Background
Hassan Alavikia was born on 1 December 1910 in Hamedan, Iran, the son of Abu Torab Alavikia, a wealthy land owner.
Hassan Alavikia was born on 1 December 1910 in Hamedan, Iran, the son of Abu Torab Alavikia, a wealthy land owner.
He completed his primary and secondary education at the Lycée Saint Louis in Isfahan and Tehran. In 1932, he entered Tehran Military Academy from which he graduated as a Lieutenant in 1934. He continued his academic education at the University of Tehran and Harvard University, and graduated with degrees in judicial law and philosophy.
He spoke fluent Persian, French, English, German, and Russian. Political He served in the Iranian Army as Deputy Director of the Intelligence Department of the Army (1949-1951). In 1956, he left the Second Division, and became Deputy Director of the SAVAK (1956-1961) with General Teymur Bakhtiar as its first Director.
In 1962 he was appointed as head of the European Operations Division of the SAVAK (1962-1967) by the Shah, which at the time was headquartered in Cologne, Germany.
He retired from the military in 1967, and continued his professional career with the establishment of several successful businesses in the agricultural industry. On 6 December 1956, General Alavikia married Jila Pourrastegar, the daughter of Hossein Pourrastegar, a well-known Colonel in the Persian Cossack Brigade under Reza Shah Pahlavi.
They had three daughters.