Dr. Mohammad: 'Iraq’s Jewish history and heritage is integral to the Iraqi identity'

Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Dr. Omar Mohammad, Professor of Middle East History at Sciences Po. Throughout his childhood, he was not even aware a Jewish community ever existed in Iraq. As a historian, he now sees Jewish heritage as inseparable from their national identity. The Jewish presence in Iraq is part of the very fabric of this region and culture spanning 2500 years, dating back to the Babylonian Empire. Dr. Omar Mohammad paints a vibrant picture of Iraqi Jewish life up until the 1940s: a community deeply integrated into cultural, economic, educational and political life.