An Emblematic Case in the Kingdom of Iraq: the Jewish Commander in Charge of the Baghdad Arsenal, Yamen Yousef, from Integration in Nation-Building to Exclusion

This article illustrates aspects of modern Iraqi history, being concerned with the life and career of Yamen Yousef (Yāmēn Yūsif, Hebrew name: Yāmīn Ṣiyyōn [ben] Yōsēf [ben] Nissīm), an officer in the army of the Kingdom of Iraq, who was the commander in charge of the Baghdad Royal Arsenal in the 193...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oriente moderno
Main Author: Nissan, Ephraim (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2021
In: Oriente moderno
Further subjects:B the 1941 pogrom (Farhud) in Baghdad
B Nūrī al-Saʿīd
B late Ottoman Jewry
B intercommunal relations in modern Iraq
B sociology of the professions
B Yamen Yousef (Yāmēn Yūsif / Yamin Zion [ben] Yosef [ben] Nissim) / Yāmēn Ṣəyyōn Nəssīm
B Jews in modern Arab countries
B Iraqi history in the 20th century
B modern Iraqi Jewry
B Muṣṭafà Kemāl
B Military History
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Summary:This article illustrates aspects of modern Iraqi history, being concerned with the life and career of Yamen Yousef (Yāmēn Yūsif, Hebrew name: Yāmīn Ṣiyyōn [ben] Yōsēf [ben] Nissīm), an officer in the army of the Kingdom of Iraq, who was the commander in charge of the Baghdad Royal Arsenal in the 1930s, and earlier on had been one of the three young officers made to proclaim Iraq’s first king during the coronation ceremony. That up to the late 1930s he was commander in charge of the Baghdad Royal Arsenal is in retrospect surprising (and that late in that decade a false charge was made against him by the far right is unsurprising), in consideration of rising animosity towards his ethno-religious identity. This came to a breaking point when he resigned, thus reverting from the acquired status of a career in the service of the state, to private bourgeoisie: this was happening in the first decade of full independence, when Jewish civil servants were being dismissed in their droves, after having been co-opted into the process of nation-building, owing to their educational qualifications giving them for a while an advantage. This study contributes novel data and facets that enable a fairly novel, and certainly more nuanced view of intercommunal relations in Iraq from late Ottoman times throughout the Hashemite monarchy (and beyond).
ISSN:2213-8617
Contains:Enthalten in: Oriente moderno
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22138617-12340267