167
understand the German plans and distance himself was Haydar Bammat.
Nevertheless, others with the intention of advancing the North Caucasian cause
continued their activities. Said Shamil, who came to Berlin on 10 May 1942,
strived to be seen as the chief representative of the emigrants in lobbying the
Germans for support for an independent North Caucasus. Encouraged by the Grand
Mufti of Jerusalem el Huseyni and the former president of Iraq, he sought a six
month period to win over the support of the German government for North
Caucasian independence which could be won under the flag of his grandfather,
Imam Shamil.
427
Within that period, he instigated the establishment of the North Caucasian
National Commission in the summer of 1942, which aimed to defend the rights and
ideals of the North Caucasians on behalf of the German government. Nevertheless,
with a feeling of disillusion ment, he left Germany in late 1942. From then Ahmet
Nabi Magoma and Ali Khan Kantemir tried to represent the North Caucasian
emigration and the activities of the Commission. Moreover, new names, prisoners
of war joined their struggle for independence; among them Abdurrahman
Avtorkhanov
428
, Ramazan Traho
429
, and Ramazan Karcha
430
.
426
All the guests were stayed in Adlon Hotel, Berlin and the meetings held in the same place,
therefore Muhlen gave this name to this initiative.
427
Related with the activities of the Shamil and other groups in Berlin in order to Muhlen, also see,
Müstecib Ülküsal, 1976. İkinci Dünya Savaşında 1941-1942 Berlin Hatıraları ve Kırımın Kurtuluşu
Davası, İstanbul:n.p.; M. Resulzade, June-July 1952. “Kafkasya Meselesi V: Kafkasya Birliği Fikri
Muhacerette,” Kafkasya (Der Kaukasus), (Munich), 11/12: 5-9; Ahmet Temir, 1998. 60 Yıl
Almanya, (1936-1996)Bir Yabancının Gözü İle Geziler-Araştırmalar-Hatıralar, Ankara: Kültür
Bakanlığı Yayınları, 217-269.
428
Abdurrahman Avtorkhanov, a Chechen, (1908-). [aka Yuri Orlov, Abdurrahman Kunta] He was
born in Grozny. A former communist who studied at the Red Professor’s College and a student of
Bukharin, he was imprisoned for several years before making his way to the Germany in the course
of the war. As a staunch anti-communist, scholar, educator and publicist he has numerous numbers
of nationalist works.
429
Ramazan Traho, after finishing 4 semesters in the faculty of Medicine at Moscow University, he
continued his studies in the Faculty of Language and Literature, which he completed in 1934. Until
168
The North Caucasians, together with the other émigré groups submitted
several notes and memorandums to the German government in which they asked
for the establishment of independent republics of the revolutionary period but they
gained almost nothing.
431
In contrast, the Germans, in order to establish an
umbrella organization allowed a Soviet prisoner of war, General Andrey A. Vlasov
to organize a committee in the summer of 1944, called the Vlasov Committee.
Under his leadership, this Committee almost at the end of the War, managed to
establish an organization in Prague which would represent all the non-Slav
populations of Russia, the Committee for the Salvation of the Peoples of Russia
(Komitet Osvobozhdeniia Narodov Rossii or KONR) and in relation with it he
founded the Russian Salvation Army (Russkaia Osvoboditel’naia Armiia or ROA)
composed primarily of the prisoners of war.
432
The North Caucasian National Commission and the other émigré groups
had never took part inthese organizations.
433
They just rather carried out some
propaganda, issued pamphlets, brochures and periodicals targeting the North
Caucasian region
434
and in October 1944 they established the Caucasian Council
the World War II he worked in various academic and educational institutions, both in Moscow and
the Caucasus. For his arrival in Germany see R. Traho, September-October 1951. “Stalingrad’dan
Berlin’e,” Kafkasya (Der Kaukasus), (Munich), 2-3: 31-34.
430
Ramazan Karcha, a Karachay, (-). He studied in the Philological Faculty of Rostov University.
Worked in various institutions and learned organizations in the Caucasus.
431
F. Daryal, March 1952. “Mecburi Bir İzah …Daha,” Kafkasya (Der Kaukasus), (Munich), 8: 29.
432
Muhlen, Gamalıhaç ile Kızılyıldız Arasında, 160.
433
See May 1952. “Kafkasya Cumhuriyetlerinin İstiklali,” Kafkasya (Der Kaukasus), (Munich), 10:
1-3 and “Yalan ve İftira,” September-December 1951. Kafkasya (Der Kaukasus), (Munich), 4/5: 37-
38.
434
The North Caucasian emigres published two different periodicals. Severnyi Kavkaz, in Russian
was published by Ali Khan Kantemir and the other one, Gazavat, in Turkish, was published by A.
Avtorkhanov with the pseudonym of Manius Mansur and targetting the legion. As Bezanis pointed
it out, the Gazavat’s masthead apparently proclaimed that ‘God is above us and Hitler is with us’ a
typical formulation in such publications, though it caused consternation in some quarters after the
war.
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