Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli (birth surname Dudanginski, (russian: Абдулрахман Фаталибейли-Дудангинский, az, Ədrürrəhman bəy Fətəlibəyli-Düdənginski) or Abo Alioglu Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky Або Алиевич Дудангинский / ''Əbo Əliyeviç Düdənginski''), born Abo Dudanginski (12 June 1908, Dudanga – 22 November 1954,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

), was a

Soviet army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

major who defected to the German forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Life

Soviet Union

Fatalibeyli was born in the village of Dudanga (near present-day Sharur, Nakhchivan).Richard H. Cummings, ''Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950-1989'', McFarland, 2009,
p. 36.
/ref> He studied in various public and military schools in Baku. He moved to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

to enter the Military Engineering School and studied there for three years. His classmate from the Chief of Staff Academy years future Marshal of Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Andrey Grechko Andrei Antonovich Grechko (, ; – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976. Early life Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainians, Ukrai ...

said the following about Fatalibeyli: "He possessed with incredibly sharp intelligence and analytical thinking. He was a commander by birth. In the questions of military tactics, none of us could compare to him." In 1936, Fatalibeyli was expelled from the party due to having lied about his social origins and having reported himself to be of peasant stock.By Arch Puddington
Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty
University Press of Kentucky, 2003 He later participated in the

Soviet-Finnish War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

of 1939, receiving the Order of the Red Star.Arch Puddington, ''Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty'', University of Kentucky Press, 2000,
p. 229.
He became major in 1941, but was captured by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

troops in the Baltic front in September 1941 and sent to a prisoner of war camp.

Nazi Germany

After (or during) imprisonment in Poland, he joined the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

and became an interpreter of SD officer and the deputy commander of the Einsatzgruppe D SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Schubert in

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

, but according to Cabbar Ertürk who was elected as the responsible for cultural affairs of the Azerbaijan National Committee in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, his "

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

" was poor.Cabbar Ertürk, ''Bir Türk'ün II. Dünya Harbi Hatıraları'', Turan Kültür Vakfı, 2005, , p. 142. When the

Caucasus Campaign The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dict ...

began in August 1942, he participated in the 804th Infantry Battalion "Aslan" of the

Azerbaijani Legion The Azerbaijani Legion (german: Aserbaidschanische Legion) was one of the foreign units of the Wehrmacht. It was formed in December 1941 on the Eastern Front as the ''Kaukasische-Mohammedanische Legion'' (Muslim Caucasus Legion) and was re-desi ...

(literally "Lion Battalion") as a staff officer of its commander Major Dr. Gloger. The battalion belonged to the 4th Mountain Division of the 17th Army. The "Aslan" battalion advanced from

Rostov-na-Donu Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East ...

to Armavir, and then to Malaya Laba River ( Малая Лаба) and Bagovskaya ( Баговская). After the death of Dr. Gloger on 4 February 1943, when the battalion retreated to the

Kuban bridgehead The Kuban Bridgehead (german: Kuban-Brückenkopf), also known as the "Goth's head position" (), was a German military position on the Taman Peninsula, Russia, between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Existing from January to October 1943, the ...

('' Kuban-Brückenkopf'' ), Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky temporarily commanded the battalion until Captain Haverland was appointed as the new commander in late March. And later he served for the 806th Infantry Battalion "Igit" (literally "Brave Battalion") and I/73rd. While fighting guerrilla attacks, he received the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...

and promoted to major of the German military in 1943. He was head of the " Azerbaijan National Committee" and one of the architects of the

helped by

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...

Mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and several Moslem collaborators, such as Ali Khan (

) Dr. Szymkewicz, mufti of the Ostland zone occupied by the Germans (Poland and occupied areas of the USSR), and Mohammed Al Gazani, Muslim poet and one of the chiefs of the

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russian: антисоветчина), refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the ...

Moslem Union. In November 1943, a broadcast of radio DNB ( Deutsche Nachrichten Büro) announced that the first battalion of Azerbaijanis, which had actively fought against the

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...

during more than one year, "proved their valor, and were included in German Storm Troops and decorated by the German Army." It was also announced that a conference about Azerbaijan had taken place in Berlin on 7 November under the command of major Dudanginski. A dispatch dated 16 November 1943, mentioned specifically that this conference had been followed "by the Mufti of Jerusalem" and "the representatives of the peoples of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

, the

Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...

and

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

." More than 700 Azeris participated in the battle of Berlin in 1945. Abo surrendered to Allied forces, and began to work for American intelligence. After the war, Fatalibeyli was cleared by the U.S. War Department's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a forerunner to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Cold War

By 1948, he had been invited to Egypt and was a military adviser to the Arabs during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In 1953 he began working for CIA-funded

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, becoming chief of the Azerbaijani desk. In September 1954, the body of , a Belarusian writer, was found in the

Isar River The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria, and Bavaria, Germany, which is not navigable for watercraft above raft size. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Bad Tölz, Munic ...

near Munich. Two months later (on 24 November), Fatalibeyli was found garroted in the apartment of Mikhail Izmailov. Although never conclusively proved,

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

involvement was suspected in both cases.On Air for Half a Century
by Ivan Tolstoi. ''Radio Svoboda''. 3 October 2004 The last living contemporary witness, Beschir Alizade, working with Fatalibeyli at Radio Liberty, died on 16 January 2016 in

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm (Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December ...

. To protect himself from the KGB, he changed his name from formerly "Mirhashim Alijev" to Beshir Alizade. The family only found out about this in 2021 when his son Aydin visited the family in Azerbaijan.

References

External links