For the third time, the National Archives at Kansas City is partnering with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education to bring a unique and educational project to Kansas City. “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage” details the dramatic recovery of historic materials relating to the Jewish community in Iraq from a flooded basement in Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters and the National Archives’ ongoing work in support of U.S. government efforts to preserve these materials. It opens at the National Archives, located at 400 W. Pershing Road in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 18, and continues through Aug. 15. Viewing hours for the exhibition, which is free and open to the public, are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. MCHE will present a benefit event on Wednesday evening, June 10.
Jean Zeldin, MCHE’s executive director, learned that Kansas City was chosen as the first of only four cities — the other three are Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles — to host the traveling version of this exhibition, primarily due to the successful partnerships MCHE and the National Archives at Kansas City have had over the past five years. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}Two previous exhibitions, “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race” in 2010 and “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” were very well attended. In addition, MCHE, in partnership with NARA and the National World War I Museum, produced a highly successful speaker series for each exhibit. A speaker series is also scheduled to enhance this exhibition.
“Kansas City’s national reputation for having a strong, active Jewish community that supports events and activities of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and other Jewish organizations influenced the United States National Archives’ decision to bring the exhibit here,” Zeldin said. “Our central location as a Midwest hub and the capacity of the regional NARA facility to manage this exhibition also were important considerations.
Series like these, Zeldin points out, are an important way for MCHE to extend its mission of teaching the history of the Holocaust and applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance and genocide.
“One way MCHE addresses this goal is by educating the general community about Jewish history and traditions, addressing the question ‘Who are the Jews?’ ” Zeldin said.
Doris A. Hamburg, director of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Preservation Programs, said the National Archives is delighted to be able to host the exhibit in Kansas City.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity to bring this fascinating, highly-praised exhibition to audiences in this area. The National Archives’ beautiful new building in downtown Kansas City offers an excellent venue for “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage,’ ” Hamburg said.
Exhibition overview
As Zeldin explains, the story of this journey began on May 6, 2003, just days after coalition forces entered Baghdad when a U.S Army team raided the headquarters of Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s secret police. Searching the headquarters’ flooded basement, the result of an airstrike, they discovered more than 2,700 Jewish books and tens of thousands of documents from the Iraqi Jewish community. Since then, NARA and its partners have preserved, cataloged and digitized these damaged books and documents, which have come to be called the Iraqi Jewish Archive.
From prayer books and Torah scrolls dating back hundreds of years to school records and community letters from the 20th century, the survival of this written record of Iraqi Jewish life provides an unexpected opportunity to better understand this community and its culture. The 2,000-square-foot exhibition, presented in both English and Arabic, tells the story of these documents and how they have been preserved and made accessible worldwide.
“This exhibition offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to present a new story, focusing on an Iraqi-Jewish community that faced intolerance and indifference in the 30-year span following World War II. For centuries, it had flourished within in what had generally been a tolerant, multicultural society. But circumstances changed dramatically for Iraqi Jews in the mid-20th century when most fled after being stripped of their citizenship and assets,” Zeldin said.
“‘Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage’ also explores the daily life of a Jewish community that dates back to the 1500s but whose history is relatively unknown. Given that Americans, both Jews and non-Jews are acquainted primarily with the practices of Ashkenazic Jews, this exhibition introduces them to the unique customs and traditions of Sephardic Jews,” Zeldin continued.
The restoration process
NARA’s Hamburg said that because NARA was not legally in the position to provide funding for this project, funding had to be acquired before any restoration could occur.
“So the second phase, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Center for Jewish History provided the opportunity to hire a conservator and technician to remove the books and documents from the trunks, assess the condition of the materials and rehouse over several months, hire cataloguers to do initial basic cataloging online and bring together a group of subject matter experts to advise on the project and priorities,” Hamburg said.
According to Hamburg, the State Department funded the Final/Third Phase of the restoration project, starting mid-2011, which was completed over three years. During the Final Phase, the books and documents were mold remediated, stabilized and boxed. Conservation was done to allow digitization, except for those items to be exhibited, which were fully treated. Items were catalogued and digitized. The exhibition and the website (www.ija.archives.gov) were also implemented.
“It is now possible to see online what had been part of the Iraqi Jewish community, and had been found in the basement of Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters,” Hamburg said.
Items on display
The items in this exhibition were first displayed in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., following the initial preservation of the materials. The exhibition includes original books, documents and objects, as well as facsimiles, which tell the story of Iraqi Jewish heritage.
Items on exhibit include:
A Hebrew Bible with Commentaries from 1568, one of the oldest printed books recovered.
A Passover Haggadah from 1902, hand-lettered and decorated by an Iraqi Jewish youth
A 1951 law that froze assets of Jews leaving Baghdad
Hamburg noted that approximately 29 items from the collection are in the exhibition including 23 original books, documents, a portion of a Torah scroll and a tik, which is a wooden case used to hold the Torah in Iraq. There are also many photographs that illustrate what it was like when the books and documents were found and rescued from the flood and other photographs showing life in Baghdad in the 20th century. She estimates it should take 40 to 60 minutes to view the exhibit.
Hamburg believes the most unique item in the exhibit may be the tik.
“The tik is not particularly known to Jews familiar with Ashkenazi traditions. The Torah stays in the tik for storage and when the Torah is being read,” she said.
“The exhibition provides fascinating links to life in Iraq and to the past, which many people of many different backgrounds have connected with. The story is a very powerful one,” Hamburg continued.
MCHE’s Zeldin believes “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage” will be educational for both Jews and non-Jews.
“It explores the daily life of a once vibrant Jewish community that dates back to the 1500s but whose history is relatively unknown. In addition to explaining what happened to Iraqi Jews at the time of the Holocaust, the documents and artifacts displayed will promote a greater understanding of Jewish culture. Given that Americans are acquainted primarily with the practices of Ashkenazic Jews, this exhibition will introduce them to the unique customs and traditions of Sephardic Jews,” Zeldin said.
Assistance and guidance for this project were provided by the United States Department of State, the Center for Jewish History, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Library of Congress, World Organization of Jews from Iraq, and the staff of the National Archives and Records Administration. Special gratitude is owed to the Republic of Iraq and the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq for their continued support and advice throughout the project.
Community sponsors of the project include the Oppenstein Brothers Foundation, Sosland Foundation, Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation, Sprint Foundation, J-Lead, Earl J. and Leona K. Tranin Special Fund, Flo Harris Supporting Foundation and the Harry Portman Charitable Trust. Additional support is provided by the the Jewish Art Fund (list current as of May 25).
For more information about the exhibition, visit mchekc.org/exhibit.{/mprestriction}
