View source for Tscherim Soobzokov

{{Short description|Waffen SS officer (1924–1985)}}
{{use dmy dates |date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Tscherim Soobzokov
| office              = [[Obersturmführer]]
| term_start          = 1943
| term_end            = 1945
| birth_date          = 24 August 1924
| birth_place         = [[Takhtamukay]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date          = 6 September 1985 (aged 61)
| death_place         = [[Paterson, New Jersey]], [[United States]]
| citizenship         = [[Soviet Union]], [[Nazi Germany]], [[United States]]
| nationality         = [[Circassians|Circassian]]
| children            = Aslan Soobzokov
| residence           = [[Paterson, New Jersey]]
| occupation          = SS Obersturmführer
| allegiance          = {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
| nickname            = Tom Soobzokov
| branch              = [[File:Flag Schutzstaffel.svg|23px]] [[Schutzstaffel]]
| serviceyears        = 1943-45
| rank                = [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]-[[Obersturmführer]]
| battles             = [[World War II]]
| image               = Tscherim_Soobzokov_CIA.png
| caption             = Soobzokov in 1944
}}

'''Tscherim "Tom" Soobzokov''' ({{Langx|ady|Щэбзыхъуэ Чэрим|translit=Şəbzıxhwə Çərim}}; {{Langx|ru|Черим Сообцоков|translit=Cherim Soobtsokov}}) (24 August 1924 – 6 September 1985)<ref name="DeathDate">{{cite news |last=Parisi |first=Albert |date=1985-09-15 |title=Pipe-Bomb Death Puzzles Authorities |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/15/nyregion/pipe-bomb-death-puzzles-authorities.html |access-date=1 November 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54535975/tscherim-soobzokov |title=Tscherim Soobzokov (1924-1985) |website=Find a Grave Memorial}}</ref> was a [[Circassians|Circassian]] spy, American politician, [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] [[Obersturmführer]], and Nazi fugitive. He rose to prominence in the [[New Jersey Democratic Party]] and the Circassian community in [[Paterson, New Jersey]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Shane |first1=Scott |date=7 June 2006 |title=C.I.A. Knew Where Eichmann Was Hiding, Documents Show |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/world/americas/07nazi.html}}</ref> During the [[Cold War]], Soobzokov served the [[CIA]] as an anti-Soviet operative.<ref name="NND" />

Soobzokov came to national attention in the United States with the publication of [[Howard Blum]]'s ''Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America'' in 1977,<ref name="wanted">{{cite book |last1=Blum |first1=Howard |title=Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America |date=1977 |publisher=Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co. |location=New York |isbn=0812906071 |url=https://archive.org/details/wantedsearchforn00blum}}</ref> and his subsequent appearance on [[PBS NewsHour]].<ref name="LehrerReport">{{cite episode |date=1977-02-02 |series=The MacNeil/Lehrer Report |title=Nazis in America |network=PBS |transcript=American Archive of Public Broadcasting |transcript-url=https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_507-4t6f18t16z |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9EzYMac0J0}}</ref> He was accused of collaborating with [[Nazi Germany]] during the invasion of the [[Soviet Union]]'s North Caucasus before coming to the United States. In 1985, Soobzokov was murdered by a pipe bomb at his house. The [[Jewish Defense League]] claimed responsibility for the murder. He was publicly supported by [[Pat Buchanan]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buchanan |first=Pat |title=PAT BUCHANAN'S RESPONSE TO NORMAN PODHORETZ'S OP-ED |date=1999-11-05 |url=http://www.buchanan.org/pma-99-1105-wallstjl.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511153332/http://www.buchanan.org/pma-99-1105-wallstjl.html |archive-date=2008-05-11 }}</ref> and New Jersey Congressman [[Robert Roe]].<ref name="NND" />{{rp|113}}

== Biography==
Tscherim Soobzokov was born August 24, 1924, in [[Takhtamukay]], [[Krasnodar Krai]],[[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]].<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|148}} In some documents, Soobzokov listed his year of birth as either 1918 or 1921, although these were most likely lies.<ref name="CIA13" />{{rp|3}}<ref name="NND" />{{rp|58–59}}<ref name="breitman" />{{rp|7}}

In 1940, Soobzokov was arrested and deported to a prison camp in the [[Lithuanian SSR]], after its [[Occupation of the Baltic States|annexation by the Soviet Union]], for either hooliganism<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|148}} (Soobzokov claimed it had been for "throwing a rock at a judge"<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|61}}) or embezzling farm tax funds.<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|61}}
In 1941, after his release, Soobzokov returned back home to Takhtamukay in the Caucasus, and [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union]] soon afterwards.
The Germans occupied the Caucausus in the summer of 1942.

