Pro Georgia, 2024, vol. 35, 9–10 DOI: 10.61097/12301604/PG34/2024/9-38
ISSN 1230-1604
e-ISSN 2956-7343
The 1924 Soviet Repressions and the “Red Terror” in the Kakheti
Region of Georgia. (Based on Archival Documents)
Tengiz
Simashvili,
Iakob
Gogebashvili Telavi State University. Telavi, Georgia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3446-2831
Abstract:
This
paper examines the scale, mechanisms, and consequences of Soviet repressions
following the suppression of the August 1924 Anti-Soviet uprising in Georgia,
with a focus on the Kakheti province - particularly the Telavi and Sighnaghi
districts. Based on archival sources such as investigation files, execution and
deportation lists, and official reports, the study reconstructs the local
aftermath of the uprising. It argues that the repressions were not simply
punitive, but part of a systematic and ideologically driven campaign to
eliminate opposition and consolidate Soviet power in rural areas. Hundreds were
executed, imprisoned, or exiled without due process, often based on social
status or political affiliation. The paper highlights the role of local administrative
and security bodies operating under central directives, and introduces many
previously unpublished documents. By analyzing the regional application of
Soviet terror, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of early Soviet
violence and sheds light on a neglected chapter of Georgian history.
Keywords: 1924 Soviet
Repressions, Red Terror, Kakheti, Georgia, Anti-Soviet Uprising, Political
Violence, Sovietization.
A century has passed since the anti -Soviet
armed uprising of August 1924 in Georgia. Although in August 1924 there was no
uprising against Soviet rule in Kakheti, the region was subjected to brutal
Soviet repressions. Under accusations of participating in the August 1924
uprising, numerous individuals were arrested and executed without trial.1
In addition, the Soviet authorities
employed other cruel methods of repression. In early September 1924,
representatives of the nobility, clergy, and intelligentsia residing in the
villages of Telavi and Sighnaghi districts were forcibly exiled from their
homes. Incited by Soviet authorities, some local villagers committed horrifying
acts of violence against them.2
While it is officially registered that in
1924, the so-called “Special Triads” operating in different parts of Georgia
sentenced 832 individuals, including 44 clergy members, to the highest form of
punishment - execution, these figures do not reflect the full reality.3
Archival documents from Georgia's Ministry
of Internal Affairs reveal discrepancies. According to Registers compiled by
Georgia's “Cheka” in 1924, the total number of those executed in Georgia's
districts, presented in two copies, is listed as 857 individuals.4
Furthermore, even these lists of those
executed during August -September 1924 are incomplete - the actual number of
executions exceeded 857 individuals, which will be discussed in detail below.
Our analysis of archival materials reveals
instances in which individuals listed in the “execution lists” compiled by the
district's “Special Triads” survived execution.5
For example, on September 5, 1924, three
individuals - Ioseb Magalashvili, Valerian Gamkrelidze, and Davit
Sulkhanishvili - who were included in the list of those to be executed, posted
on the execution wall in the town of Telavi, ultimately escaped execution. This
occurred under the following circumstances: the execution list had already been
prepared by the Telavi district's “Special Triads” and was displayed on walls
in public gathering places to intimidate the population. However, on the night
of September 4-5, 1924, a Telavi-based “Komsomol” member, Sasha Jorjadze,
fatally wounded Kolia Japaridze, a member of the Telavi district's “Special
Triads,” within the Telavi district's Cheka headquarters.
It appears that on the night of September
4-5, 1924, 16 year old Komsomol member Sasha Jorjadze was on duty at the Cheka
headquarters. During his shift, he discovered that his father had been arrested
and was slated for execution alongside others. Determined to save his father,
Jorjadze entered the office of Kolia Japaridze, a member of the Telavi
district’s “Special Triads”, and said, “I am a Komsomol member, one of yours,
and I beg you not to execute my father.” Japaridze, however, dismissed him from
the office but Jorjadze returned to Japaridze’s office with the same request.
Angered, Japaridze reportedly shouted, “Get out of here, you son of a dog, or
I’ll have you execute your father yourself!”. According to another contemporary account, Japaridze allegedly
said, “If you are a Komsomol member, you should execute your father with your
own hands”. While the exact words Japaridze used remain unclear today, it is
known that Jorjadze pulled out a weapon and shot Japaridze, fatally wounding
him.6
Following the shooting, Russian soldiers
stationed at the Cheka headquarters attacked Jorjadze and his father with
swords, killing them both. The soldiers also executed several other condemned
individuals who were bound and awaiting their fate in the corridor. The chaos
and gunfire that erupted within the Telavi Cheka headquarters caused
significant disorder, disrupting the operations of the executioners.
