The Last Jews in Baghdad: Remembering a Lost Homeland

Chapter 16. Out in the Cold

Chapter 16 Out in the cold One Sunday noon in the summer of 1948, while in the bookshop giving the finishing touches to the week’s book column, a messenger came in with an envelope bearing my name and bookshop address. It read: Dear Rejwan, Owing to the prevailing depression of business I find it necessary to cut down our expenditure on editorial contributions . It is with regret therefore that I have to inform you that as from the end of this month we will be unable to publish book reviews and we will also have to stop film criticism. You will appreciate that I did not wish to take this step but am forced into it by the fact that business is so bad. With kind regards. Yours sincerely, G. Reid Anderson, Editor The date of the editor’s letter was July 24, a Saturday, so that my last bookreviewwastoappearonWednesdaythe28thofthemonth—anotice of barely four days. Also, while it was true that the paper paid me for the reviewsandthecolumns(thetotalcameroughlytoabouttwentypoundsa month,ahandsomeenoughpaybythestandardsthenprevailing),Anderson ’s allegation about the depression of business did not quite convince me. I was so attached to the work I was doing, and the habit by then had become so deeply rooted, that I honestly offered the editor to continue my contributions for half the pay or even for no pay at all. His response was brief and enigmatic—a dismissive smile and some polite mumbling about his not dreaming of making me do unpaid jobs. Eventually, with the help of his secretary, I was to learn that Anderson had dictated the let- 170 the last jews in baghdad ter by telephone from ‘‘the Embassy,’’ where he was in the habit of going for meetings and consultations every Saturday after that day’s paper had been laid to bed. InevermanagedtodiscoverthewholetruthaboutthisaffairbutIthink the reason for Anderson’s hasty decision is not far to seek. In those days, the Iraq Times was something of an institution and enjoyed a great deal of independence and influence. Apart from considerations of prestige and the quality of its readership, it was also virtually the country’s only newspaper that was immune to the shifting fortunes of its contemporaries, whichonanydayoftheweekcouldreceiveagovernmentordertosuspend publication because of some irregularity real or imaginary. There seemed, thus, to be no reason why, at a time in which Jews were beingsystematicallydismissedfromgovernmentpostsandcertainlyfrom all positions connected with information and the media, the one Englishlanguage paper with obvious connections with His Majesty’s Government should continue to employ Jews in its various departments, with one Jew working as sole book and film reviewer. Be that as it may, my very last contribution to the Iraq Times was a special assignment made by Anderson a few months after my services were terminated—a full-page survey of the year in contemporary Iraqi literaturewhich appeared in the special Christmas–NewYear issue toward the end of December 1948.The piecewas well-received, both by members of our circle, many of whom figured in the article, and by outsiders including the notorious Desmond Stewart and the young Englishman who was then director of the British Council in Baghdad. Apart from being Jewish, however, there were a number of factors whichIcannothelpthinkinghadsomebearingonAnderson’sabruptdecision to stop publishing my reviews. In the first place, the decision came only a few weeks after the search conducted by the police of the house where we lived as tenants (which I describe below). Three years before that, therewas the surprisevisit by Helen, the girl from Cairowho turned out to be a soldier in British Intelligence. Moresignificantly,perhaps,therewasalsothatinvitationtotheCriminal Investigation Department (CID) back in the early 1940s. Inefficient and often quite inept though they were, the Iraqi securityauthorities had at least one professional virtue: They kept ample records of the personal details and other ‘‘specifics’’ of all thosewho ever had anything to dowith them, whether guilty or innocent. On at least one occasion—the one in which I was questioned by the CID man about the multitude and variety of booksandpublicationsreachingmebymail—Ihadpolitelybeenasked out in the cold 171 to furnish detailed information and particulars about myself before I was ‘‘set free.’’ The circumstances leading to my summons by the CID had to dowith the fact that I used to get all my mail through Eastern Bank Ltd., where I workedintheyears1942–45.Nowif Iwereaskedtolisttheplacesinwhich Ilivedsincethefourofus—Father,Mother,Simha,andmyself—left Beit Yamein in 1939 and until 1946, I think it would emerge that we moved houses at the rate of at least...