THE FACTS

The bullet had entered Ali Saiy Bey’s skull just behind the left ear, and exited above the left eye, leaving a 5 cm x 6 cm hole. At roughly 11 a.m. he fell face-first at full impact onto the concrete sidewalk located at 17 Hardenbergstrasse. In his memoir, Soghomon described that “black, thick blood at once pooled around his head, as though oil gushing out of a broken pot.” The autopsy report detailed a brain “swimming in blood” indicating that it had exploded, resulting in liquefaction.

Suffice it to say, Saiy Bey’s demise was violent, gruesome, and instantaneous. Face and skull crushed on concrete made visual identification impossible, and guaranteed a closed casket.

Officers arrived in minutes to two separate locations; the first, Saiy’s dead body, and the second, just around the corner (south on Fasanenstrasse), where Soghomon endured the brutality of an incensed mob. The ‘good citizens’ believed him a terrorist who had just ruthlessly murdered a German war hero. Ironically, Soghomon’s arrest by police was his rescue from certain death.

In the rush to publish, the next day’s New York Times, relying on a special cable from Berlin, got numerous details wrong. It reported that Soghomon had tapped Saiy on the shoulder and “pretended to claim acquaintance with him”, that Saiy’s wife had been present, and that she had been injured. None of these had any basis in fact. Additionally, in a followup article (March 17), Saiy was misrendered as “Sali” and the following day (March 18), the Times rendered it as “Saïd.” Of course, by that time “Ali Saiy Bey” was known to be an alias. His true identity had sent shockwaves around the world.

Exactly who had Soghomon gunned down, and why?

To be continued…

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“Ali Saiy Bey”