Last Letter

Sasson Shalom Dallal

1949

Dear Brother:

It is an enchanting evening. The wind has been blowing steadily the whole day. It suddenly dropped at nightfall. All is still. There is no stir in the air. The world seems fast asleep. I cannot sleep. It is hard to sleep knowing that tomorrow at dawn I will die. Ever since I was arrested, I wanted to write to you. I was not sure of…

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Creator Bio

Sasson Shalom Dallal

1929–1949

Born in Baghdad, Sasson Shalom Dallal was a member of the League for the Struggle against Zionism, an organization concerned with thwarting Zionist efforts to form a two-state system—Jewish and Arab—in Mandatory Palestine. From their perspective on the far left, Dallal and like-minded Iraqis were convinced that such a political system would serve the interests only of colonialists and the Jewish bourgeoisie. The background of such concerns was the continuing effort of Great Britain to maintain its imperial sway in the Middle East and the Iraqi government’s hostility toward communism. For about four months in 1949, Dallal was head of the Iraqi Communist Party, but in the end, like some of his leftist comrades before him, the twenty-year-old was hanged by the state.

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