Iranian Freikorps

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The Iranian Freikorps was one of the units of the Wehrmacht. It was formed in June 1941, and was consisted mainly of Iranians in Germany.^[1] By December 1941, many Tajik prisoners of war as well as some Tajik volunteers had joined the Freikorps, mainly defected by Davud Monshizadeh who would later form the Iranian National Socialist party in 1952.^[2][3]

Origins[edit]

Years of Anglo-Russian Exploitation of Iranian Resources as well as their numerous attempts against the territorial integrity of Iran had led to an increasing unpopularity of those nations among Iranians. By the rise of Nazis in 1933, thousands of Iranians in Germany and the west whom consisted mostly of students,^[4] began showing interest in the idea of National Socialism and Germany as the third force to rely on in the future. The anti-imperialistic spirit of the ideology, as well as the kinship propagated by the Third Reich's Deutsche Radio and the Iran-e Bastan Magazine, led to a growing number of Iranian members of the NSDAP, some of whom joined organizations such as Abwehr as early as 1933.^[1][2][5]

Notable Members[edit]

• Davud Monshizadeh Student at the time, later an editor of the German Magazine, Professor at LMU and Alexandria University, founder of Iranian National Socialist Party, WIA in the Battle of Berlin
• Shah Bahram Shahrokh was a propagandist, and the son of Keikhosrow Shahrokh, a prominent Zoroastrian figure in Iran. He moved to Germany late in 1939 after he had become bankrupt as a merchant in Iran. He was engaged by the German Ministry of Propaganda for Iranian broadcasts. At the same time he was editor of the periodical "Djehane now" (neue ordnung) published by the German Ministry for Iran. He worked as chief agent for Korfettenkapitaen Schueler, whom he knew from Iran. He was considered the most dangerous of all Iranians to the allies.
• Nezameddin Akhavi Propaganda Announcer and member of Freikorps
• Ali Aghabeigzadeh Student at the time and member of Freikorps
• Oberleutnant Amiri worked in the German radio service, later Oberleutnant in the Iranian Freikorps
• Abazar was Charge d'Affaires of the Iranian Legation in Berlin. He was a friend of Shah Bahram Shahrokh as well as his co-worker. He was sent to Switzerland by Korvettenkapitaen Schueler of Abwehr I, where he worked for the Abwehr until the end of the war.
• Ali Khan Rasoulzadeh a confidential agent of Dr Jost of the Gestapo in Berlin. He tried to win Iranians for cooperation with the SD. He contacted the 3,000 Iranians who lived in Paris, three fourths of which were naturalized Jews and turned them over to the Gestapo. Rasoulzadeh was anti-British and anti-Jewish, and a good friend of Dr. Schmitz, adjutant of SS Gruppenfuehrer Schellenberg, chief of the SD.^[1][4]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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