Five years after volunteers braved Islamic State mortars and explosives to rescue thousands of books from Mosul University’s iconic library, the institution is set to re-open in the coming months, even as it struggles to rebuild its collection. For VOA Halan Akoiy reports from Mosul with Heather Murdock in Istanbul.
At the end of 2016, Islamic State militants retreated to the western side of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition forces overran the east.
In the months that followed, teachers and students from Mosul University took stock of what was left of their once-famous library on the east side of the city. They collected thousands of books from the bombed and burnt-out structure, which housed about a million titles before the war.
Muhannad Al-Haji, University of Mosul Student:
“Islamic State militants had drones and targeted us when we went to the university. They knew where we were gathering and bombed us. No one was killed but we had to stop work for two days.”
Five years later, much of Mosul remains in ruins, but not the library. The building has been rebuilt and refurnished. Rows of empty shelves await the rescued books along with tens of thousands of books donated by both local and international sources.
The library is expected to open in the early months of this year, when the books will be moved out of storage. But volunteers say it is still lacking many resources – including the hundreds of thousands of books that were lost in the war.
Joanna Hussein, Former Student and Volunteer: “We need access to international journals publishing modern research as well as new books. We cannot get them, despite resources on the internet.”
IS militants captured much of Iraq and Syria, including Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in 2014 but lost all their territory four years later as their forces were crushed. The battle of Mosul was a gruesome nine-month, block-to-block fight that left thousands of civilians dead and many more homeless.
Since then, many families have rebuilt their homes and businesses and aid groups have restored many public spaces, like the Mosul Library. But the library’s head says rebuilding their lives has been much harder.
Saif Al-Ashker, Mosul University Library:
“When we returned to the library, our hearts where crying and bleeding from sadness and frustration. We, the people of Mosul, lost so many people. I lost my father and my home.”
Mosul residents say the coming reopening of the library is a step towards restoring the city’s ancient reputation as a center for culture and education. But, they say, extreme poverty and neglect in much of Mosul makes the library appear to be only a glimmer of hope in what they consider to be a dark and uncertain future.
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