Sayfo; Village of Kafshenne

Village of Kafshenne

This village had about 25 Syriac families at the time of Sayfo. Their priest, Father Shemun Shirine, worked in the Church of Our Lady. When the reports came in of the massacres, the Muslims in the village told them they will not harm them, but it is better for you to move to Beth Zabdai (Azekh). Then the Syriac families took everything they could carry and moved to Beth Zabdai, where they stayed during the time of the persecution and joined the Syriac community there in the battle for Beth Zabdai which lasted forty days, without the town being conquered. The Turkish army and its Kurdish allies had to retreat after not being able to conquer the village.

Afterwards, the Syriac families returned to Kafshenne and stayed there until 1919. Then they left the village and moved to Mosul where they settled and were welcomed and helped by the Syriac community in Mosul