The history of the Jews in Burma - interview with Sammy Samuels

The family of U Aung Soe Lwin (or who is more commonly known as Sammy Samuels) has had a long presence in Myanmar.  His grandfather arrived from Iraq in the 1890s and the family has lived in Yangon since that time. Sammy's father, Moses, died in 2015 and the family is now headed by Sammy.  It is thought the first Jew of record in Burma was Solomon Gabirol who in 1755 was a commissar to King Alaungpaya.   During the British colonial times the Jewish population grew to around 3000, but since then has continued to shrink, such that now there are only a handful of Jews with Myanmar citizenship.Sammy's family has had a close relationship with the sole synagogue in the country over three generations - see episode photo. The cost of upkeep of the synagogue has largely fallen to Sammy's family business, Myanmar Shalom (https://www.myanmarshalom.com/).With thanks to Julie L.  Kessler (https://www.vagabondlawyer.com/) who introduced me to Sammy and for the photo of the synagogue used for this podcast.Please feel free to contact me with suggested interviewees at church.peter@gmail.com.Thank you for listening .Peter Church

Om Podcasten

Oral histories of Myanmar - life stories; some starting as far back as the late 1920’s.From my years of involvement in Myanmar I have become aware of the increasing scarcity of the generation of Myanma citizens who were born during the colonial period and have lived through the tumultuous years since that time. For me, these men and women are "national treasures" whose experience, perseverance and wisdom gained during their long lives will be lost unless we capture their stories in some way. To this end I have decided to interview a number of these elderly citizens. My hope is that these interviews will be of interest to historians, sociologists and other researchers in the future as well as for the family and friends of those interviewed.