World War II stands as the largest and most devastating conflict in the history of human civilization. It spanned three continents, involved 61 nations, and affected approximately 80% of the world’s population. Around 120 million people took up arms. In the USSR, it is remembered as the Great Patriotic War, commemorated annually in Russia and the former Soviet republics.
This brutal conflict was humanity’s struggle against the horrific ideology of Nazism.
Azerbaijan held a particularly strategic position in Nazi Germany’s military plans. Its vast wealth-especially its oil resources-and its critical geographic location between East and West made it a key target. According to the Nazi "Edelweiss" plan, Baku was to be captured by September 25, 1941, just three months after Germany’s invasion of the USSR. Following the capture, the German Continental Oil Company was to oversee the extraction, processing, and export of Azerbaijani oil. However, the brave resistance of Soviet troops thwarted these ambitions.
During the war, approximately 700,000 people from Azerbaijan were mobilized into the Red Army, including over 11,000 women.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Hazi Aslanov
The Jewish community of Azerbaijan played a significant role in the fight against fascism. Many fought heroically in five national divisions formed in the Azerbaijan SSR, particularly the renowned 416th Guards Taganrog Division. This division advanced from the Caucasus to Berlin, earning honor for its bravery. Its soldiers liberated cities such as Taganrog and Melitopol, and decisively defeated the German Wehrmacht’s 9th Infantry Division in early 1944. They were also among the forces that liberated Odessa, Chisinau, and Warsaw.
When Jews and Azerbaijanis were captured together, they remained united. Notably, there were no known cases of Azerbaijanis betraying their Jewish compatriots. Every fifth resident of Azerbaijan took part in the war. From the village of Krasnaya Sloboda-a historic Mountain Jewish settlement-around 1,000 men went to the front; over 500 did not return. Many women, particularly nurses, also served. Among those from Krasnaya Sloboda were Dovro Ifraimova, Basya Nisimova, Yakhiti Yakubova, Livgo Yakubova, Dovro Yashayeva, Gyulbahor Khaimova, Porat Nisanova, Purim Birorovna, and others. One in every eight Mountain Jews perished in the war. Several hundred Mountain Jews from the North Caucasus and Azerbaijan received medals and honors. Senior Sergeant Isai Illazarov and Major Shatiel Abramov were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Senior Lieutenant Aleksei Iosifovich Mardakhaev was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin.
Of the 128 Heroes of the Soviet Union from Azerbaijan, every eighth was of Jewish origin. Notably, Boris Lvovich Vannikov, a three-time Hero of Socialist Labor and People’s Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR, hailed from Baku. Other Jewish Heroes of the Soviet Union who lived in Baku included M. Shakhnovich, S. Levin, and E. Manevich.
The Azerbaijan SSR was a vital contributor to the Soviet war effort, serving as the main supplier of oil and oil products. During the war, Azerbaijani oil workers delivered 75.2 million tons of oil to the front-three-quarters of the USSR’s total production. The contributions of oil industry experts like S. Grobshteyn, M. Rubiner, I. Glikman, A. Zadov, A. Baryudin, and V. Zeide were widely recognized. I. Kriman, the long-serving chief engineer of the Caspian Shipping Company, played a crucial role in facilitating the southern Lend-Lease supply route.
Home front workers also made invaluable contributions. One remarkable figure was Gulboor Davydova, Hero of Socialist Labor, who founded a pioneering women’s collective farm, "Red Farm Worker." Despite labor shortages, her collective produced more than pre-war levels and eventually merged with a male-run farm to form a large and successful enterprise. During the war, Gulboor worked as a team leader in the "Kommunizm’s Way" collective farm. Tragically, both of her sons were killed in combat.
The Azerbaijan SSR also became a major hub for evacuees and the wounded, including people from Leningrad and the North Caucasus. Baku was transformed into a massive hospital city, with wounded soldiers housed in schools, boarding houses, industrial facilities, and camps. Among the medical staff were many Jewish doctors and nurses. Colonel R. Gurevich, a medical officer, headed the evacuation hospitals in Baku.
Artists and intellectuals also contributed to the war effort by boosting morale through culture. Afrasiyab Badalbeyli and Boris Zeidman co-wrote the opera People’s Wrath, a musical symbol of wartime resistance. In 1942, M. Weinstein and M. Krishtul composed the one-act opera Signal. The works of A. Kabakov and M. Weinstein gained wide popularity and cultural importance.
After the war, Azerbaijan’s Jewish population grew significantly, as refugees from Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltics, and Russia chose to settle in the republic. By the postwar years, the Azerbaijan SSR was home to 29,716 Ashkenazi Jews and about 13,000 Mountain and Georgian Jews.
In 1945-1946, two important religious institutions opened in Baku: the Mountain Synagogue and the Ashkenazi-Georgian Synagogue-testaments to Azerbaijan’s spirit of tolerance and coexistence.
Jews played an active role in rebuilding the national economy and social infrastructure of post-war Azerbaijan. Many became influential figures in the Communist Youth League (Komsomol), the Communist Party, the press, and cultural life.
In modern Azerbaijan, the Jewish community continues to contribute meaningfully to the country's development. Alongside Azerbaijanis and other ethnic groups, Jews fought heroically in the recent war for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. The country proudly honors the memory of National Hero Albert Agarunov, a Mountain Jew who died in battle with extraordinary bravery.
World War II brought untold suffering and loss not only to the Soviet Union but to the entire world. It is important to recognize that the Soviet peoples paid a tremendous price to rid the world of fascism. The victory achieved through the unity of the USSR’s many nationalities was also a triumph for the Jewish people.
Eternal glory to the heroes. Blessed be their memory.
