Proofread by: Rebecca Lash
Transcribed by: Temi
Interview date: 6/29/2017
Interviewer: Lisette Shashoua
Location: Montreal, Canada
Total time: 1:11:37
Mida Bassous: Born March 10th, 1925 in Baghdad, Iraq. Left Iraq 1950-1951. Arrived in Montreal after living in Milan and Paris in the 1950s
Lisette Shahsoua (00:00:00):
Just give me your name. You don't have to say the interview number just, your full name, please.
Mida Bassous (00:00:05):
My full name is Mida Bassous, nee Toufik, born in Baghdad on the 10th of March, 1925. And, uh, you're asking me about my childhood. [LS: your age first] My age is now 91. [LS: bless you, bless, you. Now I wanted to know about your family] Now about my childhood. I have very fond memories of my childhood. I am one of seven children and my parents were very avant garde at that time. So when we grew up, we went to, uh, at the beginning, we were in the center of Baghdad. Then we went to, uh, the, uh, uh, urban you know what they say, outside. Uh, most of the Iraqi, uh, Jews, they went to school to the Alliance, but the Alliance at that time was too far for us. So we went to a French school, a private school, uh, run by French nuns and they used to have an orphanage and to subsidize, they opened a private school and most of the students of the school were foreigners because they didn't want to go to the local, uh, school. So we had more, basically everything in a French, a little bit English, a little bit of Arabic. Uh, I remember there were a few social clubs in Baghdad and, somewhere exclusive, only the men and some, the women then, uh, they call it Nad i zawrah [ph]
Mida Bassous (00:02:30):
I remember we used to go, we take, we sit in the carriage, like taxi the arabana [ph] my father will go to [laughs]and my father will go to the zawrah [ph] and we will go to a nadi laura [ph]. Uh, it, it was a very pleasant, uh, childhood. My parents didn't refuse anything that we wanted to learn, whatever it was. So we had private piano lessons and we had a private violin lessons. Um, our living room was, uh, our house was very large and on the main street, the door was always open. There was always five young children in the room. We used to have all kinds of fun music, dancing, singing all the time [laughs] [LS: dancing singing French?] In French. Yeah, mostly I was, yeah, mostly it was in French because I went to the, uh, well, they call it the rahabat [ph]. I think you know that Bab al-Sharqi. [LS: oh yes, yes of course] Um, well, I don't know what else to tell you.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:04:03):
Uh, I'll uh, ask you, uh, about, I'm very curious about the piano lessons, the piano. So you were singing, dancing the songs of the time.
Mida Bassous (00:04:16):
You know, it was just for fun. We had a private teacher, she was Russian. She, you know, at that time, this was I'm talking in the thirties, mid thirties, maybe early forties. She came from Russia when the revolution and she, I ended up just like [Segal], you know, she ended up in Baghdad and she used to give a piano lessons, but we started it in the school because in the school we had all those, uh, classes, uh, would be, uh, with the Rahabat [ph], uh, piano painting. Uh, I used to have a few pictures, but I don't know where there are [laughs]. Um, well then when I finished the school, actually English was not very strong where I went. We had only one hour of English, mostly French. So, um, they didn't send me to a high school. Uh, I don't know. It's only later that Shamash accepted girls.
Mida Bassous (00:05:36):
So, uh, I took private English school with, I don't know if you remember the teacher, Victoria Cohain no, you're too young. You were not even born [laughs]. I used to go as, or twice a week to have a, uh, English lessons to pass, the time and, uh, designing. I told you my, my parents, you know, they never stopped whatever we wanted to learn. They were ready to, uh, finance it [laughs]. Yeah. Uh, so I got, I got married young. I got married at the age of 20, no 19. And that's it.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:06:28):
Can you tell me something about your parents. How did they meet?
Mida Bassous (00:06:35):
That's a long story. Very long stories. Is that okay? [LS: if it's a good one yes] Yeah. Okay. Um, my father at the age of a teenager, his parents wanted him to have a high, better education. This is [overlap] a, yeah. I'm talking about my father. They sent him to Hong Kong and this was in maybe 1890 or 80, 96 or something. He had an aunt there.
Mida Bassous (00:07:20):
He went there and, um, came back and then with his parents, they went back to Singapore and they never came back to Baghdad until 1923. Just to tell you the background of my father. When he came back, he married a cousin of his in Hong Kong, older than him, the marriage didn't work. They were separated.
Mida Bassous (00:07:49):
He came back to Baghdad in 1923 and he wanted to get married. It was hard because his wife was still alive.
Mida Bassous (00:07:59):
He knew my mother's family. So asked for my mother, you know, wife, they refused him because he was 20, 25 years older than her. Yeah. [laughs] So they, they refused him.
Mida Bassous (00:08:19):
On the other hand, my mother, a family was supposed to come and see her for another suitor. You know, it was amainah [ph] in Baghdad. After that, she was very sharp. She asked her mother, how come
Mida Bassous (00:08:39):
only the family of the man. They come and they see the girl? And I, neither you, nor me, know what he looks like. She said, this is a tradition. If you go on to see him go to the synagogue, he sits on a certain bench. She took her Saturday morning and they went and she looked at him and came back home. And she said, she doesn't want him. Asked why? She said you said he was wealthy. His tzitit, is torn. makaat [ph] how do you say it? Patch. I don't want him. No, it cannot be done. We gave a word. It has to take place. So one day they made the appointment. The family had to come and make the, uh, uh, uh, yeah, I, yeah, the engagement, you know, the formal engagement. She was 15 and she was going to school. So the house was cleaned and everything, the family of the groom came and they waited for my mother to come. She never came. [LS: She didn't come down] No, she didn't come back to home. From the school, she didn't come back home. She went somewhere else because she didn't want him [LS: wow. what year was that?] 1923. [LS: Wow. How brave] Yeah. So they waited and waited and waited, finally, they said, we don't want her. If she don't come, she is not a good girl.
