According to a
JTA report last week, an Iraqi Jewish Archive found by U.S. troops in the basement of the Iraqi secret services headquarters in Baghdad 14 years ago, will be returned to Iraq next year. According to JTA:
The archive was brought to America in 2003 after being salvaged by U.S. troops. It contains tens of thousands of items including books, religious texts, photographs and personal documents. Under an agreement with the government of Iraq, the archive was to be sent back there, but in 2014 the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. said its stay had been extended. He did not say when the archive was to return....
In the U.S., the artifacts were restored, digitalized and exhibited under the auspices of the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Jewish legislators and some Jewish groups are pressing the State Department to negotiate a new agreement to keep the collection in the United States or at some other location where it is available to Iraqi Jews-- all but a handful of whom have now left Iraq.
[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