In August 1942, during the German occupation of the Caucasus, Tscherim Soobzokov was recruited by an SS or SD officer as chief of Nazi police in Takhtamukay.<ref name="breitman">{{Cite web |title=Tscherim Soobzokov |author=Richard Breitman |work=Government Secrecy e-Prints |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/breitman.pdf }}</ref><ref name="CIA13">{{cite web |title=CIA memorandum vol. 4_0013 |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/SOOBZOKOV%2C%20TSCHERIM%20%20%20VOL.%204_0013.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|3}} In 1943-1944 Soobzokov served as a military recruiter for the Nazis, and in early 1945, he was promoted to the rank of [[Obersturmführer]] in the Waffen SS.<ref name="breitman" /><ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|148}}

After the end of the war, Soobzokov went into hiding in Italy; assured that the Vatican protected Nazi fugitives, Soobzokov remained there until 1947, when, with the aid of the Italian Red Cross and donations from Jordan, a group of 67 Circassian Nazi fugitives made their way to Jordan.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|150}} One of the Circassians who had journeyed on the same ship from Italy to Jordan later accused Soobzokov of trying to defraud the other passengers and stealing silverware from the ship's dining room.<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|64}}

In 1950, Soobzokov was first approached for employment by the CIA.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|152}} Soobzokov was admitted into the United States in 1955.<ref name="DeportationCase">{{cite court |court=United States District Court District of New Jersey |litigants=United States of America vs Tscherim Soobzokov |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/SOOBZOKOV%2C%20TSCHERIM%20%20%20VOL.%204_0043.pdf}}</ref> Soobzokov settled in Paterson, New Jersey and became a naturalized US citizen in 1961. Official accusations against Soobzokov started in 1969, when a fellow immigrant named Mahamet Perchich, who had known Soobzokov in Jordan, wrote a letter to the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]], claiming Soobzokov had bragged about murdering Jews during the war.<ref name="Albanese">{{cite thesis |last=Albanese |first=David |url=http://archive.org/details/neu_rx915s22b |title=In search of a lesser evil: anti-Soviet nationalism and the Cold War. |date=2015 |degree=PhD |publisher=Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts}}</ref>{{rp|165–166}}<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|65}} In 1972, the [[Social Security Administration]] began investigating Soobzokov based on reports of his participation in a Social Security fraud scheme.<ref name="NND" />{{rp|111–112}}<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|38–40}}<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1034}} Despite the investigation and accusations against him in Paterson's tight-knit Circassian community, Soobzokov rose through the local political ranks, becoming a Democratic party apparatchik, serving as vice chairman of the Paterson Zoning Board, and eventually being appointed Chief Purchasing Inspector of [[Passaic County, New Jersey]].<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1038}}<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|45}}<ref name="Ohio">{{cite news |last=Polakoff |first=Joseph |date=1980-07-17 |title=Questions Raised By U.S. Decision To Drop Case Against Former Nazi |newspaper=Ohio Jewish Chronicle |url=https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/ojc/id/34461/}}</ref><ref name="NND"/>

Accusations against Soobzokov came to national attention in 1977 with the publication of Howard Blum's exposé of Nazi war criminal residing in the United States, ''Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America''.<ref name="wanted"/> Both Blum and Soobzokov appeared on the February 2, 1977 episode of the PBS NewsHour The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. In the program, Soobzokov admitted that "I wore that uniform, but I never was any official. I never was in any service by the so-called Waffen-S.S.," and denied working for the CIA after WWII.<ref name="LehrerReport"/> Both statements would subsequently be shown to be false by Soobzokov's own defense lawyers in his 1979 denaturalization trial, when they produced secret CIA documents where Soobzokov admitted to serving in the [[Waffen-SS]].<ref name="wapo"/><ref name="Ohio"/>

