Amir Aslan Afshar
Ibex Publishers 2021
One can only hope the title of this book is just a title and does not become a reality. Since 1979, unless you are Iranian, hyphenated or not, most of us did not know the real truths that made up Iran’s government from 1935 through the present. Most of us thought of Iran or knew of Iran through its ancient history, food, poets. Most of us non-Iranians even knew who or what was an Iranian. One of the reasons for this is that Iranians who immigrated to the United States learned or knew English, learned about the customs and cultures of this country, respected it; in other words, they assimilated into American and other societies. It seemed the only thing that was different about them and us was they had a beautiful accent, one that was fairly unidentifiable to most Americans.
Iran’s government began making the front-page news in the 60’s and 70’s when the government under the Shah was beginning to take political turn. Not much was positive but to most it didn’t matter as Iran was a country thousands of miles away and we thought didn’t impact us. Then came the Revolution the hostage taking and the rest is history. For over four hundred days Americans tied ribbons around their trees in hopes that the hostages would be released. All we heard about was the evilness of IRAN AND IRANIANS. Those neighbors we loved now were becoming enemies because most cannot separate the acts of a government from its people. We never learned about the other side of this crisis and what brought the Iran, once a thriving nonsecular country to its knees. A country modern in many ways was now being controlled by a theocratic government.
This is what makes this book a must read. In this book, you will learn why the Shah of Iran fell. You will learn the truths and nontruths of what took place and what was meant by the Shah’s words a few days prior to his death “You will soon realize, that what we have just lived through was much more that a revolution, it was a total national suicide. Everything my father, myself, and the Iranian people have accomplished over fifty-seven years has been destroyed, and Iran is plunging into the “great terror.” One day the people will understand their error, but it will be too late.”
These words were spoken to the author of this book. Add to this the words spoken to Jimmy Carter by Ronald Reagan after he won the election. “Your greatest error was to have overturned the Shah. By doing so, you eliminated America’s best ally. You have made a fierce enemy of a great country.” These words were just but we can still hope that Iran will take a new direction for the sake of its people, the country and the world. Amir decided to write this book. For him it is a testimonial for the future and contains only facts, and no exaggerations. Great conspiracies and exaggerated truths are corrected and dealt with. Two chapters that attraced my attention was The Iranian Intellectuals in Berlin, specifically pages 44 and 45 …
Did this mutual attraction of the two nations have a racial connotation?
That came later. The term arisch (‘Aryan) appeared around the time that Hitler took power in 1933 and spread slowly until 1933 when the Nuremburg laws were passed. Nuremberg was the city where the Nazi party organized its conventions. The Nuremburg Laws were passed on September 15, 1935, during the seventh convention of the party., entitles “The Reich Convention for Liberty.” They were meant to keep the German race “pure” and distinguished between the “Aryan race” and the “Semitic race.”
What was your status as a foreigner given these racial laws?
Back then, all the German youth of my age enlisted in the Hitler-jugend, a youth organization. As I already said, as a foreigner, I was not allowed to join at first, but later the position was reversed because I was “the best representative of the oldest Aryan nation.” This happened after 1933. At the time, Iranians not only didn’t suffer from any discrimination, but they received the warmest possible welcome, even those on the political left, even the extreme left. Messrs. Moshfegh Kazemi; Parviz Kazemi, a lawyer and senator; Ardalan: Kaviani, a socialist and author of the famous book Iran, a Country with no Framework nor Objective; Davoud Rajabi and Jafar Sharif-Emami; the great chemist Sheybani; Taher Ziai, the engineer and future minister of mines and industry; Guilanshah – they all studied in Germany. They came to acquire the technical and industrial know-how, which made them a thorn in the side of the other powers. None of this would have happened if Reza Shah, the builder of modern Iran, hadn’t decided to provide them with grants to prepare the future and supply the country with railroads and a railway network.
Much later, when I was appointed ambassador to Germany and had the embassy rebuilt, I had the idea of decorating a wall with portraits of all former German and Iranian ambassadors since 1980. I wrote to the West German ambassadors to Iran -except Johann Smend, Hitler’s ambassador. I called the ministry and was told they didn’t have any pictures of Smend; they probably had decided to forget about that period. Sometime later, I found a picture of Ambassador Smend and hung it up along with the others.
The second is Chapter 9, again specifically pages 333 and 334.
In view of all the social and industrial advances the Shah accomplished, what did he consider to be the causes of the 1979 Revolution?
“I signed my death warrant,” the Sovereign said, “on the day I signed a contract with an Italian oil company awarding seventy-five percent of the profits to Iran. They started by killing Enrico Mattei, the CEO of the oil company, by sabotaging his airplane. Then came a series of assassination attempts on my person. The major companies’ hostility towards me when I took the lead at the OPEC and managed to raise the crude oil prices and proclaimed full Iran sovereignty over its oil industry starting 1979. The Algiers Agreements and the peace treaty I signed with Iraq, as well as my closer ties to the Arabs and Russians, were also frowned upon. The influence of the major oil companies on the Western media is what started the vast and unjust press campaign, with the BBC in the vanguard. So, they did to me exactly what they did to my father: they put an end to my political existence precisely at the fateful date of 1979.”
I have read many biographies and memoirs, most of wish I feel are a propaganda tool, but in reading this I felt a closeness to the emotions and turmoils of the author. I also felt the great love he has for his country of birth and the work he accomplished, and for his family an honest tribute to both.
I look forward to a reread.