Tscherim Soobzokov (; ) (24 August 1924 – 9 September 1985) was a Circassian spy, politician, soldier, and an
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 ...
pro-independence activist. He rose to prominence in the
New Jersey Democratic Party
The New Jersey Democratic State Committee (NJDSC) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New Jersey. LeRoy J. Jones Jr. is the chair and Peg Schaffer is the vice chair.
Structure
The NJDSC has a 13-member executive committe ...
and the Circassian community in Paterson, New Jersey. During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, Soobzokov served the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
as an anti-Soviet operative.
He was accused of collaborating with
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
during the invasion of the
Soviet Union
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 national ...
's North Caucasus before coming to the United States, but denied these allegations and sued
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
,'' and won. Soobzokov was murdered by a pipe bomb at his house, allegedly by the
Jewish Defense League
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...
. He was publicly supported by
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, an ...
and Congressman
Robert Roe
Robert Aloysius Roe (February 28, 1924 – July 15, 2014) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on ...
.
Background
According to the far-right organization Jewish Defense League, during World War II in August 1942 he recruited
Circassians
The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia in ...
in 1943-1944 to the Wehrmacht, and in early 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant of the SS.
Richard Breitman Richard David Breitman, born in 1947, is an American historian best known for his study of the Holocaust.
Richard Breitman is an American historian who has written extensively on modern German history, the Holocaust, American immigration and refuge ...
also claimed that Soobzokov had ties to the SS. Witnesses said he actively participated in the rounding-up and mass executions of Jews and Communists. Soobzokov was admitted into the United States in 1955. In 1969
In 1969, a man named Mahamet Perchich wrote letters to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003.
Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...
, claiming Soobzokov had told a Palestinian refugee camp chief that he'd killed so many Jews during the war that if they were still alive, the blood of all Palestinians would not be enough for them to drink.
In 2006, declassified documents of 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, ...
(CIA) confirmed that Soobzokov had been a CIA agent in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
. This was part of a wider post-
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 opposin ...
CIA program. Soobzokov had confidentially admitted to the CIA that he had indeed participated in an execution unit and hunted for Jews and Communists.
In 1977 book called ″Wanted: The Search for Nazis in America″ by Howard Blum, accused Soobzokov of participating in the mass murder of Jews and Communists in the Caucasus region. Federal officials investigated this allegation. However, in 1979, a federal grand jury found no grounds to indict Soobzokov, then the chief purchasing inspector for Passaic County. He was also cleared of charges he hid his involvement with the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
since the CIA had already know about his membership in the organization.
Following the dismissal of his case, several radical Jewish groups urged violence against Soobzokov. On 15 August 1985, a pipe bomb was detonated outside Soobzokov's home in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Soobzokov died of his wounds in the hospital on 9 September 1985. Hours before the bombing, Soobzokov had reported that two people tried to run him over. An anonymous caller claiming to represent the
Jewish Defense League
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...
(JDL) said they had carried out the bombing. A spokesman for the JDL later denied responsibility. No one was ever charged with leaving either bomb, but Aslan Soobzokov (Tscherim's son) has twice sued the federal government over its investigation. The bombing was linked by the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
to a similar bomb attack on Elmārs Sproģis, that took place in
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
on the day Soobzokov died.
The
Jewish Defense League
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...
denied having killed Soobzokov, but applauded his death as a "righteous act". "I don't know who did it, we didn't do it, but we applaud the action 100 percent," their spokesperson said." We'll lose no sleep over it."
See also
*
List of unsolved murders
These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances.
* List of unsolved murders (before 1900)
* List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)
* List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)
* List of unsol ...
*
Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts
During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited significant numbers of non-Germans, both as volunteers and conscripts. In total some 500,000 non-Germans and ethnic Germans from outside Germany, mostly from German-occupied Europe, were recruited betwe ...
*
Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts
Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles, Portuguese, Swedes, along with people ...