Ramzi Nafi

Remzî Nafî
ڕەمزی نافیع
Portrait of Ramzi
Personal details
Born1917 (1917)
Erbil, Ottoman Empire
Died1949 (aged 31–32)
Erbil, Kingdom of Iraq
CitizenshipNazi Germany Nazi Germany[a]
PartyHîwa
Xoybûn
EducationAmerican University of Beirut
Signature
Military service
AllegianceAbwehr (1942-1943)
Battles/wars

Ramzi Nafi[b] (1917–1949) was a Kurdish nationalist who joined Nazi Germany’s military intelligence in 1942 for an unsuccessful operation aimed at overthrowing British governance in Iraq during World War II in 1943. In return the Germans, would establish an autonomous Kurdish state, under his leadership. There is ongoing debate regarding whether he followed National Socialist ideology or whether collaboration with the Nazi regime was purely opportunistic in the pursuit of Kurdish independence. Due to his pivotal role in the failed Operation Mammoth, Ramzi remains an extremely polarizing figure who is revered by some yet reviled by others in recent Kurdish history.[2]

Early life

Young Ramzi Nafi in Kirkuk

Ramzi was born in 1917 to a prominent family from Erbil. He attended primary school and secondary school in Erbil. At the time, there were no high schools in Erbil, so as a result he went to a high school in Kirkuk for a year. In Kirkuk, Ramzi joined the far-right Hîwa party led by Rafiq Hilmi.[3]

Nuredin Zaza and Ramzi Nafi by a sea coast

Ramzi then attended a science-oriented high school in Baghdad in the years of 1937 and 1938. He passed the bachelor's degree exam in Baghdad, and in 1939 decided to leave for Beirut. He attends the American University of Beirut for two years and achieved the rank of freshman.[4] He was known for his opposition to the British Empire putting Kurdish lands within Iraqi borders. In Beirut, he met with Kamuran Alî Bedirxan, Nûredin Zaza, and some active figures in the Kurdish nationalist Xoybûn party at that time, which he joined and strived for an independent Kurdish state.[2][5]

He remained in Beirut from October 1941 to March 1942. Later, he went to Istanbul to complete his education and was accepted in the private Robert College. It was in Istanbul in mid-1942 where he was contacted by the Abwehr and Major Gottfried Müller's men for Operation Mammoth.[4]

A 1943 British archival document relating to Operation Mammoth states that the Germans paid Ramzi Nafi 20 Reichmarks daily. They offered him a reward of 30,000 Reichmarks for his assistance. Ramzi reportedly refused to accept the money and instead requested that the entire amount be donated to poor Kurdish students. Regarding his daily pay, he decided to donate the remaining balance he didn't use to the Red Cross.[6]

Operation Mammoth

Operation Mammoth was a German special forces mission in 1943 during World War II, led by Major Müller and accompanied by Ramzi, to incite a rebellion of Iraqi Kurds in an attempt to expel the British from the region, gain control of the oil fields, and somehow deliver them to the Wehrmacht because Operation Barbarossa was not progressing as it was expected in reaching the Caucasus. In return for ejecting the British, the Kurds would be assisted by the Nazis in creating an independent Kurdistan. Major Müller, the mastermind of the operation, needed "a native Kurd who would be prepared to jump with us, lead us to a good hiding place and then make contact for us with Sheikh Mahmud and other Kurdish chieftains."[7] Shortly after his arrival in Istanbul in 1942, Ramzi was contacted by several members of the Sicherheitsdienst unit and Müller's men to discuss the possibility of creating a roadmap-like plan for Kurdish unification in exchange for Kurdish uprisings against the British occupying the Kirkuk oil fields.[5][8][9]

Failure

Ramzi Nafi after his arrest

The mission failed on the first day. The weapon and equipment cases were lost in the parachute drop and the group landed 300 km from the intended target. Ramzi and the Germans operatives were taken prisoners by British and Iraqi forces, tortured, and given the death sentence. Major Müller managed to escape and return to Germany, where he lived until his death on 26 September 2009. Ramzi had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment; however, due to him becoming mentally unstable in prison they ordered his release in 1947. Ramzi died two years later in 1949 in his hometown Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.[7]

The Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline,[10][11] which delivered Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean coast since 1934 and to a refinery built near the city of Haifa in 1939,[12] and which Time described on 21 April 1941 as the "jugular of the British Empire",[10] as well as the Kirkuk-Tripoli pipeline branching off at Haditha,[11] formed the backbone of the Western allies' warfare in the Mediterranean, and their loss would have had a decisive impact on the further course of the war.