As a result, the three aforementioned
individuals - Ioseb Magalashvili, Valerian Gamkrelidze, and Davit
Sulkhanishvili - who were prepared for execution in the lower -floor cells,
were not taken out for execution as planned.
This is confirmed by documents uncovered in
the Ministry of Internal Affairs archives, dated September 1924, which provide
the following information regarding Ioseb Magalashvili: “Ioseb Magalashvili was
sentenced to execution by the local “Special Triads”, but due to the chaos
caused by Japaridze’s shooting, his execution could not be carried out.”7
In the second archival document, which
lists prisoners transferred from the Telavi district prison to the Metekhi
prison in Tbilisi, a note is made next to the name of Ioseb Magalashvili: “Ioseb Magalashvili was not executed
because, during the removal of the detainees, there was no time to tie his
hands, and he remained in the cell amid the ensuing disorder. Subsequently, an
order to halt the executions was issued.”8
According to the lists of individuals
executed in the Telavi district, preserved in the archives of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs of Georgia, it is registered that only 36 individuals were
executed between September 1-5, 1924. However, as we have seen, three
individuals included in these lists were not executed.9
However, according to other archival
materials, the Telavi district “Special Triads” sentenced not 36 but over a
hundred individuals to execution. This information is confirmed by September
30, 1924 protocol of the Telavi district “Special Triads.”10
The list of those executed, attached to
this protocol, does not include some of the individuals executed between
September 1-5, 1924. However, it does mention the names of some guests executed
at a wedding held in late August 1924 in a house located at the beginning of
today's 9 Aprili Street in Telavi. This wedding has been remained into the
memory of Telavi residents as the “Bloody Wedding.”11
On the night of
their wedding day, August 28, 1924, several men attending the celebration were
arrested by the Telavi district's “Cheka” for allegedly performing Georgian folk
songs loudly outside the house. The men were taken directly from the wedding
feast to prison. By early September 1924, some of the wedding participants were
executed, accused of participating in anti -Soviet uprisings.12
It is worth
noting that none of the archival Registers regarding the executed individuals
in the Telavi district include the name of Ioseb Dalakishvili, a priest from
the village of Pshaveli in the Telavi district. Nevertheless, he was executed
in September 1924, along with others, at the so -called “Gigo’s Hill” in the
city of Telavi, a location used for carrying out death sentences.13
Based on the aforementioned, further
research and analysis are required to determine the exact number of individuals
executed in the Telavi district on charges of participating in the anti -Soviet
uprising of August 1924.
The lists of those executed in the
territory of the Sighnaghi district in September 1924 contain
numerous inaccuracies.
We have obtained the minutes of a meeting
held by the “Special Triads” of the Sighnaghi district, dated September 2,
1924, which issued death sentences to residents of the Sighnaghi district.14
According to this document, a total of 65 individuals were executed in the
Sighnaghi district on the night of September 1-2, 1924.
Additionally, we retrieved another list
from the Sighnaghi district ‘Cheka’ showing 65 individuals who were executed on
the night of September 1-2, 1924, in the Sighnaghi district. This list was
sent by the Sighnaghi district “Cheka” to the
Georgian “Cheka” on
December 1, 1924.15
However, it is noteworthy that the names of
at least five individuals listed among those executed are entirely absent from
the list of executions in the aforementioned districts of Georgia, which
provides a total of 857 executed individuals.
Specifically, the following names are
missing from the comprehensive list of executed persons: Nikoloz Korashvili
(patronymic - Nodari); Aleksandre Khirseli (patronymic - Solomoni); Giorgi
Rtskhiladze (patronymic - Nikolozi); Giga Nanobashvili (patronymic - Nikolozi);
and Giorgi Natsvlishvili (patronymic - Petre).16
To substantiate the claim that the number
of individuals executed in the Sighnaghi district was higher than reflected in
the list, we refer to additional materials.