In 1979, the [[Office of Special Investigations (United States Department of Justice)|Office of Special Investigations]] opened a denaturalization case against Soobzokov.<ref name="JTA1979">{{cite news |last=Wolk |first=Rachelle |date=1979-12-07 |title=Alleged War Criminal Soobzokov Served with Denaturalization Papers |newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/alleged-war-criminal-soobzokov-served-with-denaturalization-papers}}</ref> In July 1980, the OSI withdrew its suit after the CIA shared with investigators a copy of Soobzokov's [[United States Department of State|State Department]] Form V-30, which confirmed his claims he had disclosed service with the [[North Caucasian and Mountain-Caucasian legions|North Caucasian Legion]] and the [[Waffen SS]] when applying for his US immigration visa in [[Amman]].<ref name="wapo">{{Cite news |last=O'Toole |first=Thomas |date=July 10, 1980 |title=CIA 1952 Files Save Ex-Nazi in Deportation Case |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/07/10/cia-1952-files-save-ex-nazi-in-deportation-case/97382072-edbb-45a0-84db-d85275f79d4b/}}</ref><ref name="Ohio"/><ref name="JTA-july">{{cite news |date=1980-07-15 |newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |title=Behind the Headlines Not All Nazis Were Ineligible from Entering the United States |last=Polakoff |first=Joseph |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/behind-the-headlines-not-all-nazis-were-ineligible-from-entering-the-united-states}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nazis Were Given 'Safe Haven' in U.S., Report Says |first=Eric |last=Lichtblau |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2010-11-13 |page=A1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html}}</ref>

Soobzokov sued Blum's publisher, Quadrangle Books (a division of the New York Times Company) for libel in 1977.<ref name="JTA1979"/> After the deportation case against Soobzokov was dropped, the publisher decided to settle the suit for $450,000 before trial.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/642/28/136739/ | title=Tscherim Soobzokov, Plaintiff-appellee, v. CBS, Inc., Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., Inc., Andhoward Blum, Defendants, Anthony J. Devito, Appellant, 642 F.2d 28 (2d Cir. 1981) }}</ref><ref name="SettlersRemorse">{{citation |last=Abrams |first=Floyd |title=Settler's Remorse |journal=Michigan Law Review |volume=105 |issue=6 |year=2007 |url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol105/iss6/1/}}</ref><ref name="NND">{{cite book |last1=Lichtblau |first1=Eric |url=https://archive.org/details/nazisnextdoorhow0000lich |title=The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men |date=2014 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-66919-9 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|170–174}} A trove of classified CIA documents released in 2006 under the [[Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act]] contained admissions by Soobzokov that validated witness testimony taken from survivors in the 1970s, and vindicated Blum's research.<ref name= "WashTimes" /><ref name="SettlersRemorse" /><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Hill |last=Blum |first=Howard |date=2018-09-05 |title='Fake news' and the hunt for Nazis in America |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/404959-fake-news-and-the-hunt-for-nazis-in-america/}}</ref>

==War crimes==
The first documented evidence of Soobzokov's involvement in war crimes comes from reports made in 1943, after the Nazis had been driven from the North Caucasus. Soobzokov was implicated in the abduction and murder of Bachir Tlekhuch and Valeghei Skhazhok by Tlekhuch's father, and by one Soobzokov's colleagues in the Nazi Punitive Detachment.<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1040–1041}} Further testimony gathered in 1976 from surviving Nazi collaborators who had served with Soobzokov confirmed his participation in raids and executions in the [[aul]]s (villages) of Edepsukai-1, Edepsukai-2, and Dzhidzkhihabl.<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1042}} Even Soobzokov's own father-in-law (who had himself collaborated with the Nazis in the [[Vlasov army]]) and nephew had provided affidavits attesting to his activities.<ref name="NND" />{{rp|120}}<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|149}}

