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SS-Waffengruppe Aserbaidschan
File:162lrg.jpgThe Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (wearing white turban) meets Azerbaijani members of the Waffen-SS.
Active	1944–1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Waffen-SS
Size	Regiment
Commanders
Notable commanders	Abbas Bey Atam-Alibekov Muhammed Israfil-bey
Insignia
Identification symbol

The SS-Waffengruppe Aserbaidschan was a Waffen-SS formation composed of Azerbaijanis. These Azerbaijani troops were originally Soviet prisoners of war who opted to serve in Wermacht units like the Azerbaijani Legion until they were transferred into the Waffen-SS. They maintained a questionable human rights as well as combat record.

During World War II, estimetes of Azerbaijanis fighting for Nazi Germany range from as few as 18,000 to as many as 35,000. For these purposes, the National Committee, headed by Muhammed Israfil-bey, was created. Azerbaijan was also represented in the so-called Caucasian People's Council by Abbas Bey Atam-Alibekov.

One reason behind the courting of Turkic soldiers by Nazi officials was the hope that the then-neutral Turkey would enter the war on the side of the Axis powers.Also, some of these Azeris wanted to liberate their homeland from Soviet occupation.

Azeri SS regiments wore a blue-red-blue sleeve ensigns with a crescent and a five-pointed star and the inscription "ASERBAIDSCHAN" over the ensign while Azeri soldiers of the so-called Ostlegionen had a chlorine edging on collar and sleeve, surrounding the emblem.

Origin

In the summer of 1944 it was decided to create an Turkestani volunteer unit for the Waffen-SS with the support of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni. Existing Moslem units within the Wermacht, and their German officers were transferred into the Waffen-SS. Among those who were transferred into this unit were volunteers from Azerbaijan, along with those from Kirghistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan . This new unit took on the title Ost Musselmanisches Division der SS (East Muslim Division of the SS). One of the regiments in the unit was the Waffen-Gruppe Aserbaidschan composed of ethnic Azerbaijanis.

They first saw action against partisans near Minsk, with their German commander being killed by a sniper. Thereafter, he was replaced by an unwilling Wermacht officer. These men were unruly, and even mutiny broke out. As a result, 78 men were executed, desertion became a problem, and the commander was replaced by a Waffen-SS officer.

War crimes in Poland

During the Warsaw Uprising in July, this unit was attached to the infamous Dirlewanger Brigade, notorious for atrocities. Dirlewanger Brigade took part in massacre of 50,000 civilians in the Wola massacre, then moved to the Old Town (another 5,000 sick and wounded murdered after the Polish forces withdrew from the area, the remaining 35,000 being sent to concentration camps) and then to Czerniaków and Powiśle - along the Vistula.

Two Azerbaijani Battalions along with 29th Division of Waffen SS Rona, Ukranians, Cossacks, Turkmenians were among these units committing atrocities and were even labelled a "murderous crew" by their fellow German comrades. They not only shot and raped women, but also hospital patients.

The following are the excerpts from memoirs of Hans Thieme, an intelligence lieutenant of the 203rd Division of Wehrmacht:

"The Azerbaijani battalion or the “infamous plunderer’s brigade of Kaminski“ was deployed there. They were a savage band which took out its frustrations on the civilian population, plundering and pillaging to their hearts’ content. I remember that a women from a one-family house in the nice suburb of Wlochy came running to us in a panic because two of those savage guys, wearing only a shirt and pants but with a revolver in their hands, were pestering her. I went in the house with a couple of people and took away these two twerps. I reached an SS officer and I wanted to hand them over, but he rejected the idea of dealing with them. I told him that we should be ashamed of such auxiliary troops in front of the Poles to which he angrily replied, “It is good that the Poles would once get a good taste for the Asiatic hordes from whom we were protecting them.“ I then took the two to their “Colonel“ Kaminski himself who, after I established the facts of the case, gave them a reprimand and then sent them away. A savage Caucasian character!

... After the fighting troops, which suffered high casualties, came the plundering Azerbaijani, the SS, and the police. They all enriched themselves by all means possible and then let everything go up in flames. According to the orders of Adolf Hitler, Warsaw was to be razed to the ground.

... The troops were demoralized by Himmler’s permission, first to the Azerbaijani battalion, and later to all the troops deployed in Warsaw to plunder the city."

The end

The unit that the Azerbaijanis were attached to went through several name changes after this, eventually becoming Osttürkischer Waffen Verband der SS. It was transferred to Slovakia in the autumn of 1944 where it was predesignated Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbande der SS. In December 1944, 450-500 deserted from this unit of which 300 later returned. The Azerbaijani regiment was removed from the unit 30 December 1944 and transferred to Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS, where it became the SS-Waffengruppe Aserbaidschan. It surrendered to the British at the end of the war.

See Also

• Reichskommissariat Kaukasus
• Abdurahman Fatalibeyli

References

1. Ailsby, Christopher J. (2004). Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich. Brassey’s. p. 194. ISBN 1574888382. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author link= (help)
2. Swietochowski, Tadeusz(1995) Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition, Columbia University, p. 133
3. Hoffman, Joachim (1974). Deutsche und Kalmyken: 1942-1945. Rombach Verlag KG. ISBN 3793001733. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author link= (help)
4. Dallin, Alexander (1981). German Rule in Russia, 1941-1945: A Study of Occupation Policies. Westview Press. pp. p. 629. ISBN 0865311021. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author link= (help)
5. Hitler's Eastern Legions
6. ^ Williamson, Gordon (2003). Gebirgsjager: German Mountain Trooper, 1939-45. Osprey Publishing. pp. p.59. ISBN 1841765538. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author link= (help)
7. Hitler's Eastern Legions
8. Hitler's Eastern Legions
9. About Turkic Waffen-SS
10. Martin Gilbert, in his book The Second World War: A Complete History, page 565, (see Google Books page view) describes the event.
11. Gella, Alexander(1989)Development of Class Structure in Eastern Europe: Poland and Her Southern Neighbors SUNY Press, p. 265.
12. Witness German Officer
13. Caucasian SS

• Foreign volunteer units of the Wehrmacht
• Military units and formations of the Waffen-SS
• History of Azerbaijan