Rare Jewish artifacts rescued from Iraq in limbo
By Carl Hartman - ASSOCIATED PRESS
A DAMAGED Torah, a centuries-old Bible and other rare documents important to Iraq's few remaining Jews were rescued from a flooded cellar in Baghdad, only to remain in limbo in Washington, D.C. Their restoration, like so much else these days, awaits the emergence of a new Iraq. Historians at the National Archives, which preserves such priceless artifacts as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, are examining the treasure trove of materials found in the basement of the headquarters for Saddam Hussein's secret police. The materials are in moderate to poor condition -- they remained wet for several weeks after being salvaged, which allowed mold to grow, and some records became detached from their bindings and were lost, according to the Iraqi Jewish Archive Preservation Report. The study was prepared for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which is overseeing Iraq until a June 30 transfer of some sovereignty to the Iraqis. There are questions about who now owns the documents, where they should be housed
and whether money will be available to restore them. It's likely those questions won't be answered until after June 30, or months later, after Iraqis hold elections.
When it was found more than a year ago, the collection first had to be taken from three feet of mucky water -- a U.S. bomb had wrecked the plumbing of the police building.
A salvage crew heaped the documents in piles, loaded them into sacks and took them to a nearby courtyard, where they were partly dried. Later they were packed into 27 metal trunks and stored in a refrigerated truck to halt the mold.
They were then shipped to Texas, where they were freeze-dried to stop the remaining moisture from causing further damage. They are now at a National Archives laboratory.
Among the items are a Bible printed in Venice in 1568, rare books on Jewish law, pamphlets and parchment scrolls, including sections of a damaged Torah.
Doris Hamburg, in charge of conservation at the National Archives, said a 1,400-year-old Talmud, thought to have been in police hands, is still missing.
Harold Rhode, a Pentagon expert on Middle East affairs who spent six weeks in Baghdad working on the materials, said the records are of great historical interest because the Baghdad Jewish community has nearly disappeared.
Jews fled Iraq after deadly riots under a pro-Nazi government during World War II; thousands more left after the execution of Jews as spies for Israel and the United States in the 1960s. Many now are in Israel.
Of the estimated 100,000 Jews living in Baghdad at the end of World War II, only a handful remain, most of them elderly people who can't or don't want to leave.
Full restoration of the materials retrieved from Baghdad would cost an estimated $1.5 million to $3 million, according to the National Archives
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