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AIU School at Basra, Iraq
In 1903, the Alliance Israélite Universelle established a primary school for 152 students. In 1919, an elementary school for girls was also established. Between 1940 and 1941, the AIU established a high school in Basra, employing both Jewish and Muslim teachers. These schools exposed the Basran Jewish community to the same kind of education as that of larger cities such as Baghdad [1].
Description
Basra was home to a large and prosperous Jewish community from as early as the seventh century. The Persian occupation of Basra, between 1775 and 1779, led to the persecution of harrassment of the Jewish community, and a plague in 1854 nearly destroyed the Jewish community in Basra. However, by 1880 the Jewish population had recovered, and the Basran Jews--unlike their Baghdadi neighbors--actually prospered during the First World War, working as translators and clerks for the British. On May 7 and 8, 1941, many Jewish homes and businesses were looted and damaged, but the Basran Jews were treated much better than the Baghdadi Jews who were harrassed and killed in the Baghdadi riots of June 1941. During the late 1940s, Jews were increasingly persecuted by the Iraq state, which feared growing Zionist and Communist movements, and by 1952 only about 800 Jews remained in Basra. Following 1968 fewer than 500 Jews continue to live in Basra [2].
Sources
[1] Orit Bashkin, "Basra," Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman, Brill Online, 2014, Reference, Wellesley College, 19 June 2014 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/basra-COM_0003300>.
[2] Ibid.