The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutun (ARFD) came to the help of the Nazis in Baku, as they always did in crises and difficult times for Azerbaijan. That was no surprise, as at different times the party had always supported anti-Azerbaijani forces, with no concern for the different ideology of those forces, merely their opposition to the statehood of Azerbaijan. At different times, they assisted the representatives of the Tsarist authorities in their actions against Azerbaijan, endeavoured to set the British who came to Baku against the Musavat, helped the Bolsheviks to eliminate the local authorities and helped Denikin in his anti-Muslim actions. Then it was time for them to help the Fascists. According to L. Sergeyev, "the chief of the Gestapo, Heinrich Mueller, came to Baku and recruited Dashnaktsutun members to a fifth column." An extract of the report of SS Gruppenfuehrer H. Himmler says, "After my visit to Baku, I can ascertain that all reports of our agents from the Armenian nationalist organization Dashnaktsutun are completely confirmed. In particular, we can rely on the support of a certain hostile group of persons..." (From the Secret Police [Gestapo] archives mentioned at the Nuremberg trials)
"Himmler charged Mueller with many 'delicate missions which required a man unencumbered by excessive conscience." One of these "delicate" missions was the organization of so-called "fifth columns" on the territory of the possible enemy (the USSR). It was to accomplish this task that Mueller personally arrived in the USSR on 17 October, 1938 under the assumed name of Krause.
During his trip he visited all the border republics including Azerbaijan. Mueller-Krause arrived in our city as part of a delegation of German engineers checking equipment produced by Krupp & Co.
Mueller and his two agents first of all visited the brother of famous Dashnaktsutun activist, Teyliryan. The latter was arrested in Germany in 1921 for the murder of Turkish citizen Talat pasha in Charlottenburg, but soon afterwards was released thanks to the "efforts" of the very same Mueller. It was his relative, Serzhik Movsesyan living in Torgovaya Street, whom the Gruppenfuehrer visited under Teyliryan's protection for the purposes of recruitment.
Just like his terrorist relative, Movsesyan was a member of the ARFD and had taken an active part in preparations for the assassination of a Javanshir in Baku which was committed on 19 July, 1921 by Misak Tariakyan. Understanding that members of the ARFD were the best candidates for a "fifth column", Mueller-Krause passed instructions to his agent Movsesyan and left for Moscow to sign a secret agreement on cooperation with the NKVD.
As for Mueller's Baku period, there is a gap in the documents in the NKVD declassified archive. On the other hand, the Gestapo's archive files keep thorough records of names, surnames and addresses of Baku residents who were ARFD members and their direct supervisor, "Doctor Krause", dated October 1938. In the same place, there is a map showing vital strategic facilities and communications in Baku.
Fortunately, Soviet intelligence managed to uncover most of the Fascist Armenian agents in time. NKVD employees purged the addresses and places of secret meetings on the eve of the Tehran Conference.
During the NKVD interrogations, the agents confessed to receiving instructions from German resident "Doctor Krause", according to which they were to make an assassination attempt on Stalin not only in Azerbaijan but also in Tehran itself, where the saboteurs were to go if they could not liquidate the "father of the peoples" on his way there.
Obviously, it was under the impression of these documents that the directors of the film Tehran-43 gave the role of the chief Armenian terrorist to Armen Gigharkhanyan; the music was written by Garvarents and the main song was composed by Charles Aznavour, the son of an Armenian actor and Turkish songstress.
Armenian organizations cooperated with the Fascists not only in Azerbaijan.
"To J.V. Stalin, 29 May, 1944. The Armenian population lives in most regions of the Crimea. There are no large settlements with an Armenian population. The Armenian Committee established by the Germans actively cooperated with the Germans and carried out large-scale anti-Soviet work. The German intelligence organization Dromedar existed in Simferopol, headed by the former Dashnak general, Dro who arranged intelligence work against the Red Army and set up several Armenian committees for this purpose to conduct espionage and subversive activities in the rear of the Red Army and to assist the organization of volunteer Armenian legions. With the active participation of emigrants from Berlin and Istanbul, the Armenian national committees spread propaganda of an 'independent Armenia'.
"There were also so-called 'Armenian religious communities', which, besides religious and political matters, organized trade and small-scale industry among the Armenians. These organizations helped the Germans, especially by 'fundraising' to meet Germany's military needs. Armenian organizations formed the so-called 'Armenian Legion' which was maintained at the expense of Armenian communities. The NKVD considers it reasonable to remove all the Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians from the territory of Crimea. L. Beria."
The eviction of innocent people is an unjustifiable crime and the personality of Beria in this aspect is generally known. However, the case in question concerns confirmed information in respect of criminals.
We are aware of the Armenian organization Dro's contacts with the Fascists. In the war years the Armenian newpaper Hayastan was published and glorified the "exploits" of the Fascists.
