboring the area, most likely. And I found
a portion of the bricks that ⟦...⟧ by Sabri in a telegram like this
in four piles: the first inside the large cemetery, two in the
ruins of the Priests' Cemetery, and the fourth near one of the neighboring houses
to the Priests' Cemetery. I visited the police officer of Bani Said
the ⟦...⟧ to inquire from him about the steps taken
in this regard against the trespassers, and I learned that there is a lawsuit
registered by the cemetery guard against three persons, namely
Ali Muhammad, Mawluda Hakim, and Arghun Senari. Based on
my request for a temporary investigation, the Deputy Commissioner of the station officer dispatched
the Chief Corporal and some others to temporarily search the suspected houses
as the stolen bricks are stored in their yards, and the
aforementioned Chief Corporal found in the Priests' Cemetery the person named Aziz with his mother
⟦signature⟧
Secretary
Presidency of the Jewish Community
in Baghdad
Baghdad
(2)
(Evidence) based on some of the stolen bricks in the cemetery, and
the aforementioned individuals were arrested in my presence.
Furthermore, I believe that the process of demolishing the graves required
a long period of no less than a month to two weeks.
⟦signature⟧
Jewish Burial Society in Baghdad
⟦line⟧
950/1012/T
25/5/17
Number -: 18 / 950
Baghdad on: May 16, 1950
His Excellency the President of the Jewish Community, Respected
After greetings
I would like to inform your Excellency that the new administrative committee
for this society held its first meeting on Friday morning, corresponding to
May 12, 1950, and elected from among its members -
Mr. Salman Al-Kabir, Lawyer - President
Mr. Sassoon Aboudi Bashi - Vice President
Mr. Yusuf Nassim Aboudi - Honorary Secretary
Please accept our respect
⟦signature⟧
Honorary Secretary
⟦illegible⟧
Copy to -
The Esteemed Lay Council - for information
⟦signature⟧
Y /
(2)
51 / 2022
951 / 7 / 6
His Excellency, the Director of Land Registry of Baghdad District, respected.
After greetings,
The cemetery belonging to the leadership of this community located in the Al-Kulat neighborhood
with sequence 142/226; we have previously submitted a request to your department to demarcate and fence it
with iron bars; indeed, a commissioned engineer from your department attended and carried out the demarcation
and the bars were constructed according to the system established by the aforementioned engineer.
And now, the Veterinary Department has constructed a building on the land adjacent to the mentioned
cemetery, and by this means, the constructed iron bars were uprooted and they entered the cemetery land
at a depth of approximately one and a half meters along the length of the hexagonal front of the cemetery.
Therefore, we request that you instruct your department's engineer to inspect and establish the boundaries according to the map
of the cemetery so that the Veterinary Department can complete the construction of the building according to accurate boundaries.
Please accept our highest respect.
⟦signature⟧
On behalf of the Acting Head of the Community
Issued
The Index
| Letter
Nursing Mothers Relief Association | K
Consolation of the Blind Association | L
" Charitable Sewing for Girls | M
" Assisting Poor Girls for Marriage | O
" Cemeteries No. (2) starting from 1/1/949 | V
IJ