"Objective Baku: How Hitler Lost the Battle for Oil” screened in Los Angeles

The documentary film “Objective Baku: How Hitler lost the battle for oil” was screened on January 17, 2018 in Los Angeles at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which is one of the largest and most renowned hospitals in the U.S. 

Supported by Azerbaijan's Consulate General in Los Angeles, the event was attended by the Center's doctors, foreign consuls general and honorary consuls, representatives of science and culture, members of Azerbaijani, Jewish and other communities, and others.

Opening the event, Cedars-Sinai's famous cardiologist and Chairman of the "Save a Heart" Foundation Dr. Yzhar Charuzi welcomed the guests and stressed the importance of the documentary for highlighting the aspects of the World War II, which are still generally unknown. 

Then "Save a Heart" Foundation's Esther Blaugrund introduced Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Los Angeles Nasimi Aghayev, who then was invited to address the audience. In his remarks, Aghayev spoke about the history of Azerbaijan’s oil industry and noted that oil had always played a very significant role in social, economic and political life of Azerbaijan since the 19th century. Mentioning the enormous sacrifices made by the Azerbaijani people both in the battlefield and home front in the World War II, the Consul General stressed that out of 700,000 Azerbaijanis conscripted to the front around 400,000, which constituted around 10% of Azerbaijan’s total population then, perished fighting against the Nazis. Stressing the strategic importance of the oil extracted by tireless Azerbaijani oil workers, Aghayev said that without the energy supplies from Azerbaijan, the Soviet Army would have been unable to defeat the Nazi Germany and the whole course of the World War II could have been quite different. He mentioned that during 1941-1945 Baku produced more than 70 percent of oil and 80 percent of gasoline in the Soviet Union.

Then the film “Objective Baku: How Hitler lost the battle for oil,” which was executively produced by Arzu Aliyeva with an important support from Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev Foundation and which was aired on National Geographic in several languages in 2015, was screened. The film was very warmly received by the audience.