My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past

"This is a book by Ariel Sabar, whose family came from Iraqi Kurdistan. The Jewish population of Iraq with very large in 1940; a quarter of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. But the partition of Palestine sparked increased repression of Jews in the region and led to a mass exodus of Jews from Iraq, including the author’s father. In the Arab parts of Iraq, Jews were fired from their jobs, had their property confiscated and were brutalized. But, in the Kurdish regions, there were no pogroms. On the contrary, the Kurds grieved the exodus of their Jewish neighbors. Within the region different religious communities–not just Muslims, but also Yazidis, Christians and Jews–are considered a constitutive part of Kurdistan. The Kurds have a long tradition of multicultural, multi-religious tolerance. The Kurds would argue that they go back to the Medes, [to the eighth century BC.] But these are cultural identities. I suspect that if you did a DNA analysis of most ethnic groups, you’d find many different ethnic strands among many members. But there is no doubt that the Kurds are an ethnic group with ancient roots."