Safeguarding Iraq’s Jewish Archive
Iraq has decided to repatriate some of the Jewish historical documents found in Baghdad after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, while others will go on international display, providing a window for the world into Iraq’s cultural heritage.
The artifacts and important manuscripts that are today known as “the Jewish Archive” had been lying — for dozens of years — away from the public eye in a basement inside the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence services, in storage conditions that do not meet international standards. This had caused many of the documents to be damaged.
It was not until 2003 that this case became controversial. These artifacts could have been burned or totally destroyed without people knowing that they even existed in the basement.
Apart from religious considerations, the problem does not lie in Iraq's right of possession of its own historical legacy. Possessing this legacy is Iraq’s inherent right, given the objective and historical circumstances.
However, we should remember that we are talking about a historical legacy. These are significant documents that are very important to scientific and historic research, which would be a treasure to research centers. Some nations have exclusive rights to their historical legacy. However, this does not allow them to conceal this legacy and prevent people from having access to it.
