13 Facts About Bozorg Alavi

Bozorg Alavi was an influential Iranian writer, novelist, and political intellectual.

Bozorg Alavi did return to Tehran after the revolution but did not stay too long and decided to head back to Germany.

Bozorg Alavi's contribution to Iranian Literature is profound due to the modernization movement in which he was a key member.

Bozorg Alavi's father, Seyyed Abol Hassan Alavi, took part in the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and later published the progressive newsletter Kaveh in Germany.

Bozorg Alavi's paternal grandfather was Seyyed Mohammad Sarraf, a wealthy banker and merchant, who was a leading constitutionalist and member of the first Majles.

Bozorg Alavi derived his nickname 'Bozorg' from being named after his great-grandfather -his Agha Bozorg- Agha Seyyed Mojtaba Ghannad, sugar merchant, confectioner and shipowner, who died in the year Bozorg was born,.

Bozorg Alavi was one of the famous 53 persons who were jailed in 1937 under the regime of Reza Shah for communist activities.

Bozorg Alavi himself claimed that he was not involved politically at the time and simply was in a group of literati, who among other things read communist writings.

Bozorg Alavi was given a 7-year sentence, but was released after 4 years in 1941 after a general amnesty following the Allied control of Iran.

Bozorg Alavi was in Germany when the 1953 Coup d'etat overthrew the government of Premier Mossadegh and resulted in massive arrests and imprisonment.

Bozorg Alavi stayed in exile in East Berlin, teaching at Humboldt University, until the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and the emergence of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Bozorg Alavi returned to Iran a year later in 1980 for another short visit and was dismayed by the repressive turn of the revolution.

Bozorg Alavi continued to live and work in Berlin, visiting Iran for the last time in 1993.