The Iraqi Jewish Archive

בס"ד

Pictured: "After Treatment: Letter from the British Military Governor’s Office in Baghdad to the Chief Rabbi Regarding the Allotment of Sheep for Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, 1918."
~ National [United States] Archives

Photo: National [United States] Archives

Following:

Letter from Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham
to The Honorable John F. Kerry,
Re: The Iraqi Jewish Archive,
dated 18 November 2013

____________________________________________________


FROM THE DESK OF RUTH RACHEL ANDERSON-AVRAHAM

The Honorable
John F. Kerry
U.S. Secretary of State
Washington D.C. 20520

Fax: (202) 647 3344

Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham
[Address]
[United States]

E-mail: [israelrealnation@gmail.com]

18 November 2013
Via Certified Mail, Fax, and Electronic Mail

Dear Mr. Secretary:

As a fellow graduate of Harvard Law School, I am contacting you regarding the sacred and historic Torah scrolls, Megillot, books, manuscripts and documents belonging to the members of the Iraqi Jewish community discovered by U.S. Military troops in the flooded basement of the Baghdad Headquarters of Saddam Hussein’s Mukhabarat (Secret Police) in May 2003 (the “Iraqi Jewish Archive”, or the “Archive”).

Pursuant to the Agreement between the Coalition Provisional Authority (“CPA”) and The National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”), effective as of 20 August 2003 (the “Iraqi Jewish Archive Agreement”, or the “Agreement”), the U.S. Government, under the auspices of NARA, generously arranged for the salvaging, restoration, preservation (including digitization), and exhibition of the long-neglected and severely damaged Iraqi Jewish Archive in the United States, for which the Jewish community-at-large is most thankful.

However, although it is generally accepted that :

(1) the Iraqi Jewish Archive was illegally acquired by the Government of Iraq during a period largely dating from the tragic events of the Iraqi Farhud of 1-2 June 1941 and the subsequent expulsion of Iraqi Jewry over the decades which followed, up until the fall of Saddam Hussein unraveling in March 2003; that

(2) the Government of Iraq systematically neglected and failed to properly care for and maintain the Iraqi Jewish Archive; and that

(3) the members of the Iraqi Jewish community, both within Israel and within the larger Jewish diaspora, have a valid legal claim to the contents of the Iraqi Jewish Archive under International Law ~ namely the body of International Cultural Property Law prohibiting the theft, illegal transfer, and destruction of Cultural Property ~ and the Common Law of Restitution,

the U.S. Government continues to invoke the Iraqi Jewish Archive Agreement in defense of the return of the Archive to the Ministry of Culture of Iraq, rather than to the members of the Iraqi Jewish community, whether within Iraq, within Israel (home to the majority of Iraqi Jews today), or within the larger Jewish diaspora.


Given the fact that the Jewish community remaining within Iraq today consists of a very small number of people ~ less than 10, according to most recent world Jewish population estimates, it is highly unlikely that, if returned to Iraq, the contents of the Iraqi Jewish Archive would be physically returned to the members of the Iraqi Jewish community, or benefit of the Iraqi Jewish community in any manner. Moreover, given the modern history of the expulsion of Iraqi Jewry, as well as ongoing conflict within Iraq, it is highly unlikely that any claim for the restitution of the Iraqi Jewish Archive made by members of the Iraqi Jewish community currently living within Iraq before Iraqi courts would prevail, not to mention the fact that any such claim made before Iraqi courts by Iraqi Jews currently living within Iraq would very likely place the members of Iraq’s remaining Jewish community in danger.

Nevertheless, Section I (4) and Section VIII of the Iraqi Jewish Archive Agreement clearly provide the CPA with discretion in the determination of to whom the Iraqi Jewish Archive may be returned once the terms of the Agreement have been met, or once the Agreement has been terminated. Furthermore, there is no language within the Agreement which bars the CPA from determining that the Iraqi Jewish Archive should, indeed, be returned to the members of the Iraqi Jewish community remaining within Iraq, or members of the Iraqi Jewish community residing outside of Iraq, rather than the Iraqi Ministry of Culture.

In such case that the CPA were to determine under the Agreement that the Archive, should, indeed, be returned to the members of the Iraqi Jewish community remaining within Iraq, rather than the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, there is nothing in the Agreement which bars the members of the Jewish community remaining within Iraq from designating a third party, namely an organization outside of Iraq representing the members of the Iraqi Jewish community-at-large, to take possession of the Iraqi Jewish Archive for the benefit of the entire Iraqi Jewish community until such time that the rightful owners of its contents may be determined.

In light of the above, I humbly request that the U.S. Department of State reconsider its determination that the Iraqi Jewish Archive Agreement bars the U.S. Government from returning the Archive to its rightful owners, the Iraqi Jewish Community, in a manner which ensures the safety of the members of the Iraqi Jewish community, as well as the integrity and preservation of the sacred and historical contents of the Archive to the benefit of that community and the entire Jewish community-at-large.


Thank you in advance for your consideration.




Yours sincerely,


Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

Harvard Law School, J.D. 2002
Former President, Harvard International Law Society
Former Member of the Board, Harvard Law School Arts Panel

~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
19 November 2013, 16 Kislev 5774





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