Mida Bassous (00:10:39):
In the evening, when she came back, she went to a friend and she stayed there. Her mother was upset. She wasn't that mad at her but she was upset and and she said, Toya, her name is Victoria, What did you do? I have, so I have many more, you know, two, three, four other sisters, no one will want them. If you did this, she said, you know what? You refused that guy from Singapore, he's wealthy. He is educated. He is good looking. I don't care if he's older than I am, I'll marry him. They told her but, he's not divorced. You know, they, uh, uh, they want to give them a ketubah. She said I don't care. You do it with a, uh, justice, you know, like a hakam adel [ph]. And that's what she did [overlap] she didn't care. She was 15 only. But in the meantime [overlap] my mother Murad.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:11:54):
No- your dad's name
Mida Bassous (00:11:59):
Eliyahu Toufik. Yeah. Yeah. He was well known in Baghdad. So, but eventually, um, his wife in, uh, Hong Kong had an accident and she died. Then my mother, I think at that time she had, a ketubah everything, uh, regular. And she was expecting me. And they called me after her, [LS: after who?] My father's wife. [laughter]
Mida Bassous (00:12:39):
That's why they named me. It's so different. It's used mostly in the far east.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:12:48):
Ooh. And was she Iraqi? Was she a Iraqi? Your father's ex wife? Was she Iraqi?
Mida Bassous (00:12:54):
Yes. That was his cousin. Yeah. It was his first cousin on his father's side, but, uh, she had a good life. My mother had a good life. Uh, you know, the time that, uh, she lived, you know she had seven children and, uh, she was happy.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:13:18):
mmhmm. Now what was your, uh, your, your dad's name you said? And your mother's name was Victoria? Right. And do you know when your mother was born?
Mida Bassous (00:13:35):
Yes, in December, 1907, she lived hundred and four years. She died in 2011. [LS: Wow] Yeah. Only six years ago. [LS: here in Montreal?] No, in Israel. Everyone in Israel.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:13:56):
Wow. Do you have, uh, okay. How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Mida Bassous (00:14:02):
Uh, I used to have four sisters and two brothers. Now. I have just one sister and two brothers.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:14:13):
And do you remember anything about when you were growing up with them at home? Tell us something
Mida Bassous (00:14:23):
We were happy you know, happy, go lucky. A bunch of children. We never, I don't remember ever having a fight or things like that. My parents made no difference between us. My brother was born after three girls. We were more, if we needed attention or anything, the girls had it more. And as much as my brother, no difference at all. So I don't remember anything that, uh, not nice. We were always, uh, always happy going, coming. And, uh, especially the three older girls, we had our friends. So you can imagine going and coming of all the friends of three girls, we, we took a trip with my parents in 1937 to Beirut, Palestine and Egypt. I went with the one they took me and one of my sisters, they couldn't take the whole bunch we were six at the time [laughs].
Lisette Shahsoua (00:15:41):
And what are your memories of this trip?
Mida Bassous (00:15:47):
What I remember of this trip, it was a um, I remember everything. I remember the places, I remember Palestine after I went to Israel and I saw Allenby street and all that, in 1937, I remember going to the wall at that time, but it was very bad time. In 37 the Arabs started to make things difficult. It was a little bit risky to visit the, I went to Cairo. I was flabbergasted. The first time I saw neon lights, I didn't see neon lights neither in Baghdad, nor in Beirut at that time, nor in, uh, uh, the first time I rode in a elevator, it was in Cairo [laughs]. Uh, this is what I remember. And I remember going everywhere with my parents, even to night clubs. And when it came to Baghdad, there used to be a night club in the afternoon.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:16:59):
Yeah. Tell me about the nightclubs you went to. They were [overlap]
Mida Bassous (00:17:02):
In Egypt. In Egypt at night. Yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:17:08):
European night clubs?
Mida Bassous (00:17:09):
No, no Arabic. Arabic, you know, it was in Cairo, in Cairo. I remember the pyramid, you know, it's still, uh, when we came to Baghdad, then that time I was 11, 12 years old, we heard there is a matinee [ph]of Arab nightclub in Baghdad. And we asked my parents if we could go, they said, okay. As I told you, you know, they were very about it.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:17:34):
What year was that now? 37.
Mida Bassous (00:17:38):
37 when I went to-
Lisette Shahsoua (00:17:41):
And the night club in Baghdad.