Ramzi Nafi street in Erbil

The Kurdish Neo-Nazi organization Hawpa, is heavily inspired by Ramzi Nafi, it has adopted 1943 as its founding date, the year that coincides with Operation Mammoth.[13] Their flag has a white Kurdish Sun on a black background with a swastika inside it.[14]

Flag of Hawpa

Biographies

  • Ramzi Nafi', der große Märtyrer, den die Stadt Hawler opferte. Mas'ud Mohamad 1985.

Operation Mammoth

  • Werner Brockdorff: Geheimkommandos des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Wels 1967, ISBN 3-88102-059-4.
  • Ulrich van der Heyden, Bernd Lemke, Pherset Rosbeiani: Unternehmen Mammut: Ein Kommandoeinsatz der Wehrmacht in Nordirak 1943. Edition Falkenberg, ISBN 3-95494-145-7.

Notes

  1. ↑ 24 Mar 1943, German authorities arrange Ramzi’s entry into Germany a passport along side other things were prepared for him.[1]
  2. ↑ Full name: Ramzi Nafi Rashid Agha (Kurdish: ڕەمزی نافیع ڕەشید ئاغا, romanized: Remzî Nafî' Reşîd Axa)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rosbeiani, Pherset Zuber Mohammed (3 July 2012). "Das Unternehmen „Mammut"". Philosophische Fakultät III: 212–214. doi:10.18452/16540.
  2. 1 2 Rosbeiani, Pherset Zuber Mohammed (3 July 2012). Das Unternehmen "Mammut" (doctoralThesis). Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philosophische Fakultät III. doi:10.18452/16540.
  3. ↑ چاوپێکەوتنی مامۆستا ئیبراهیم ئەحمەد- بەشی یەکەم, retrieved 31 August 2022
  4. 1 2 گۆران, محەمەد (2021). رەمزی نافع: رۆڵەیەکی هەولێری فیداکاری سەرباخۆیی کوردستان (in Central Kurdish) (1st ed.). تاران.
  5. 1 2 "Bernd Lemke: Insurrection attempts on the surface: Operation "Mammut" (Iraq) from 1943" (PDF).
  6. ↑ "Gottfried Johannes MULLER / Georg KONIECZNY / Friedrich Wilhelm HOFFMAN: German". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 Müller, Gottfried Johannes (2007). In the burning orient : Dangerous Mission Middle East 1943, 3rd ed. Oxford Music Online. Salem-Buchdienst GmbH, Stadtsteinach.
  8. ↑ Seewald, Berthold (11 March 2021). "Unternehmen Mammut: So wollten deutsche Agenten 1943 den Irak zerstören". DIE WELT (in German). Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  9. ↑ Müller 3rd ed., Salem-Buchdienst GmbH, Stadtsteinach, 2007, Gottfried Johannes (21 March 2011). Einbruch ins Verschlossene Kurdistan. Dr. Roland Henss Verlag.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 Auzanneau, Matthieu (2016). Or noir : la grande histoire du pétrole. Paris: La Découverte. ISBN 978-2-7071-9062-8. OCLC 953685840.
  11. 1 2 Diner, Dan (2021). Ein anderer Krieg : Das jüdische Palästina und der Zweite Weltkrieg 1935-1942. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. München. ISBN 978-3-421-05406-7. OCLC 1204398219.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ↑ Filiu, Jean-Pierre (2021). Le milieu des mondes : une histoire laïque du Moyen-Orient de 395 à nos jours. Paris. ISBN 978-2-02-142024-1. OCLC 1269631992.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ↑ ""Türk solu"". Devrimci Proletarya (in Turkish). Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  14. ↑ Rojevakurd (1 March 2024). "Nasyonal-Sosyalîstê Kurd Remzî Nafî". Rojevakurd. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
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