Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov

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Abdurakhman Genazovich (Ganazovich) Avtorkhanov
Native name	Абдурахман Геназович (Ганазович) Авторханов
Born	(1908-10-23)23 October 1908 Lakha Nevri, Chechnya, Russian Empire
Died	24 April 1997(1997-04-24) (aged 88) Munich, Germany
Occupation	Historian, Political scientist
Genre	Academic publishing
Subject	Chechen society, Soviet history

Abdurakhman Genazovich Avtorkhanov (Russian: Абдурахман Геназович Авторханов; Chechen: Ӏабдурахьма́н Гена́зович Авторха́нов, 23 October 1908 – 24 April 1997) was a Soviet historian and Kremlinologist of Chechen origin who during the Cold War authored popular books on the Soviet Union and its ruling system. He wrote under several Russian pseudonyms, but since the Dissolution of the Soviet Union some of his works have been republished under his real name.

Initially a devoted Communist Party functionary who experienced imprisonment during the Great Terror, Avtorkhanov defected to Nazi-Germany during the Second World War (not long before the Soviets deported the Chechens). After the war, he stayed in West Germany and eventually aligned himself with the anti-Communist Western Bloc, working as a professor at the U.S. Army Russian Area School and becoming a co-founder of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.