Literature and Art

The literary and artistic forms during captivity were employed in order to improve the morale of the prisoners and neutralize the propagandas of the Baathist enemy.

Literature and art played a significant role in creating vitality and dynamism of the prisoners during the resistance period in the prisons of the Saddam regime, and on most occasions, the tools of literature and art were used in a suitable way to maintain and improve the morale of the prisoners and neutralize the venomous propagandas of the Saddam regime. Of course, this matter depended on the atmosphere of the camp and the number of men of letter & art. In some camps, such as the Mosul camps, due to the presence of artists, this category had a more considerable quantity and quality, and in some other camps, it was less prosperous due to the number of literati and artists. But what is important is that this tool has been used in captivity during all stages of resistance period.

Literature

Poetry

Throughout the period of captivity, captive poets rendered significant services to their fellow prisoners by composing poems in different formats and with political, social, revolutionary, religious, mystical and satirical themes and played a significant role in maintaining their morale. These poems were written in the form of sonnets, odes, masnavis, quatrains, couplets and modern poetry and can be evaluated at different levels depending on the poet's mastery of poetry.

In some camps, because of the security situation, poets were not known by everybody except for the cultural activists or mangers and their poems were read out in public without their names being mentioned, however, in other camps with more agreeable circumstances everyone knew the poems and normally the poet recited his own poems and even if he wasn’t there, other people read out his poems in full acknowledgement . Although for political poems the poet`s name wasn’t mentioned unless he himself chose to do so.

In some camps, poets did not communicate with each other. But in other camps, poets secretly held literary meetings and read out their poems to each other and criticized them. These meetings were effective in developing talents and enriching poems, as well as giving morale to the prisoners in the camp. Among other things, in the Mosul camps, poets were in contact with each other, and even in the Mosul 1 camp, a poetry association was formed and weekly meetings were held. In this secret association, the camp's cultural managers, through their contact, who was a member of the association, would order poems for any occasion, and the contact would ask the members of the association to write poems on the desired topic, and after the poem was composed and critiqued, it would be handed over to the cultural officer of the camp and he in return would provide it to the cultural officials of the rooms. In this regard, they usually chose the best poems to present in the programs. Hymns were also written and performed by the members of the association.

Poetry festivals were held under the guidance of the association. In the Mosul 1 camp, a poetry festival was held during the ten days of Fajr, and all the poets recited poems related to the Islamic Revolution. A lamentation was also held on the occasion of Imam Khomeini's death by the same association in 1368 in Mosul 1. Among the other activities of the association was the holding of poetry debates especially to cap verses which were welcomed by all liberated captives. Designing a three-part show with a poetic dialect was another memorable action of the Poetry Society members. Poetry debates generally took on a theatrical aspect and in some cases, were held with humorous content.

Political poems

The political poems usually were about Imam Khomeini and Islamic revolution and sometimes on the occasion of victory on the frontline, poems were written by the liberated captive poets. Some of the political poems dealt with the remonstration against Saddam's regime and the tyrant himself. In general, the Baathists were sensitive to all poems, but their sensitivity was double when it came to political poems. The poet was severely tortured if disclosed. According to Abdul Hossein Jalalund, in one case, when a piece of political poetry fell into the hands of the Baathists in Tikrit Camp 11, the person who took responsibility for writing it was taken to solitary confinement and severely tortured in such a way that he was unable to walk for six months as he had been whipped so ruthlessly on the soles of his feet.

The poets mostly learned their poems off by heart for security reasons and If they were to be recited at a circle, the cultural officials would dispose of the poet`s hand-written version lest it might fall into the hands of Iraqis.

Humorous poets

Humorous poets were the most popular at the time of resistance. Seyyed of LCs, Abu Torabifard in all the camps encouraged the poets to compose humorous poems and read them out in public. He was trying to raise their hopes by creating sense of humor and cheerfulness. Because of that so many hilarious poems were composed . Some of these poems lingered in the minds of the listeners for a long time, and sometimes, some of its verses were referred to and expanded the minds of the listeners. Humorous poems were mostly read out during Nowruz and religious holidays. These poems mostly originated in Mosul camps, especially Mosul 1.

Anthem

The arrangement of the anthem sometimes was so hard and took a lot of time. In some camps every room had one singing group ; naturally the camp singing group consisted of those with fairly good voices and they gave public performances . Some anthems were liked a lot and were engraved in their hearts.

The hymns had different forms and themes: uplifting and sublime hymns; visual hymns; humorous hymns (some of the hymns were performed in a theatrical and humorous form. The performance of such hymns created a sensation good costumes and make-up were considered for them); and hymns that were used as incidental music; A collection of hymns that was played at a certain time and at the request of listeners and viewers. The singing official was in great danger, especially because the musical performance was quite ostentatious and tended to attract attention of Iraqis.

Essay and Declamation

Along with poetry and hymns, essays and poem recitals were performed on special occasions, and If necessary, texts in the form of essays or speeches were delivered by those familiar with rhetoric, and oratory The essays or speeches were supposed to be terse and to the point sometimes due to the lack of time and not to mention writing wares. The Essays and speeches were mostly used during religious and national holidays.

Sometimes an essay writing contest on the topic of the Islamic Revolution was held during the celebration of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and after judgement, prizes were awarded to the authors of the best essays. The best essayist or the winner would read out his essay to the audiences during the Fajr period.

story

Story-writing was one of the other domains challenging some captive writers during the resistance period. This domain was not as extensive as poetry and had a narrower range of audience. In the camps where pen and paper were put at the disposal of captives in the middle of the resistance period and the Red Cross delegations provided them to the prisoners, several writers tried to write medium and long stories or novels. The text of the story was written in good handwriting in a notebook and was made available to those interested. Readers would finish reading the story within one to two weeks and provide it to the next applicant. The reception of the stories depended on the content and style of writing and its author. Therefore, some stories were shared throughout the camp and others were used in one or two rooms.

In Mosel 1 camp, 2 or 3 stories which had good plots, were dramatized, staged, and received a lot of attention. These three stories were written by Ahmad Rezaei Hassan Abadi and Daud Haddadi.

Dramatic Literature

One of the most effective areas of art, followed by many enthusiasts, was plays or dramatic literature. The staged plays mostly represented political, religious, and humorous issues. The political plays were influenced by the political and revolutionary circumstances, and were staged a few times in the year. The religious plays too were staged on a limited scale. Humorous plays were more popular and…

See also

• Literature in captivity
• Painting in captivity
• Engraving and embroidery in captivity
• Design in captivity
• Calligraphy in captivity
• Show in captivity
• Poetry in captivity
• Captivity in poetry