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The Demise of Afghanistan’s Jewish Community and the Soviet Refugee Crisis (1932–1936)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Sara Koplik
Sara Koplik*
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; New Mexican state legislature
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Extract

The Modern Jewish Community in Afghanistan was Shaped by the Exigencies of long-distance trade. Jewish merchants along with their Hindu and Muslim counterparts provided goods to remote regions and tribes. Often these traders would be the only ones allowed into disputed areas, as they were considered neutral. Jewish merchants in particular also acted as intermediaries to help nomadic groups settle conflicts peaceably. In order to fill this economic role, unusual domestic arrangements developed. Men would depart alone for long periods of time from Herat, the center of the Jewish community in Afghanistan, as the journey was generally too risky for an entire family to undertake. After traveling the long caravan routes, they would live in Jewish caravanserais for much of the year, generally returning for the holidays of the month of Tishri and for Passover.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 353 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Iranian Studies 2003

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References

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26. IOL R/12/61 513/I, Despatch from Fraser-Tytler (Kabul) to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (London), 1 November 1932, 155 (or 125, as there are two different numbering systems).

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30. IOL R/12/61 513/I, 15.

31. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Aminoff et al. to Laski, 25 September 1933.

32. British Public Records Office (hereafter: PRO) FO/371/18243, Diary No.52 for week ending 28 December 1933, by Lockhart (British military attaché, Kabul), 61.

33. IOL R/12/164 42/43/N, File “H”: Rheinmetale Borsig (R.M.B.) telegram no. 94, from Pilger (German ambassador, Kabul) to Berlin, 13 December 1938, 121.

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36. Ibid, Letter from the Superintendant of Police, Quetta – Pishin and Sibi, 23 July 1931 regarding Bars, George – Russian, 42.

37. Ibid, 43.

38. IOL R/12/61, 513/I, Report from British representative in Meshed, 28 October 1931, entitled: “The Conditions of Russian Refugees in Persia,” 136.

39. PRO FO/371/17187, Letter from Richard Maconachie (British minister, Kabul) to John Simon (London), 26 May 1933, 141-42.

40. BoD ACC/C12/4, Abraham Emanueli (Binyamina) to Herbert Samuel (London), 28 January 1935.

41. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Committee of the Union of Boukharian Jews in Palestine to Bukharan community in London, 11 July 1932; and Assistant Secretary of Board of Deputies (Brotman) to d’Avigdor-Goldsmid (London), 28 July 1932.

42. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Moshe Shallit to the Board of Deputies, 13 September 1933.

43. IOL R/12/61, 513/I, A.W. Davis, British Consul at Tabriz to R.H. Hoare (Teheran), 25 May 1932, 146.

44. BoD ACC/3121/C12/4, Abraham Emanueli to Herbert Samuel, 28 January 1935.

45. The Joint Foreign Committee was an organization that represented both the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Board of Deputies of British Jews in assisting Jewish communities abroad.

46. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Kestenbaum to Joint Foreign Committee, 4 February 1935.

47. BoD ACC/3121/12/4, Emanueli to Samuel, 28 January 1935.

48. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, received and translated by G. Mirzoeff to Zaiman, 20 December 1933.

49. According to May Schinasi, this could be a caravanserai. Personal correspondence, April 2003.

50. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Letter from Yosef (last name illegible) (Kabul), 13 December 1934. After leaving Afghanistan, this group continued to be traumatized by their experiences, and remained poorer and more isolated than other groups of Jews from Afghanistan in the West. (Author's discussion with Shulamit Ambalu, London, 4 December 1998..

51. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Memorandum, 3 January 1934.

52. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Kestenbaum to Laski, 4 January 1934.

53. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, J. Hathorn Hall to Moshe Shertok (both in Jerusalem), 3 January 1934.

54. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Maconachie (Kabul) to Zaiman (London), sent 30 November 1933 (received 24 December 1933).

55. Both quotations from: IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, O.K. Caroe (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul) 7 June 1935, 124.

56. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Despatch to Kabul, 26 September 1934, 167. These instructions went on to say, “Experience has shown that in nine cases out of ten the Jew resident … gives a favourable character to the applicant.”

57. IOL R/12/61, 513/I, A. W. Davis (British consul at Tabriz) to R. H. Hoare (Teheran), 25 May 1932, 146.

58. Alliance Israelite Universelle archives in Paris (hereafter AIU) Iran II C 4, Bobine 5, M. Daoud (Mashhad) to M. Ezra, 28 September 1933.