"For instance, the Christian 'Lebanese Falange' had been controlled by the Abwehr and Gestapo since its establishment," M.M. Markov writes.
It is well known that a considerable number of Armenians were members of this organization at different times.
The laurels of the first Soviet intelligence officer-traitor, the communist Mata Hari, belong to an Armenian special service agent. "On 13 June the first incident of treason in intelligence occurred. Turkish resident Georgy Agabekov (who replaced Yakov Blumkin who had been recalled to Moscow for his association with Trotsky) fled. In the mid-1930s he became an agent of the special services of eight European states, including Belgium, England, France and Germany. In summer 1937 Agabekov was liquidated in the region of the French-Spanish border," Vsevolod Vladimirov writes.
Armenian armed units, whose leaders had previously been terrorists, also took part in military actions on the side of the Nazis. This information is taken from Armenian sources without any abridgement.
The centre of the Armenian Legion was located in Pulava. In the beginning of the war emigrants who had been living in Germany and France after the "Armenian genocide" arrived in the Armenian Legion.
By the end of 1942 two Armenian battalions, the 808th and 809th, had been sent to the front from Poland.
In the beginning of 1943 they were followed by the 810th, 812th and 813th, and in the second part of 1943 by the 814th, 815th and 816th. A total of 20,000 Armenians were sent to the front in that period.
New centres with training camps were established in the territory of Poltava Region. The training centre of the Armenian Legion was situated in Lokhvits. By May 1943 they had managed to form three field battalions of the Armenian Legion, the I/125th, I/198th and II/9th.
Besides field battalions, 22 construction, railway, transport and other subdivisions were formed of Armenian prisoners of war. They serviced the German army, but did not take part in combat operations.
The list, according to Armenian sources, is given below.
Distribution and organization of Armenian legions (22 November, 1943).
Heeresgruppe A Direct Attachments No 597 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 5. Army corps 7. Army 13. Infantry division 51. Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision XXXXIV. Armeekorps 17. Armee 144 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision XXXXIX. Gebiergkorps 17. Armee 146 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision Heeresgruppe Sud Direct Attachments 592 Armenische Nachschub Kompanie/Armenian auxiliary unit 8. Armee 591 Armenische Nachschub Kompanie/Armenian auxiliary unit 538 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 676 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 12 Armenische Eisenbahn-Bruckenbau-Kompanie/Armenian railway works convoy subdivision 4. Panzerarmee 606 Armenische Nachschub Kompanie/Armenian auxiliary unit 619 Armenische Nachschub Kompanie/Armenian auxiliary unit Befehlshaber Heeresgebiet Sud Oberfeld kommandantur 242 810 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion Heeresgruppe Mitte 9. Armee Koruck 532 I./125 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion II./9 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion 3. Panzerarmee LIX. Armeekorps 248 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 416 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision Heeresgruppe Nord Direct Attachments 413 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 16. Armee 254 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision 18. Armee I. Armeekorps 257 Armenische Bau-Kompanie/Armenian construction subdivision Befehlshaber Heeresgebiet Nord 281. Sicherungs-Division I./198 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion Wehrmacht Befehlshaber Ukraine 809 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion 814 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion Befehlshaber des Ersatzheeres Wehrkreis im Generalgouvernement Armenische Legion (Regiment) Legion-Fuehrer-Schule (Baitallon) Armenisches-Stamm-Baitallon/Armenian training or reserve subdivision Armenische Unterfuehrer-Kompanie/Armenian junior officers subdivision 815 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion 813 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion Oberbefehlshaber West Wehrmacht Befehlshaber Niederlande LXXXVIII. Armeekorps Infanterie-Division 719 812 Armenisches Infanterie-Bataillon/ Armenian infantry battalion.
And all this was going on before the the eyes of the USSR ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Dekanozov, a professional secret services agent who had been heading NKVD (Foreign Department) intelligence for a long time (in Berlin he led and coordinated the activities of both branches of the secret service, both the NKVD and GRU), and the chief of the NKVD residency, the second secretary of the embassy Amayak Kobulov, the brother of Beria's deputy, Bogdan Kobulov. Their activity in this sphere in the pre-war years remains a mystery!
As the above list shows, these subdivisions made up tangible assistance to fascism! Unlike the RLA (Russian Liberation Army) that was formed virtually of Soviet soldiers and officers who were prisoners of war, (the majority of the "white" ?migr?s refused to collaborate with the fascists, like for example, Gen Denikin in Paris), the Armenian units were formed of Armenians who had come from different parts of the world voluntarily. And only a few of them were German citizens.
December 1942. Germany. A murderer on whose head are thousands of lives, Armenian terrorist Gen Dro (Drastamat Kanayan) and the writer Garo Gevorkyan visited the "Reich aristocrat" Himmler and presented to him a book by Pastor Lepsius The Deadly Crusade of the Armenian People. About 30,000 Armenians responded to the call of Dro and Himmler to join the fascists. Dro repeatedly visited Armenian soldiers serving in punitive units and preached the ideas of Hitler's Nazism to them.
