Editing Tscherim Soobzokov (section)

== Biography==
Tscherim Soobzokov was born August 24, 1924, in [[Takhtamukay]], [[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 sentenced to 1 year imprisonment 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 August 1942, 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>