Circassian immigrants who had known Soobzokov in Paterson claimed that he had bragged about serving in German punitive detachments and participating in executions.<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|65}}<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1042}} A number of Circassian immigrants who had ended up settling in Paterson had personally witnessed Soobzokov rounding up Jews as part of Nazi Punitive Detachments, or later in SS uniform as a military recruiter for the Nazis. Several said that Soobzokov had tried to intimidate them by bringing up his political connections.<ref name="wanted" />{{rp|54–57}}

Soobzokov had confidentially admitted to the CIA that he had indeed participated in an execution unit and hunted for Jews and Communists.<ref name="breitman" /> Witnesses confirmed he actively participated in those crimes.<ref name="WashTimes">{{Cite journal |date=2006-06-06 |title=CIA declassifies 27,000 Nazi files |url=http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060606-113344-6497r.htm |journal=[[The Washington Times]]}}</ref><ref name="SettlersRemorse" />

==Relationships with the CIA and FBI==
The CIA first took note of Soobzokov in 1949, and engaged him to provide intelligence and recruit assets in Jordan in December 1950, under the code name "NOSTRIL."<ref name="Nostril">{{citation |title=CIA Memorandum |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001492338 |date=1974-06-01}}</ref> Soobzokov proved to be "a failure of an agent," only managing to provide his handlers with 2 potential recruits. Agency reports "indicate[d] that he [Soobzokov] is a rather unscrupulous individual." By the middle of 1952, Soobzokov was unemployed.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|151–156}}

The CIA decided to re-engage Soobzokov in 1953, as part of the AEDEPOT program.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|158}} During a polygraph examination in 1953, a CIA official noted that Soobzokov had "consistent and pronounced reactions to all questions regarding war crimes." Soobzokov continued recruitment operations for the CIA in Jordan until 1955.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|158}}

In 1957, Soobzokov resumed working for the CIA as part of project AEACRE in the REDSOX program.<ref name="Albanese" />{{rp|160}} The Agency sent Soobzokov to [[Beirut]] on an assignment to recruit Russian exiles willing to return to the Soviet Union as undercover agents. The assignment was cut short after the Agency learned that Soobzokov was openly flaunting his CIA affiliation and running a scheme promising to use his connections to help refugees emigrate to America.<ref name="NND" />{{rp|53–54}}

Soobzokov had falsely told the CIA that he had attended a Soviet military academy, a claim he later recanted when the Agency decided to send him to a bomb-making course in [[Fort Meade]], Maryland in 1958.<ref name="NND"/>{{rp|55}} Finally, after a 1959 debriefing, a CIA examiner concluded that Soobzokov was an "incorrigible fabricator," after which the Agency cancelled his operational approval.<ref name="CIA13" />{{rp|4}}<ref name="breitman" />{{rp|2}}

In the 1970s, Soobzokov acted as the president of the Committee for Liberation of North Caucasia in U.S.A.<ref name="SettlersRemorse" />{{rp|1039}} (incorporated as a non-profit in 1965<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nycompanyregistry.com/companies/committee-for-liberation-of-north-caucasiain-usainc/ |website=NY Company Directory |title=COMMITTEE FOR LIBERATION OF NORTH CAUCASIA, IN NEW JERSEY U . S . A ., INC}}</ref>) and Committee for Liberation of North Caucasia, in New Jersey U.S.A. (incorporated as a non-profit in 1971<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bizapedia.com/nj/committee-for-liberation-of-north-caucasia-in-new-jersey-usa-inc.html |website=Bizapedia |title=COMMITTEE FOR LIBERATION OF NORTH CAUCASIA, IN U.S.A., INC. }}</ref>), which were likely CIA-funded anti-Soviet front groups similar to the [[American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia]].<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001492344.pdf |last=Tscherim |first=Soobzokov |date=July 1975 |conference=Captive Nations Week |title=Committee for Liberation of North Caucasia in New Jersey |publisher=CIA archive}}</ref>

In August 1958, Soobzokov became an FBI informant, spying on the immigrant community in Paterson.<ref name="breitman" />{{rp|2}}<ref name="NND" />{{rp|110–111}}

