Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

Sounds.

Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast on the BBC World Service,

first-hand accounts of events that have shaped our world.

I'm Mike Lanchin.

Today we're going back to the summer of 1971 when around 2,000 Iraqi Jews were forced

to flee Iraq following persistent threats and persecution.

I've been speaking to one man who was a teenager when he and his family was smuggled

over the mountains to safety.

My father started by apologizing. I am very sorry to what I'm going to be asking you to do. It's August 1971 and a Jewish

father has gathered his family in the sitting room of their home in Baghdad to

give them some very difficult news.

We need to leave Iraq.

Today this very afternoon, he said.

You have two hours to get ready.

We are going to take a chance.

We have to believe in God and we have to believe that a better life is waiting for us.

...