Life & contribution
Baghdad-born writer and public servant whose fiction explores Iraqi Jewish migration, identity and Arab-Jewish relations.
Detailed biography & historical context
Baghdad-born writer and public servant whose fiction explores Iraqi Jewish migration, identity and Arab-Jewish relations.
The documented record currently assembled for Eli Amir includes the following: Born in Baghdad in 1937 and arrived in Israel in 1950, experiences that later became central material in his fiction. His novels, including Scapegoat and Farewell Baghdad, explore Iraqi Jewish memory, migration, language and the social encounter with Israel.
This figure is important to the literary history of Iraqi Jews because writing became a way to preserve language, memory and the experience of belonging to Iraq before and after migration. The record also shows the continuing relationship between Arabic, Hebrew and diaspora literary cultures.
Archive classification: Literature & Public Service. Recorded life dates/status: born 1937.
This profile synthesizes the documentary sources listed below; where the record is limited or contested, the dossier avoids unsupported detail.
Additional documented context
- Born in Baghdad in 1937 and arrived in Israel in 1950, experiences that later became central material in his fiction.
- His novels, including Scapegoat and Farewell Baghdad, explore Iraqi Jewish memory, migration, language and the social encounter with Israel.
Documentary references
Additional biographical details are tied to the source records below.
Permanent ID · IJHDA-PER-0011
This biographical figure record is integrated into Discover Jewish Iraq from the Virtual Embassy’s Iraqi Jewish heritage collection.