Libraries in conflict areas

08/10/2020

Wednesday, October 21 from 4pm to 6pm, the conference "Libraries in conflict areas. The case of Mosul University library before and after the war in Iraq" will take place in the Conference Hall of the UAB Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology. Based on the experience of Mohammed Jasim Aal-Hajiahmed, the recent history of northern Iraq and the current situation in the region will be announced, as well as the role of documentary heritage in war zones. 

Mohammed Jasim Aal-Hajiahmed was director of the Mosul library before the city was taken over by the Islamic State in early June 2014. In an interview in La Vanguardia, he commented: "June 5, 2014 was the last day that I worked in the library, without being aware of them. They were difficult times for academics, we had to change the route from home to work every day because we were on the lists of terrorists, who stopped and killed at their discretion. The attacks intensified and we decided to end the day early. I closed the library and went home. "

Much of the city was destroyed and the library assumed, during the three years that the Islamic State occupied the city, the center of operations of the Islamists. Finally, in 2017, before Mosul was released, the EI set fire to the library, causing the destruction of thousands of bibliographic and manuscript jewels.

Currently, Mohammed lives with his family in Castellar del Vallès thanks to a collaboration agreement signed between the UAB and the FAS - Reception Program for people in search of refuge - and this town. He is currently writing the doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Translation and Interpretation of the UAB.

The event is organized by the FAS, the UAB Library Service and the faculties of Philosophy and Letters, Translation and Interpretation and Political Sciences and Sociology.

Please follow the health indications for the covid-19, as in the Pla de contingència UAB. To attend the event, prior registration is required.