24 Facts About Noureddin Kianouri

Noureddin Kianouri was an Iranian construction engineer, Urban planner Professor of Bauakademie der DDR in Berlin and a communist political leader.

Noureddin Kianouri studied first at University of Tehran until 1934 and later in Germany from 1934 to 1939.

Noureddin Kianouri fled, and lived in Italy and later East Germany; under the pseudonym "Dr Silvio Macetti" he was an influential architect and theorist of socialist architecture and city planning.

Noureddin Kianouri was arrested and tortured, and read a forced confession on national TV.

Noureddin Kianouri was released and placed under house arrest, and died on 5 November 1999.

In 1935, Noureddin Kianouri left Iran for Germany to commence his undergraduate studies in architecture at the Technische Hochschule Aachen.

Noureddin Kianouri initially received financial support from his brother and from a cousin residing in Aachen.

Noureddin Kianouri successfully defended his thesis at the Technische Hochschule Aachen in September 1939.

Noureddin Kianouri was one of the first members of the Association of Iranian Architects, which was placed in charge of major housing developments in the city of Tehran.

Noureddin Kianouri was described as a "key figure", who formulated the organization's theoretical and ideological mission statements.

Noureddin Kianouri was one of the founding members of the Tudeh Party in 1941.

Later it came to light that Noureddin Kianouri was aware of the assassination but had not reported the attempt to the central committee.

Noureddin Kianouri spent two years in jail and then escaped.

In 1955 two years after the coup 1953 Noureddin Kianouri ran away from Iran to Iraq and further to Italy communist Party he was given a new identity as Dr Silvio Macetti.

Noureddin Kianouri remained active in the Iranian communist party, from abroad.

Noureddin Kianouri was one of the "hard liners" in the party, who formed a more dogmatically Marxist faction compared to the moderates, and this faction generally opposed Mohammad Mosaddegh's government.

Noureddin Kianouri continued that collaboration after moving to East Berlin, where he became a research director of the Bauakademie der DDR, developing theories of socialist architecture and urban planning and cooperating with Gradov.

Noureddin Kianouri collaborated with German architect and city planner Bruno Flierl, furthering the work of Gradov.

Noureddin Kianouri directly refers to the CIAM principles in his book, and suggests that although they are currently serving the capitalist societies however they could instrumentalised for the mobilization of the society:.

Noureddin Kianouri stayed in East Berlin until 1977, when he was selected as the Secretary General of the Iranian Communist Party.

Noureddin Kianouri, interviewed for Newsweek, expressed the party's view that it should work with Ruhollah Khomeini, and that "he is playing a totally progressive part in the development of Iran".

The public confession happened in May 1983, when Noureddin Kianouri and Behazin, a well-known writer and translator and member of the Tudeh party, appeared on national television, each giving a recantation that was a kind of "history lesson", in which they outlined how communism had betrayed the people of Iran.

Noureddin Kianouri mentioned how he had come to realize that communism was essentially alien to the people of Iran, and that the party was plagued by private jealousies and corruption.

Later, "in an open letter to Khomeini, Noureddin Kianouri recorded a horrific catalogue of maltreatment and tortures meted out to him and his wife during their imprisonment".