Mida Bassous (00:17:43):
38 two, maybe. Yeah. So I went with my sisters and their friend and the guy looks at us. Asks us, he said, what are you doing here. I said, well, we want to see the show. He said, no, no, no, no, no, you better go home, but we didn't have in Baghdad, you know that the girls cannot go out alone. They had to have an older brother or someone to take them. And in school we had no school on Sundays where I went and we always wanted to go to the movies. So my parents said, it's okay. You go, you take the carriage, that special carriage we put you in and you'll come back. [overlap] And yeah, the horse one, arabana [ph]
Mida Bassous (00:18:44):
So we, we went we were the three of us and a neighbor next door, uh, Christian also, she said she would like to come. So she came with us. My parents used to give us the money, the tickets for three, uh, no, because we were young. We would go two with one ticket, but they had to give us some money for two tickets, because we were three. When our neighbors started to come with us, we used to go with two tickets, keep the one that we have extra and buy, you know, we had the gramophone at that time, you know, we didn't have any, we used to buy [ph] this for the gramophone or something. I, I, as I told you, I had a very happy, a very, uh, you know, pleasant, uh, childhood. [LS: So that's what we want to hear, your house. What did your house look like?] Our house was so one of those big houses with open, uh, yeah. Yeah. So downstairs we had the dining room, the living room and the court, small court and tarrar [ph]. I don't know what they call it in uh. and on the upper floor we had, uh, one, two, three, four, five, five bedrooms. And of course in the summer we would sleep on the, uh, terrace. Yeah. [LS: Do you have pictures of your house in Baghadad?] No. Unfortunately I don't. [laughs] [LS: Did you have Jewi- non Jewish friends? Non-Jewish friends?]
Mida Bassous (00:20:50):
Jewish friends yes. We had. [overlap] Non-Jewish we had also a lot because we went to a Catholic school. We had a lot of, uh, non, uh, Jewish, uh, Christians and Muslims. One of my best friend was Muslim. She was one from the [name of family in Arabic] family. So the [name of family in Arabic] traditionally sent all their children to, to the Alliance. And, uh, this friend of mine, uh, [name of family in Arabic] was, uh, in my school, marahabat [ph]. She, she was one of my best friends. [name in Arabic]
Lisette Shahsoua (00:21:33):
Did you stay friends,
Mida Bassous (00:21:35):
We stayed friends until we got married and she did a bad marriage and then I didn't, you know, we didn't, we left and I lost contact with her.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:21:46):
Okay. What language did you speak at home?
Mida Bassous (00:21:53):
Uh, in Baghdad. Arabic, always.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:22:00):
And, okay. Uh, schools, would you mind, so you belonged to the zawra [ph] club?
Mida Bassous (00:22:09):
To the Zawraa and the Nadi Laura [ph] [LS: these are two Jewish clubs] Yes. Oh yeah. At the time, the man who used to go to the Zawraa and the men to the Laura
Lisette Shahsoua (00:22:22):
And the women also went to the Zawraa no?
Mida Bassous (00:22:25):
They went afterwards, after the war, the one, the Zawraa closed who was with sinack [ph] and they opened a new one, um, near the bettawin, something like that. They built a new one.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:22:43):
What about Laura?
Mida Bassous (00:22:47):
Laura I think they closed it, oh you know, after the war and after Israel became a state Laura closed.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:22:56):
So, uh, the neighborhood you lived in was you had Jews and Christians. [inaudible]
Mida Bassous (00:23:03):
Yeah, we lived among, yeah, among the Jewish among Christian, actually our, uh, our house was, uh, on the right, was the owner a Muslim, a Shia and a very wealthy one. He owned three houses. We lived in one of his houses. So we were this Muslim, uh, our house and the next door. Christians.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:23:40):
Do you have any memories of the food your parents did or the food that they cooked?
Lisette Shahsoua (00:23:47):
[overlap] Yeah. The food that you ate at home, your grandparents,
Mida Bassous (00:23:54):
It's uh, the traditional Iraqi cooking, nothing special. No, no, no, [LS: our traditional Iraqi food is special] nothing. Of course we had a cook, but uh, nothing special.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:24:09):
The clothes your parents and grandparents were, wore were European or Arabic?
Mida Bassous (00:24:17):
Yeah, they are European, just like the clothes we are wearing now the same. European style. My mother had a abaya, and she had a, something abut she didn't use it, uh, so much. It's mostly without it she would go
Lisette Shahsoua (00:24:37):
The abaya you're talking about. Is that the one that was specially made for Jewish ladies?
Mida Bassous (00:24:44):
No. No, not the izar [ph]. The izar is different, but she had, she used to wear that for the holidays to go to the synagogue. I remember it was embroidered with silver and gold.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:25:01):
Yeah. What do you remember of Passover or Rosh Hashanah?
Mida Bassous (00:25:09):
Oh, well, it was always a gathering with the family and we would do the traditional things to be done. And I remember that every Friday we used to have the kiddush, the Oneg Shabbat every Friday, Friday nights. Of course. .
Lisette Shahsoua (00:25:32):
Yeah. What do you remember? Jewish locations? The schools, the, the clubs. Do you remember? Do you remember the synagogues? Did you go to Synagogue?
Mida Bassous (00:25:42):
Yeah. Yeah. I remember the synagogue. I don't know what they call it. I don't know if you know it. It's in the bettawin. [overlap] Uh, I don't remember the name. Not Meir Elias, No, uh, no, I can't remember the name.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:26:12):
Okay. I think I know what you're saying
Mida Bassous (00:26:13):
Yeah. Yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:26:24):
Now, while you were growing up, was there any Zionist organizations, you remember any Zionist organization? Was there Zionism? Zion, [overlap] Zionist.
