Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎544r] (1090/1237)

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keeping the neighbourhood a p tate of unrest beoeuse they arev ^
annoyed thet he had to go.
Morale . ^he local oslaro population is Jubilant. It hates
the uusslans ana belieres that in two or three weeks more they will
melt away as the Germ as approach. The Christians, except for a
few ot the richer fftmilies who owe their prosperity to trade with
Germany, are depressed. Tabriz harbours few Jews, but of them two
\ or three families hare already left, terrified by tales that the
Germans are killing off any Jews they find in the Caucasus.
4 Russien morale was visibly low while the Germans were sweeping
south-east fro© Rostov ena there was much talk about lack of
fighting snirit among the troops in the Caucasus. I r. Churchill’s
visit to T dissia, the Dieppe raid r nd the slowing down of the rate
of the German advance as they came to the mountains all helped to
bring about an Improvement.
There are reports that a grou^ of Russian aoldiers were
caught trying to steal from the Customs House, and that th ey are
stealing the electric light bulbs from the street lamps, robbing
gardens ana committing similar offences. It all amounts to very
little, and the fact rem?ins that their behaviour is very good*
35. ■ r oneganda .
i arsian heads: 1.
£•
3*
a « British . He try to get three main ideas into
W© are bound to win
It is Persia’s interest that we should win
Persia must eschew religious hatreds
We have failed to get these ideas into Azerbaijani beads, for
many reasons. one is that we persist in treating Azerbaijan as
just a part of Persia for propaganda purposes and throw it a chunk
of the same cake as is handed to the rest of the country, whereas
Azerbaijan needs different fere; the race and language are
different. Another roason is that moat Azerbaijanis don’t, and
don’t want to, believe that we can beat Hitler, are convinced that
a prosperous Germany is essential for prosperity in Azerbaijan, and
feel the sharper hatred for the Christians because they ore held to
have common cause with the Ihissians.
Gome of the older and better educated people will listen to
arguments that the resources of the democracies will ensure their
victory in the long run, but they say that so far as Azerbaijan is
concerned there isn’t going to be any long run; there is hardly
anyone who doesn’t think the Germans will be here in a few weeks.
The Moslems pray for th© Germans to come in the mosques; in a
Tabriz cinema recently a Moslem, at the sight of a swastika on the
arm of a German soldier, ejaculated "Gurban olaidim o nishana!’’ -
would that I might be a sacrifice to that badgel Grown men rush
to kiss a wireless receiver bringing in Berlin’s promise, in urki
and Gsraanli Turkish, that soon Azerbaijan will be delivered by the
Germans* There are feasts to celebrate German victdttea and vows
to give this or that to the poor when the Germans march in. They
laugh at our warnings of what will happen; u this isn’t Greece, or
Poland or any of the countries which fought against Hitler, nor is
it even Czecho- lovskia. M?. are quite different from all of them,
because Hitler likes us, because w© have been friendly to Germ; ny,
and because we shall help him and eontlnue to earn hie gratitude. u
Beza Shah took away from these people the means and occasions for
giving expression to their religious fanaticism; Hitler is
providing a substitute. * e have nothing similar to offer; we
cannot annkn trumpet a new and glittering prospect; we only
appear to defend an old one of which peoale are rather tired. Froi
us these people expect in the future only what they have had in the
past - poverty, corrupt officlrldom, an uneasy national life poised
between ourselves and the Russians. Hitler promises them the
cb nee of an escape, ant easy way to all th© things their own
fecklessneas and geographical position have denied them so far; it
matters nothing thnt Hitler would let them down as he has done all
other small countries; the* point ij that they believe he wouidn’t
I sometimes wonder if we have yet thought out the theory and
practice of propaganda. s e pour out a steady stream of effort
and sprinkle our publications, our talking points on the receptive
and on the un-reeentive, without regard to the propitiousness or
otherwise of the moment. Turely there is a time to talk, and ,
time to be silent, a need to recognise that for our purposes some
/people