Did Iraqi Jews and Iranian Jews go through the holocaust?

Answer 1

There is a controversy in the Jewish community as to whether the Holocaust reached Iraq. While Hitler and Nazi Germany never successfully invaded or conquered any part of Iraq, the Iraqi leadership, especially the Golden Square Officers and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, were Nazi sympathizers and met with key Nazi leaders (including Hitler himself). They did plan to murder a large segment of the Iraqi Jewish population but were effectively prevented from doing so by the British. However, on Shavuot 1941, there was a massive pogrom in Baghdad called the Farhud which resulted in 200 Jewish fatalities and thousands of seriously wounded Jewish persons. The Farhud was organized by the very same Nazi Sympathizers in Iraq. Jews agree on most of the above details.

The controversy is over whether or not the Farhud and the policies brought about by the Golden Square and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem qualify as an extension of the Holocaust. Those who say it does liken it to the Croatian and Romanian massacres of Jews which were run independently of the main Nazi Holocaust by Nazi sympathizers in those countries. Those who say it does not consider the Farhud a part of the History of Iraq and the result of the growing Anti-Semitism directed at Iraqi Jews because of their position in the British colonial government.

There is no debate concerning Iran; the Holocaust did not reach Iran.