Mida Bassous (00:26:44):
Oh Zionist, yes. I remember my uncle was, um, involved and, um, they used to have meetings and they used to have also arms. Uh, but the, I wasn't, uh, involved personally about, I know that my uncles were involved.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:27:11):
Uh, tell me if you remember the farhud.
Mida Bassous (00:27:14):
Yes. I remember the farhud but we were not touched
Mida Bassous (00:27:20):
by it because from Bab al-Sharqi after the sinak [ph], the Bab al-Sharqi this area and on a, I think they had, they were told not to touch them. The farthest they went is the sinak and a little bit further. Now, if you remember, [name of place in Arabic] on the river [overlap] that was maybe, you know, Salah Ghatan [ph], Jeanette [LS: of course I remember] Jeanette father, that was maybe the farthest and next door there was the khlari [ph] of the day or the farhud was a holiday. And, uh, early in the morning, my father took a walk. He was a very close friend to Salah Ghatan and then things broke out.
Mida Bassous (00:28:30):
Uh, all I remember he called and he said, bo- you know, put things on the door, don't go out. Don't let someone in. And they went my father and the Khatan family. They went to the, uh, to the Khaderis [ph] at the time, but he came home. I don't know when. And, uh, we weren't [harmed] except that I remember my uncle and his friend in the morning, they went to the riverside to get a fresh fish and they were stabbed. And that was, uh, they were stabbed there. No, they were okay. They didn't die. They were stabbed, but they had to go to the hospital and they obviously, there were the Iraqi at that time, those who are, uh, stabbed, they were afraid to go to the hospital because there were Arabs, Muslims, maybe, you know, they don't do the right thing. But one of my uncles used to work at the ministry of, uh, interior with the English, uh, uh, you know, a boss at the time. And, uh, he knew a lot of, uh, Muslims and he called one of them and he went with them to the hospital and they were treated
Mida Bassous (00:30:06):
My grandmother on my mother's side was downtown. And, uh, everyone around them was looted. But someone, I think a Muslim protected them physically. And they were not looted. the next day. They came to us the day after the Farhud. Otherwise personally, my family was not really, uh, had any tragic, uh,
Lisette Shahsoua (00:30:41):
But how did effect, how did it affect you as a teenager when you heard that
Mida Bassous (00:30:49):
We were, you know, we were concerned, we were, uh, sad about it, um, about, because it didn't touch me personally, it didn't leave such a
Mida Bassous (00:31:04):
bad memory, bad, it's a bad memory, but not a traumatic.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:31:22):
Now, uh, tell me once Israel came to be, Oh, first of all, you told me that your uncle was part of the Zionist movement. Your uncle was part of the Zionist movement,
Mida Bassous (00:31:36):
I'm sorry.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:31:38):
Your uncle, your uncle was part of the Zionist movement. Right? And, uh, he had the arms, [MB: uh, yes] Was this after the Farhud?
Mida Bassous (00:31:52):
After the far, after the farhud, [LS: because of the farhud] because of the farhud after the farhud, uh, after, you know, and Israel became a state, they were, yeah, there were, they used to have meetings and they used to teach them Hebrew at that time.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:32:13):
Yeah. You didn't study. Now, tell me about when you met your husband and you got married and tell me about Rose Debach.
Mida Bassous (00:32:27):
Um, my older sister was a friend of his sister, so my sister used to go to their house and sometimes I used to go there too. It wasn't really falling in love [chuckles]. I knew him. He knew me, but, uh, nothing really uh, motional, you know, strong. So, uh, his sister thought maybe she would be the matchmaker. And she asked whether I would marry her brother. I said, I don't mind [laughs]. I, you know, I never went out to them. I never but, I used to go to their place. So um,
Mida Bassous (00:33:30):
I have an aunt who is married to the family of my husband's family. So they contacted her. She contacted my father and that's how I got married. But, uh, everyone thinks it was a love affair. It was not. I preferred to marry someon I know than a complete stranger, but the what we did was a first in Baghdad. On the eve of our marriage. My husband didn't want to stay in Baghdad. We took the train and we went to Mosul, everyone, you know, they said, no, it's not right. You have to consummate the marriage. And, uh, they have to make sure and , he said, either I go to Mosul or I don't get married. So we went to Mosul after the ceremony of the marriage, we went for supper at his sister we took the train and we went to Mosul.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:34:35):
Tell me about your wedding. Was it a big wedding? When was it?
Mida Bassous (00:34:40):
The weddings in Baghdad were not that big, it was a henne [ph] that was big and I had that big hanni [ph] the party, a big party with belly dancers and all that. Yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:34:54):
How many people?
Mida Bassous (00:34:56):
I don't know a lot, I can't tell, a hundred, 200, I don't remember [LS: where, in your house?] In our house. It was a big house.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:35:06):
And you had a [hanni] and then the wedding was a ceremony?
Mida Bassous (00:35:09):
It was at slatt mir a twig [ph] [overlap] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mir a twig, yeah, the wedding and after the wedding, we went for supper to my sister in law. Then we took the train and we left. And that was a first in Baghdad.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:35:31):
So your honeymoon was in Mosul? So you stayed in Mosul?