Here is just one line from Dro's biography.
"Drastamat Kanayan, alias Dro, threw a bomb from the crowd into the coach of Baku governor Nakashidze. The coach was shattered into splinters and the governor-general died immediately."
"This terrorist act, comparable to the sensational terrorist attacks against Pleve and Grand Prince Sergey", M. Varandyan says proudly, "will remain one of the most glorious deeds of the Armenian revolutionary union." Let us add, deeds slipping into fascism!
And something else. In the twilight of the Armenian Republic, in late 1920, Dro became minister of defence.
There is no doubt that in the event of a fascist victory, the punitive detachments in Azerbaijan would have consisted entirely of Dashnaktsutun members and the whole of Azerbaijan would have turned into Khodjaly!
Armenian detachments worked not only against the Azerbaijanis. According to the researcher E. Feigl, "the participation of Armenians in the war on the side of National-Socialist Germany was certainly aimed at eliminating the Jews". According to information from another researcher, Samuel Wims, over 100,000 Armenians took part in the destruction of the Jews in units of the Third Reich. And this Armenian attitude continues in contemporary history. Romen Yepiskoposyan's book National Systems has a chapter 8.6 entitled Murder Nation that begins with the following paragraph, "There are two nations in the contemporary world that carry out evil in the most concentrated and aggressive form. These are the Jews, the destroyer nation carrying out a mission of elimination and demoralization, and the Turks, the murder nation with a mission of annihilation and suppression." (Page 127) Studying the statements of Armenian leaders, writers and intellectuals and so on in contemporary history, it becomes clear that assistance to fascism from some Armenian forces was not accidental. In civilized Moscow, at a high-level reception, the "president" of "the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" Robert Kocharyan speaks of "ethnic incompatibility" and this causes no objections.
According to the Armenian mass media, in her speech at the inauguration of the Medical Blood Donor Centre Bella Kocharyan, spouse of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, said that this centre must collect "only Armenian blood" and the entire blood bank "must consist only of Armenian blood".
She said that this was because of the presence of "specific genetic factors" in Armenian blood and said that "only Armenian blood must be transfused to Armenians".
"The German state must include all Germans and set as its aim not only gathering and preserving the most valuable racial elements that we still have, no matter what, but also helping them gradually to take the dominating position...
"History knows of innumerable instances when a united race holds out and a mixed one dies in the same conditions...
"Our state will take systematic care of preserving the purity of the nation…"
These are Hitler's words.
Any expert of content analysis will tell you after reading those lines that the above remarks are identical in meaning and differ only in the detail. As a matter of fact, the guardian of the hearth and home of the Armenian president is repeating Hitler's words! And this is not surprising, for she is well aware of the ethnic views of her husband and his immediate entourage.
Andrey Bitov who dealt truck numerous blows in the information war against Baku during the Armenian aggression praises the Armenians, "How do they love children in Armenia? If it were not absurd to divide feelings, we could say: first, because they love children very much in general; second, because 'they are mine'; third, because they are Matevosyan, Petrosyan, Ioannesyan from the Matevosyan, Petrosyan, Ioannesyan families; fourth, because they are Armenians, another Armenian. This is where the circle is completed - the first and fourth: the fulfillment of duty - biological, national and personal." We would not like to comment on this statement, we can only say that such words are unlikely to be found for other nations! Well done, Bitov!
What the Armenians did in Khodjaly could be done only by the most inveterate fascists.
It is relevant to clarify one a major Armenian propaganda action against Turkey that has taken on an international scale. Raymond Cartier writes, "Besides the famous king of Prussia, Hitler found among the barbarians some people equal to him and he was particularly charmed by them. He especially favoured the friendship of Genghiz Khan, he admired him and adopted his principles, 'Blood', he used to say to his generals when he sent them to the war, 'is not taken into consideration for those who build Empires. Genghiz Khan deliberately annihilated millions of women and children. Who remembers that today?" These words of Hitler were used by Armenian historians in their own way, replacing Genghiz Khan with the Turks and "intentionally annihilated millions of women and children" with the Armenians. AND THAT HAS BEEN A MAJOR PIECE OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE TURKS FOR MANY YEARS.
Hitler's prediction that the friendship of the peoples of the USSR would come crashing down at the first sign of problems did not come true. This forecast was to come true in the time of Gorbachev when Galina Starovoytova said, "Armenia was the first to show that the Soviet notion of 'friendship of the peoples' is false!" There is no serious, extensive research into the scope of the participation of Armenian units in the fascist ranks. Much that is interesting could be learned from such research. But even now much that is well-known shows that before speaking of the Armenian "genocide" in Turkey in 1915, "would it not be better, my friend, to look at yourself...", as Grandfather Krylov said.