59. BoD ACC/3121/E2/128, G. Mirzoeff, president of Boukharian Jews’ Association, London to Zaiman, secretary of Joint Foreign Commitee, 13 June 1934.

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61. Wolff, Joseph, Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara, in the Years 1843–45, to Ascertain the Fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly Second Edition, 2 vols. (London, 1845), 2: 157–59Google Scholar.

62. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Communal letter from refugees in Mashhad, Erev Rosh Hashana 5694, 21 September 1933.

63. AIU Iran II C 4–8 Bobine 6, Nassi (Teheran) to Hias-Jca-Emigdirect (Paris), 23 February 1934.

64. Ibid.

65. AIU Iran I C 4 – 8, Bobine 6, Nassi (Teheran) to Sassoon (AIU director in Bagdad), 28 February 1934.

66. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Brotman to d’Avigdor-Goldsmid, 2 August 1932. ‘Marrano’ literally means pig, and was used to refer to the crypto-Jewish community that emerged from the Spanish Inquisition.

67. PRO FO/371/18243, Diary no. 52 for week ending 28 December 1933, by R.M.M. Lockhart (British military attaché, Kabul).

68. Brauer 1942, 122.

69. Interview with Shulamit Ambalu, London, 4 December 1998.

70. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Telegram from Peshawar, 24 September 1933.

71. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Extract of letter from Peshawar, 1 October 1933.

72. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Mirzoeff to Secretary of Joint Foreign Committee, Zaiman, 11 October 1933.

73. Gregorian, Modern Afghanistan, 339.

74. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Letter from Kabul written on 13 Kislev 5694 (1 December 1933) inclosed in: G. Mirzoeff to Zaiman, 20 December 1933.

75. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, G. Mirzoeff to Zaiman, 11 October 1933.

76. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Brotman to Monteᶜore, 9 November 1934.

77. “Ces Juifs s’adressaient à Shmouel et avec l’argent des pots-de-vin qu’il remettait à l’ambassadeur, de qaurante [sic] à cinquante roubles par personne, il leur procurait des passeports afghans qui leur permettaient d’émigrer vers differents pays … Parmi ceux qui obtinerent [sic] des passeports se trouvaient des Juifs de Boukharie, de Russie, de Pologne, de Bulgarie et de Roumanie.” Ben-Zion Yehoshua, “Amour de Sion chez les Juifs d’Afghanistan,” translated by Rahel Hochbergera, in Sillages 4(Spring 1981): 109-110.

78. Interview with Ben-Zion Yehoshua, Jerusalem, 15 July 2001.

79. BoD ACC/3121/C11/13/2, Bukharan community (Kabul) to Bukharan community (London), 15 Av 5695 (3 September 1935).

80. IOL L/PS/12/1660 Coll3/93, “Tragedy in Afghanistan,” Jewish Daily Post 15 July 1935, reprinted from Do’ar ha-Yom, 122.

81. Ibid.

82. Batchaev, Mordekhai, La Vie de Yaquv Samandar ou Les Revers du Destin. Translated by Poujol, Catherine (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1992)Google Scholar.

83. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Forty-one refugees (Kabul) to the Anglo-Jewish Association (London), 25 Tammuz 5695, received in Persian and translated by Kestenbaum, who submitted it to Zaiman on 20 August 1935.

84. Ibid.

85. BoD ACC/3121/C11/13/2, Bukharan community (Kabul) to Bukharan community (London), 15 Av 5695 (3 September 1935).

86. Yehoshua 1981, 111.

87. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, “Conversation with Mr. Daniel Goll in Jerusalem,” 28 November 1934. (His name is alternatively spelled as Gol, Gul or even Goul.)

88. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, “Memorandum on Jews in Afghanistan,” 3 January 1934.

89. IOL L/PS/12/1660 Coll3/93, Legislative Divison of the Government of India (Simla) to Secretary of State for India (London), 29 August 1934, 185. “[S]ome 400 Afghan Jews, mostly from the northern province of Afghanistan, have, -- for reasons which are at present somewhat obscure, -- sought refuge in India.”

90. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, “Memorandum on the Jews in Afghanistan,” 3 January 1934.

91. Ibid, and BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Zaiman to Lord Swaythling, 15 January 1934.

92. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Lord Swaythling to Zaiman, 16 January 1934.

93. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, “Note on the Jews of Afghanistan,” 29 December 1944, 45.

94. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Extract from Khorasan Consulate Political Diary for April 1934, 198. With special thanks to May Schinasi for highlighting his position.

95. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, O.K. Caroe, Deputy Secretary to the Government of India (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul), 7 June 1935, 124.

96. All four quotations in this paragraph come from IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Maconachie (Kabul) to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, India Office (London), 19 January 1934, 244-45.

97. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Draft letter, Laurence Collier to Zaiman, 18 July 1934, 201- 202.

98. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Letter from Collier to Zaiman, 18 July 1934.

99. The letter written by Yosef (illegible last name) (Kabul) 13 December 1934, BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2 attests to this.

100. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/1, Maconachie (Kabul) to Zaiman (London), 30 November 1933 (received 24 December 1933). He wrote that the refugees: “do not improve their prospects by giving, as they so frequently do, obviously false statements as to their antecedents and intentions.”

101. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Minute paper by D.M. Cleary, 28 January 1935, 155; Cleary to Walton, 28 January 1935, 157; and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (London) to Maconachie (Kabul), sent 4 March 1935, 146.

102. Arendt, Hannah, “We Refugees,” in ed. Feldman, Ron H., Hannah Arendt: The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (New York: Grove Press, 1978), 61Google Scholar.

103. Bun, Chan Kwok “The Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong,” in ed. Cohen, Robin, The Cambridge Survey of World Migration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 384Google Scholar.

104. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Maconachie (Kabul) to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, India Office (London), 19 January 1934, 244-45.

105. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, 18 Afghan Jews in London to Board, 31 July 1934.

106. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Assistant Secretary of Board of Deputies to Boukharian Jews’ Association in London, 7 August 1934.

107. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, J.T.A. [Jewish Telegraph Association] report from 11 August 1934, quoting an interview by the Parisian Judaisme Sepharadi on 9 August 1934.

108. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, “Tragedy in Afghanistan,” in Jewish Daily Post, 15 July 1935, 122.

109. Ibid.

110. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Acting Secretary, Joint Foreign Committee to Kestenbaum, 31 January 1935.

111. BoD ACC/3121/C12/4, Abraham Emanueli (Binyamina) to Herbert Samuel (London), 28 January 1935.

112. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Joint Chairman, Joint Foreign Committee to Under Secretary of State at Foreign Office, 18 October 1933.

113. IOL L/PS/12/1674, 108.

114. IOL L/PS/12/1674, translation of note from Royal Afghan Legation to British Foreign Office, 4 October 1933, 121.

115. IOL L/PS/12/1674, copy of note from British Legation to Afghan Foreign Ministry (both in Kabul), 18 May 1934, 113.

116. IOL L/PS/12/1674, 106 and 115.

117. IOL L/PS/12/1674, Maconachie (Kabul) to John Simon (London), 16 September 1934, 110.

118. Ibid.

119. Ibid, 111.

120. IOL L/PS/12/1674, Coll3/101, D.M. Cleary to H.A. Rumbold, 1 January 1935, 104.

121. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll 3/93, Acting Afghan Foreign Minister to Maconachie (both in Kabul) 20 January 1936, 73.

122. IOL L/PS/ 12/1660, Coll3/93, O.K. Caroe, Deputy Secretary to the Government of India (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul), 7 June 1935, 124.

123. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, O. K. Caroe (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul), 31 August 1934, 174.

124. IOL R/12/61 513/I, 155; L/PS/12/1660, Coll 3/93, O.K. Caroe (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul), 7 June 1935, 124.

125. In 1935, Riza Shah Pahlavi decreed the country's name be officially changed from Persia to Iran.

126. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Minute Paper, 20 January 1936, 76.

127. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll 3/93, O.K. Caroe (Simla) to Maconachie (Kabul), 7 June 1935, 124.

128. Ibid.

129. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Nassi (Teheran) to Hias-Ica-Emigdirect (Paris), 27 October 1934.

130. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Minute Paper by Hood, 4 July 1935, 119.

131. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Eighteen Afghanistani Jews (London) to BoD, 31 July 1934.

132. BoD ACC/3121/E3/506/2, Jewish Telegraph Association report which originated from the newspaper Judaisme Sepharadi, 11August 1934.

133. IOL L/PS/12/1660, Coll3/93, Minute Paper by Hood, 4 July 1935, 119.