Mida Bassous (00:35:34):
Yeah. For, I dunno, maybe a week or two. [LS: did you like it] Yes [laughs]. Everything was new to me. I was young, you know, everything was my husband travelled when he was young, he went to Paris to the Alliance Israelite Francais, he studied there in Paris. He but he didn't want to become a teacher. So when he came back to Baghdad he didn't, uh, go to the Alliance to teach. He worked at Rose Debach [ph[ and slowly became one of the top executives.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:36:17):
And Rose Debach was THE department store`
Mida Bassous (00:36:20):
The department store. Yeah. The only department, he used to use also to be, uh, one of the, um, uh, buyers and, uh, traveled every year Europe and, uh, the States to buy merchandise. As a matter of fact when Yolande was born he wasn't in Baghdad. He was, uh, in, uh, Geneva or Milano on a, on a buying trip for Rose Debach
Lisette Shahsoua (00:36:53):
Wow. And Rose Debach was established by two Hungarian Jews
Mida Bassous (00:36:59):
they're Jews. But the mother, uh, place, uh, there were not Jews anymore in France. There were not Jews, but the original, they were Jews I think, from Czechoslovakia.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:37:14):
Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, so tell me about what he did in Rose Debach because the pictures you have are amazing. Uh, what, he was like, the,
Mida Bassous (00:37:28):
One of the managers, one of the CEOs, a buyer, you know, he was,
Lisette Shahsoua (00:37:34):
So he mixed a lot with the foreigners.
Mida Bassous (00:37:37):
Yeah. We were. I, when I got married, I started having the experience to be mixed with a lot of foreigners going out with them. I learned how to cook and how to bake all kinds of European, uh, recipes.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:37:54):
And did you have a mai- did you have help at home? Did you have a maid or cook?
Mida Bassous (00:38:00):
When I first got married? No. When we didn't have children and something else, my husband insisted on not to have children right away. So we had Yolande after five years of marriage. Everyone thought that I, you know, I we're no good [laughs] at that time. I had a little girl who used to help me, you know, with the cleaning and all, a Jewish girl from the poor quarter of Baghdad. But when Yolande was born, I had a nanny.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:38:41):
Yolande is your oldest.
Mida Bassous (00:38:42):
Yolanda was born in Baghdad. [overlap] Yes. [overlap] And then Chantal is born here in 1956. And that's the only, only two, only two.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:38:58):
Wonderful Okay. So now tell me, once you got married, you had your, your life was with Rose Debach with the foreigners it was a beautiful life
Mida Bassous (00:39:07):
It was a pleasant, it was a pleasant, uh, life also, I learned how to use all the kind of forks and knives and things to the first time. I didn't know how, we went to the hotel [laughs]. I used to wait until they start eating, taking this and that and then I'll do it. Yeah. I don't know if you know what I mean. You know, they, they put for the fish for the, uh, uh, all kinds of cutleries I didn't know how to use them [laughs]. [overlap] Yeah. Yeah. So I used to wait until to see what my husband is starting with, so that I'll do the same thing. [laughs] ntil I got accustomed to it.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:39:57):
Yeah. The fish knife was very different.
Mida Bassous (00:40:00):
Yeah. Very different. Yeah. The fish knife and the fish fork also was very different. [overlap]
Lisette Shahsoua (00:40:12):
So, um, tell me what happened once Israel was created in 48. Okay.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:40:18):
Well, of course, things became difficult for the Jews to survive. Whether to go to universities, whether to get license for a business and all that. Um, then my husband, uh, decided at the time, when the Jews started to leave You know, in 50 51, my husband didn't want to go to Israel. Everyone went, Rose Debach promised him to be stationed somewhere in Europe and do the same thing he's doing and buy the merchandise. Uh, then, uh, Palestinians started to come, refugees, and some of them were employed at Rose Debach and I don't know what happened and the French at the time and until today, they play against the Jews, always Palestinians so, they renegated Ttat they wouldn't send him to Europe so we were stuck. And the, uh, and the, and to go to Israel, they, uh, program also 50 51 was over.
Mida Bassous (00:41:55):
So we didn't know what to do. We were counting on living in Europe. Uh, so Rose Debach didn't want a Jew anymore, [LS: even in Europe] Yeah. They didn't want
Mida Bassous (00:42:15):
So the only door open was Canada. So we applied and came to Canada, London wasn't good. This stage you have a, you know, quota. So we applied to come to Canada [overlap], in 19- that was in the fifties.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:42:38):
But wasn't it when you applied from France? You went to France
Mida Bassous (00:42:41):
No, we applied in Baghdad from the British consulate because there was no Canadian. And the papers had to be processed later on in London or Europe to finish it. My husband made a mistake. He was so much against the British that when we left, we didn't take a visa to London. He could have. Rose Debach- [LS: Why was he against the British?] Because we applied from the British consulate and the papers are in London. If we go to London, we have our immigration right away because they accepted us.
Mida Bassous (00:43:33):
He didn't take a visa just because he didn't like the British. [LS: Why didn't he like them?] Like, he doesn't like them because they were not, they were always playing against the Jews and the Jews against the Christians and the Christians against the, uh, Arabs, you know? [overlap] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were not, they were not very, you saw what they did in Palestine. Also the British, when the Jews wanted to come in and all that, uh, they were very nasty. Anyway. So we got the visa provided we have the medical and all that, uh, to finish it, if not in London, they told us anywhere in Europe.
