In his third article (link is external) on how World War 1 influenced ordinary lives in Azerbaijan, Dr. Harun Yilmaz discusses an ordinary man and his house in extraordinary times. Asmus’ Leo de Boer was a captain from the Baltic region of the Russian Empire and his family was originally from the Netherlands. Before the Great War, he moved to Baku and became a successful businessman during the oil boom. He passed away unexpectedly but his mansion became an epicentre of events in the following decades. When the British occupation forces arrived in Baku in 1918, the general major leading this force turned the mansion into his headquarters. Following the British forces, the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Azerbaijan, during its short existence in 1918-1920, was located in the same building. Finally, when the Bolsheviks arrived in Baku, the building became the house of the first secretary of the local Communist Party. During the Great Terror under Stalin (1937-38), tens of thousands of execution orders were issued here. The chief of the Stalin’s political police in Azerbaijan, and after 1933 the head of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan enjoyed the mansion as his home for twenty years. In 1951, the mansion of the Dutch captain became the Museum of Fine Arts and it still holds a rich collection.