About the site - כרמאנשאה

About the site

Kermanshah - a small Jewish community dating back to the 10th century AD, is one of many Jewish communities that previously existed throughout Persia /Iran

This site was established in order to try to preserve the memory of people and events in the history of the Jewish community in Kermanshah towards the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the  20th century.

Kermanshah, one of many communities in the history of Persia/Iran and Islamic countries, which has survived for generations among a Muslim population, and continued to preserve their Jewish character

The Jewish community of Kermanshah in the 1940's numbered  2,864 people. There were five synagogues, a Jewish bathhouse and a school opened in 1904 by the 'Alliance' organization in Paris

Towards the end of the 1940's and early 1950's, demographic changes took place among the Jewish population of the city, during which a considerable number of Jews and young families emigrated to Tehran, and some immigrated to Israel

Towards the end of the 20th century only few Jewish families lived in Kermanshah. Today, a small number of Jews remained in the city

This site seeks to provide some general framework for the historical background of the Jews in Persia/Iran, from the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century, but its main task is to locate documentation and gather information in order to  memories  the Jewish community of Kermanshah during that period. We will try to look for documents, photographs, letters, diaries, memoirs and life stories that shed light on people and events, telling the story of the Jewish community of the city in the past.

In the homes of many of us there are documents and important items that can tell the story of the community in the past: letters, certificates, manuscripts, diaries, interviews and testimonies, objects, photographs, personal stories, original archival films, artworks, maps of the city and the Jewish quarter of Kermanshah etc. Over the years they may be lost and damaged. These materials are very important to us! We will be happy to bring them to the site with the stories behind them.

Please photograph special objects and scan photographs, documents, letters, diaries, and any documentation that can describe the story of its owner, or an event in her/his life, during the period in which they lived in Kermanshah. You can transfer the copies to us, together with the identification details, and accompany the personal story of their owners so that we can present them in this site.

 

The database of materials on the “The Jewish Community of Kermanshah" website is mostly based on original documentation found in the private collections of Jews born and raised in Kermanshah, or by their descendants.

In this site there is no intention to establish a database of a physical archive, or to acquire ownership of the documents that appear in it, but to present them in digital format only! Emphasis is given to copyright of the materials

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 We call upon the descendants of the Jewish community of Kermanshah to assist us in collecting materials for this project so that we can preserve the memory and learn about the past of the Jewish community. The materials will be used by historians and researchers, exhibition curators, educators and students, and will enrich knowledge about a community that is no longer there

With your help we will be able to give life and commemorate chapters in the history of the Jews of Kermanshah during the first half of the 20th century

 For contact and information please send a message through the contact page