==Death==
Soobzokov's public notoriety resulted in him receiving death threats. The first attempt on Soobzokov's life came in 1979, when someone mailed a package containing a bomb to his house.<ref name="NND" />{{rp|121}} On 15 August 1985, a pipe bomb was detonated outside Soobzokov's home in Paterson, critically injuring him.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |title=Man Accused of Nazi Past Injured by Bomb in Jersey |first=Ralph |last=Blumenthal |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1985-08-16 |page=B2 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/16/nyregion/man-accused-on-nazi-past-injured-by-bomb-in-jersey.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bomb Victim on Critical List  |date=1985-08-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/17/nyregion/bomb-victim-on-critical-list.html}}</ref> Soobzokov died of his wounds on 6 September 1985.<ref name="DeathDate" /> An anonymous caller claiming to represent the [[Jewish Defense League]] said they had carried out the bombing. A spokesman for the JDL later denied responsibility, but applauded Soobzokov's murder as a "righteous act."<ref name=":1" /><ref name="APNews">{{Cite news |last=Katsarelas |first=Nicholas |date=1985-08-15 |title=Man Cleared Of Nazi War Crimes Loses Foot to Pipe Bomb |url=https://apnews.com/article/4ff3127eef298c147501bdf3f2d75d49 |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-09-02 |work=AP News |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902024314/https://apnews.com/article/4ff3127eef298c147501bdf3f2d75d49 |archive-date=2022-09-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=F.B.I. Says Jewish Defense League May Have Planted Fatal Bombs |first=Judith |last=Cummings |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=1985-11-09 |page=A1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/09/us/fbi-says-jewish-defense-league-may-have-planted-fatal-bombs.html}}</ref> No one was ever charged with the bombing. Tscherim's son, Aslan Soobzokov, has twice sued the federal government over its investigation. In 2017, Aslan made a statement claiming that "Soobzokov was killed because CIA feared revelation of the truth."<ref>{{cite tweet |last=Soobzokov |first=Aslan |user=AslanAdighe |number=905438083612643328 |title=August 24, 1924 to September 6, 1985. Tscherim Soobzokov was killed because CIA feared revelation of the truth.}}</ref> The bombing was linked by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] to a similar bomb attack on Nazi fugitive [[List of Axis personnel indicted for war crimes#Latvian|Elmārs Sproģis]].<ref>{{cite news |title=BLAST AT HOME OF EX-WAR CRIMES SUSPECT INJURES ONE |last=McFadden |first=Robert |date=1985-09-07 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/07/nyregion/blast-at-home-of-ex-war-crimes-suspect-injures-one.html}}</ref><ref name="NND" />{{rp|179–180}}

The prime suspect in these attacks is Robert Manning, a JDL member who is also considered a prime suspect in the murder of [[Alex Odeh]]. In 1994, Manning was convicted of an unrelated non-political murder, that of computer company secretary Patricia Wilkerson in California, in July 1980, and sentenced to life in prison. In October 2023, Manning was granted parole. He was released from prison on July 24, 2024.<ref name="ADC 2023-10-05">{{cite press release |url=https://adc.org/alexodehupdate/ |title=Important Update: Alex Odeh Investigation |language=en |location=Washington, D.C. |accessdate=2023-10-06}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)]]
*[[Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts]]
*[[Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://WWW.TSCHERIMSOOBZOKOV.COM TSCHERIMSOOBZOKOV.COM, operated by Soobzokov's son, Aslan T. Soobzokov]

{{Nazis South America|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soobzokov}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:1985 murders in the United States]]
[[Category:Assassinated American politicians]]
[[Category:Assassinated CIA agents]]
[[Category:Assassinated Nazis]]
[[Category:Assassinated spies]]
[[Category:American spies]]
[[Category:Circassian collaborators with Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Circassian people of Russia]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Russia]]
[[Category:Deaths by improvised explosive device in the United States]]
[[Category:Murdered American criminals]]
[[Category:Murdered FBI informants]]
[[Category:Jewish Defense League]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Nazis who fled to the United States]]
[[Category:New Jersey Democrats]]
[[Category:People from Takhtamukaysky District]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:SS-Obersturmführer]]
[[Category:Russian Waffen-SS personnel]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents attributed to Zionist militant groups]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Vigilantism against Nazi collaborators and war criminals]]
[[Category:Vigilantism in the United States]]