Mida Bassous (00:44:26):
So we had friends in Milano, we decided to go on vacation so we went to Italy, we stayed a month. We didn't get in touch, you know, with anybody or we had a good time. I had someone to take care of Yolande. Yolande was one year old. When the time came, we thought we would go to Rome and get the final for the visa. When my husband went, they said, we cannot do it.
Mida Bassous (00:45:07):
We sent, we were sent a letter to Baghdad that they cannot, but we left already. We didn't get that letter. And if you want your visa, your immigration visa to Canada, we have to start from the beginning. From the beginning. It will take a long time. And we didn't know the language. We only had this friend in Milano. yeah. I don't know if you know the family, the Rosenfeld, they're not, they're not Iraqi. So we knew because my husband was in France and we both knew French we a, decided to go to Paris. Paris the same story, the consulate was very, very anti Semitic. He said he wouldn't give us and they wrote to Baghdad to get like from the CID. Uh, you know, that we are not criminals, Baghdad would not give it, refused. And in order to prove, we have to stay two years that we are not, uh, you know, unwanted or anything that was too much, two years what to do. And eventually we did almost [chuckles]
Mida Bassous (00:46:40):
So we knew someone, a lawyer in London, in New York. We didn't know anyone here. And the sen- uh, Jewish, uh, lawyer specializing in immigration. And he knew someone, a lawyer here in the parliament, and this took a year and a half. We stayed in Paris for a year and a half until we got our immigration visa. [LS: And you were spending from your capital] Of course, of course, we spent most of it, we lived in a hotel. At first I had someone to take care of Yolande so that we can go around. We were in a hotel, very nice hotel, uh, at the, you know, you know, Paris? Uh, we lived in a fifth arondissement uh, just across from cafe Les Deux Magots. Actually, I have a picture with Yolande at the cafe of Deux Magots I don't know where it is, but then it was beginning to be hard. You know, I had to spend so much money. We moved to a smaller hotel near the Louxembourg. And, uh, we stayed there a few months after we got our visa. So Yolande learned French already in Paris. And we spoke with her English when she came here two years and a half, she was fully bilingual.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:48:21):
Oh, wonderful. And then you had, uh, your other daughter here.
Mida Bassous (00:48:28):
And then after, in 1956 I had another daughter here.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:48:35):
That's wonderful. And how has it been here? How did you settle in Canada?
Mida Bassous (00:48:41):
I settled, uh, easily because I was so much used to this kind of life. It, uh, I don't remember. I had a, I had a hard time. I didn't even remember having a hard time when I had my second daughter being by myself.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:49:03):
Well, yeah. Your second daughter, you were by yourself?
Mida Bassous (00:49:06):
Yeah. Uh, when I, when Chantal was born, some other story, I don't know if you want to hear all that.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:49:17):
Of course it's your story. This is for your family.
Mida Bassous (00:49:22):
Uh, well, when I was expecting Chantal and the time came in the morning, I felt maybe, you know, I started to have a contractions and my husband was at work. I called him and I said, I think I'm going to have the baby. We moved to a new apartment. We had one bedroom, one bedroom. We moved to a two bedroom because I was having another child. He said, uh, he said, okay, you go to the hospital and call me when you get there. He wasn't in Baghdad when I gave birth to Yolande. So he doesn't know what what [laughs]. I had people to come to install the washing machine and all that. I was supposed to give birth on the 7th of November. And I started having contraction on 23rd of October. So I wasn't quite ready. I was getting ready with the things. My husband doesn't know how to do nothing. So I said, okay, but the guy was there and he was fixing the things. And the contractions started to come more often. I called the doctor. He said, come to the hospital when it's every five minutes, that's all I needed to hear. So I stayed home until he finishes. I have the contractions. I'll sit on this chair it will go away. And then [laughs], I don't know. I wasn't scared.
Mida Bassous (00:51:14):
Finally, I had a neighbor who had a baby maybe a month before she came. She said Mida what you are doing, you're going to have the baby. I said, I don't know about this one it didn't finish. I'm waiting [laughs], she said I'll stay with your Yolande. Take a taxi. I had nobody here, take a taxi and go to the hospital. I took a taxi. I arrived at the hospital. Uh, 12:28. Chantal was born at 12:35 maybe. They had no time. They had no time to do anything [laughs] And the funniest thing, I thought the nurse to call my husband and to tell him that I gave birth. She said, the doctor does it. I said, the doctor doesn't have his number. I don't think he will call him. Please call him. She didn't believe me. So she called him. She told him your wife gave birth [laguhs]. He asked her a boy and a girl? She told him a surprise [laughs] No, he didn't know what to expect. He didn't know whether something wrong, whether it's a, he didn't know. Then he came [laughs] As soon as he came, he asked me, are you okay? I said I'm okay. Is the baby ok? I said, yes. Why [laughs]? So he told me what happened.
Mida Bassous (00:53:04):
And even then, you know, uh, I don't remember. I was really uh, very, uh, I don't know. It wasn't traumatic for me. I just took it the way it is. Uh, came home with the baby with a sink full of dirty dishes, husband [laughs] All I knew is to boil water [laughs].
Lisette Shahsoua (00:53:39):
In the electric kettle [repeats] you knew how to boil water in an electric kettle? [MB: yeah. So tell me now, when you came here, how did you find the job? How did your husband find the job?
