Rachel Wahba

I am an Egyptian-Iraqi Jew, born in India, and grew up stateless in Japan. My Egyptian father's passport was confiscated when Egypt's ancient Jewish community was brutally expelled and their nationality and all possesssions were confiscated.  My Iraqi's mother's immediate family fled Baghdad after a brutal pogrom, the "farhud"decimated the Jewish Quarter in Baghdad and traumatized Baghdad's Jews. The rest of my Iraqi famiy, along with the rest of Iraq's  ancienct 2,500 year old Jewish community was forced out penniless and stateless in the early 1950's.

My parents met in India, and waited out our statelessness in  Japan for 20 years before the door to  immigration to the United States opened.

 

All photos are copyright ©Rachel Wahba. Please feel free to use any pictures, as long as you provide credit and a link to this blog.