Tscherim Soobzokov
Tsherim Soobzokov (24 August 1924, – 6 September 1985[1]) was a Circassian man accused of collaborating with the Third Reich during the invasion of the Soviet Union and serving as a Waffen-SS officer.[2] Soobzokov denied these charges and sued CBS and The New York Times.[3]:170–174 He was publicly supported by Pat Buchanan[4] and Congressman Robert Roe.[3]:113
Background
In 2006, declassified documents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirmed that Soobzokov had been a CIA agent in Jordan and that the agency had misled the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service on Soobzokov's War time past.[5] This was part of a wider post-World War II CIA program of working with former collaborators living in hiding.[6] Historian Richard Breitman concluded based on these documents[1] that Soobzokov indeed had strong ties to the SS and that he had admitted to the CIA his participation in an execution commando searching for Jews and Komsomol members.[1][7]
On 15 August 1985, a pipe bomb set outside his home in Paterson, New Jersey critically injured Soobzokov.[8][9] He died of his wounds in the hospital on 9 September 1985.[10] An anonymous caller claiming to represent the Jewish Defense League (JDL) said they had carried out the bombing. A spokesman for the JDL later denied responsibility.[11] 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 to a similar bomb attack on another accused war criminal, Elmars Sprogis, that took place in Long Island on the day Soobzokov died.[3]:179–180
See also
- List of unsolved murders
- Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts
- Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts
References
- Richard Breitman. "Tscherim Soobzokov" (PDF). Government Secrecy e-Prints. Federation of American Scientists.
- Name on SS Officers listing
- Lichtblau, Eric (2014). The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-66919-9.
- Pat Buchanan (1999-11-05). "Response to Norman Podhoretz". letter to The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11.
- "New Records Now Available as a Result of IWG Extension – CIA Agrees to Disclose Operational Materials". Press Release. National Archives and Records Administration. 2006-06-06.
- Toby Harnden (2010-11-14). "Secret papers reveal Nazis given 'safe haven' in US". The Telegraph.
- "CIA declassifies 27,000 Nazi files". The Washington Times. 2006-06-06.
- Ralph Blumenthal (1985-08-16). "Man Accused of Nazi Past Injured by Bomb in Jersey". The New York Times: B2.
- "Bomb Victim on Critical List". The New York Times. AP. 1985-08-17.
- Eric Lichtblau (2010-11-13). "Nazis Were Given 'Safe Haven' in U.S., Report Says". The New York Times: A1.
- Judith Cummings (1985-11-09). "F.B.I. Says Jewish Defense League May Have Planted Fatal Bombs". The New York Times: A1.