Mida Bassous (00:54:00):
Uh, it was, uh, I think he went to JIAS. At the time he got the job and then it didn't work. And then he got a job in a department store, actually, in a department store. And, uh, from the department store, he worked for a company. Uh, I dunno, I forgot the name, a Jewish company. He had nice job. Um, he wasn't paid, you know, as he should have been paid. And, uh, they tell, they told him that he should look for something better. He worked for Hitachi eventually as a salesman, until he retired, he worked for Hitachi. [LS: and did you work?] No he doesn't want, he didn't want me to work [laughs]. Typical Iraqi.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:54:55):
Did you want to work?
Mida Bassous (00:54:59):
I wanted to do, I didn't want to be dependent all the time, all my life you know, I never missed any money with my family. As I told you you know but it wasn't the exactly for the money. It was for the idea that I wanted to feel independent and not ask for things that I wanted to buy. And by accident or by a fate or something, I like to sew. And I used to fix my neighbor's things, and she always insisted on paying me. And paying me at that time. It was like, belittling myself. I didn't want to. She said, no, no, no. This is Canada. So she came and she used to pay me $2 for a hem. And she told her mother, and she told her friend and her friend told her friend and this time. And then I built a clientele and I used to do alteration all the time, but not for Iraqis. [LS: Did you tell the Iraqis or (inaudible)] They knew, they all knew I was doing alterations, but I would, I didn't take any Iraqis. I didn't want [laughs], Maybe misplaced pride, but I didn't want [chuckles], so I used to have my pocket money or to buy what I wanted or to travel or to do things.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:56:39):
Oh, wow. So you did work after that?
Mida Bassous (00:56:42):
I did work, but you know what, with the Iraqis, working like this is like lowering your, uh, not now, not your generation, my generation [laughs]
Lisette Shahsoua (00:57:00):
Were there a lot of Iraqis when you came? Iraqi Jews?
Mida Bassous (00:57:03):
Not too many. There were the 1953, we came 54. There were the Mashaal. And there were, um, the Salah, there were about five, six families. Uh, th e Chitayat [ph], the Shahin, Naji Shain. Actually the Shahins were a lot of help for me, a lot. That was the biggest support I had was from Violet Shahin you know, David and, uh, Eddie's, mother. Yolande grew up with them. You know, we used to go there all the time. We used to spend the holidays with their place. They were like family to me. Yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:57:54):
And, uh, Mavis Shahmoon.
Mida Bassous (00:57:56):
And of course, uh, there were, it was here, uh, Mavis and her husband, they used to invite all the, uh, the newcomers [LS: all the yong people]. Yeah, yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (00:58:09):
Yeah. So, uh, now, uh, let me see. So tell me about, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the synagogue here. Did you continue? Did you join the synagogue?
Mida Bassous (00:58:33):
Did I? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We used to go, and, my husband used to go every Saturday, actually to the Spanish. And before we became members, also, we used to go, we went before it was arranged for the Iraqis to become uh members
Lisette Shahsoua (00:58:56):
Tell me a question. When you left behind in Iraq, did you leave a lot behind
Mida Bassous (00:59:04):
You mean property and things like that? [LS: yes, yes]
Mida Bassous (00:59:10):
My husband didn't leave anything. I left from my father a lot because he used to work in real estate. He was a banker and, um, he managed, you know, to take care of his finances before he died. But, uh, he couldn't sell any of the, uh, yeah, they're still in Baghdad. [LS: when did he die?] My father died, um, in April 1st, 1950, just after the law came for the Jews to leave. Uh, yeah. [LS: And, and they froze the properties. They froze the] yeah, well, they didn't freeze it afterwards. You know, we left, we left it. That's all it was left, but my mother was, as I told you, my mother was very, very sharp, very, um,
Mida Bassous (01:00:28):
When they started, the Iraq is, you know, tasqit to go, uh, it started in in March, March, 1950. My father died in April just a month or so after, uh, she had
Mida Bassous (01:00:50):
to take care of, you know, certain finances. My brother was about 18 years old. Um,
Mida Bassous (01:01:01):
She dedcided, my sisters. I asked my father when he was still alive, whether they can go to Israel at that time, this class of, uh, Jews didn't go, but he told them, okay. He told them, I remember he told them we shouldn't do the same mistake that the Germans did, if you want to go go.
Mida Bassous (01:01:32):
So they registered my mother, one of my brothers, they didn't register because they wanted to take care of my father's, uh, finances. And they did it in a way because they owed money and money owed to them, you know, as a banker and I got pregnant and she decided to stay until I give birth. But, and then she did
Mida Bassous (01:02:04):
register with my brother. And one day she told my brother I'm going to the office. And she had a lot of money, liquid money. Uh, I dunno, several hundred thousand, uh, dinars. It was Saturday. He said, mommy, Saturday, she, she told him, saturday we go saturday you open the office. And we take the money. The next day, everything was frozen [LS: wow] Everything was frozen for those who registered to go.
Mida Bassous (01:02:44):
She was very sharp.
Mida Bassous (01:02:48):
So they had, they were, they were quite comfortable when they went to Israel. They are all my sisters and my mother, they bought their, both their condos or their homes. And they're okay. They're okay with what was left.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:03:06):
Yeah, of course.
Mida Bassous (01:03:15):
Cause we couldn't take much the money that we had and we had to transfer it somewhere. Although the Zilka at the time used to take [inaudible], I think he used to take about 20% of [LS: the banker?] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:03:32):
Wow. So they went to Israel. They were, they were not in maabarot.
Mida Bassous (01:03:44):
No, no. I had a cousin in Israel who went there in the forties, I think. And he was settled. When he knew that my sisters and my brothers, they went with my grandmother and aunt to Israel with this program. As I told you, my mother stayed behind, they went to the mahbarot, he went there and took him, took them to his place, and then they were able to buy a place for themselves, uh, you know, after that.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:04:28):
Okay. Now, um, tell me about your, uh, your heritage, the Iraqi Jewish heritage? You preserved it here, right? You kept the heritage.
Mida Bassous (01:04:40):
Yes. Yeah, yeah, [overlap] yeah, yeah, yeah. The food, I'm not kosher, but, uh, we, I cook, you know, I always cook the Iraqi food or bake the Iraqi baking and all that. Yeah. [LS: you still cook?] Yeah. And that's why I came here because I couldn't cook anymore [laughs].
Lisette Shahsoua (01:05:05):
What is the most important part of your heritage, your, your, your, uh, uh, Jewish Iraqi, your Babylonian Jewish background. What's the most important of your, uh Jewish background?
Mida Bassous (01:05:22):
I am proud to be a, a Jew first. I am proud to be a Babylonian Jew, when they ask me and, uh, they always ask, are you Ashkenaz or are you Sepharad? And I always tell them I am none. I am the descendant of the Babylonian Jews, and I are very proud of it.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:05:47):
I have to learn to say that. Uh, so what do you consider your identity? Are you your identity? What is your identity? Are you
Mida Bassous (01:05:57):
My identity? I think a Iraqi. [overlap] Well, I feel okay. I feel good with myself being a Iraqi and Canadian. Yeah. [overlap] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mida Bassous (01:06:18):
Okay. Do you consider yourself a refugee or you consider yourself an immigrant?
Mida Bassous (01:06:30):
Not a refugee. We came as a refugees. We came because a, I didn't mention, but when we got the, when we got to the visa to Canada, we had no passport. We had nothing. So we came with a as refugees with a French laisser passer.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:06:50):
But when you came here, did they help you as a refugee? Did they give you anything?
Mida Bassous (01:06:54):
No, we didn't ask. We didn't ask neither. Uh, the, uh, Jewish communities and or others. We didn't ask,
Lisette Shahsoua (01:07:07):
Even though you would have been entitled?
Mida Bassous (01:07:10):
Uh, probably, probably, but, uh, my, my husband wouldn't. All he asked for is to find him a job.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:07:22):
Where do you consider home? Home? What is home for you
Mida Bassous (01:07:27):
Here? Now? Home is here for me now. Yeah.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:07:33):
Uh, and the identity, the identity you want to pass to your grandchildren to achieve? What is the identity you want to pass to them?
Mida Bassous (01:07:43):
I guess Iraqi identity. The Iraqi identity. [overlap] Yeah. Iraqi ewish.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:07:54):
Did, did, was there an impact on you, this immigration on your life? What impact did it have on your experience in life? What impact,
Mida Bassous (01:08:07):
What the impact, the immigration coming here? Can I read it? Yes. [overlap]
Mida Bassous (01:08:17):
What impact did the refugee experience have on your life? Really not much. Not much, because I am very easy to, first of all, I was exposed to this kind of life to this kind of society and it didn't, it didn't bother me to immediately. I don't know how to say it. [LS: it was not a culture shock] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I felt comfortable with the Canadians, whether Jews or non Jews. We had friends even here. Actually, we had a very, very good German friends, but I could get along with any, anyone. And I didn't have any difficulty at all to, uh, to communicate or to do things I didn't.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:09:28):
Well, obviously yu never went back to Iraq? [MB: No, of course] How about Israel? Have you been back to Israel?
Mida Bassous (01:09:35):
Israel? I think I've been more than 25 times while my mother was alive. And after my husband passed away for more than 20 years, I think I went every year to spend the winter there.
Lisette Shahsoua (01:09:52):
Wow. Instead of Florida,
Mida Bassous (01:09:54):
I went, when my husband was alive, I went a few times, but when he passed away, uh, it was easy and their children were growing up. I used to go every year for two months. [LS: Wow] I think I met you once at the airport, in Toronto
Lisette Shahsoua (01:10:14):
Or on the plane?
Mida Bassous (01:10:16):
Once on the plane. And once in Toronto, changing to come to Montreal. [LS: I think I remember that] Yeah, yeah. Yeah but once on the plane yes I remember [laughs]
Lisette Shahsoua (01:10:35):
Ok now my last question is, what message. What is the message, the message you would like to give to anyone who might listen to this interview?
Mida Bassous (01:10:54):
Just to be natural, say what they feel and say what they like, and if they have anything to complain about to complain, but I have nothing to complain about [laughs].
Lisette Shahsoua (01:11:10):
Beautiful. God bless you. Thank you so much. [MB: Oh, you're welcome]
Lisette Shahsoua (01:11:14):
Thank you for sharing your story with Sephardi voices. Thank you for your lovely interview. Your wonderful spirit and-
Mida Bassous (01:11:25):
Thank you. Thank you for trusting me on coming to see me [laughs]. Yeah.