In the archival collections of the National
Archives of Georgia, within the archival materials of the “Central Executive
Committee of All Georgia” of the Georgian SSR, minutes of village assemblies
held in October 1924 in the villages of the Telavi and Sighnaghi districts are
preserved. These documents pertain to the brutal process of expelling residents
-primarily the nobility, clergy, and intelligentsia -from the villages in
September 1924.17
According to the
content of the archival materials, in some villages of the Sighnaghi district,
the expulsion of individuals deemed unacceptable by Soviet authorities was
accompanied by acts of physical violence and extrajudicial killings carried out
by mobs.18
Here, it is
noteworthy that in the minutes of Akhasheni -Chumlaki Village Council of the Sighnaghi
District, dated October 2, 1924, the
list of individuals exiled from the village includes the entry: “The family of
the executed Giorgi Tsinamdzgvrishvili”.19
None of the archival materials we analyzed
concerning executed individuals include the name and surname of Giorgi
Tsinamdzgvrishvili in the lists of those executed in the Sighnaghi district.20
Furthermore, as we have already noted, the
general list of those executed in the Sighnaghi district, preserved in the
archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is missing at least five
individuals who were executed in the district.
Consequently, similar to the Telavi
district, the number of individuals executed in the Sighnaghi district was
significantly higher than is officially registered.
As previously noted, in September 1924, the
Soviet authorities adopted an alternative form of repression. Specifically,
alongside the arrests and executions of the population, in early September
1924, similar to other regions of Georgia, the persecution of representatives
of the nobility, clergy, intelligentsia, and individuals generally considered
opponents of Soviet power began in the villages of the Telavi and Sighnaghi
districts. This persecution included their expulsion from their places of
residence and, in some cases, their physical elimination.
In the early days of September 1924, events
that occurred in various villages of Kakheti, including the raids and
expulsions of local noble families, clergy, and members of the intelligentsia,
remain relatively unexplored in scientific historical literature. As it
appears, during the early days of September 1924 in the Telavi and Sighnaghi districts,
so -called “spontaneous” peasant meetings began. Encouraged by representatives
of the Soviet authorities who had arrived from the districts, some of the
village population -primarily poor peasants who were reportedly given alcoholic
beverages in advance -began expelling their fellow villagers belonging to the
nobility, intelligentsia, and clergy from their homes and looting their
families' properties.
This process also found reflection in the
Soviet press of the time, where published articles justified the actions of the
peasants.21
The collections of the National Archives of
Georgia preserve materials from the “Central Executive Committee of All
Georgia” of the Georgian SSR, containing detailed information about the Soviet
repressions that took place in September 1924.
Among them are
the protocols of village assemblies held in the villages of Telavi and Sighnaghi
districts in October 1924. It appears that, in order to provide a legal form to
the repressions carried out in September of the same year, representatives of
the Soviet authorities visited various villages in Kakheti in early October
1924. They conducted assemblies, compiled protocols, and addressed the issue of
the expulsion of the population from the villages -specifically concerning the
“expulsion of the nobility.”22
The minutes of the meeting held on October
5, 1924, by the rural councils of the villages of Napareuli, Saniore, and
Artana in the Telavi district discuss the expulsion of various individuals from
the village of Artana, including the family of Rezo Karalashvili, who had been
executed in Telavi on September 5, 1924. Rezo Karalashvili was the father of Pharnaoz
Karalashvili, who had been executed in 1923 on charges of membership in the
“Military Center.”23
The list of individuals expelled from the
village of Artana primarily includes male members of the Karalashvili family;
however, a woman, Talia Karalashvili, was also among those expelled.24
Similar meetings were held in other
villages of the Telavi district. On October 17, 1924, at a meeting of the
village council in Kurdgelauri, decisions to expel various individuals were
reviewed and confirmed. In this case as well, along with men, women were also
expelled from the village, and their homes, land and other property were
confiscated.25
According to the minutes of the village
council meeting held on October 26, 1924, in the village of Khorkheli, which
was part of the Telavi district at the time, the village schoolteacher, Vano
Sakvarelidze, was expelled, and his property was confiscated. The minutes
state: “Vano Sakvarelidze was a member
of Kakutsa Cholokashvili's group. He is currently a teacher, but he is unfit
for his position as an enemy of Soviet power. The peasants consider it
necessary to remove this individual from his teaching position.”26
As for the Sighnaghi district, according
to the archival materials, the expulsion of individuals deemed unacceptable to
Soviet authorities from the villages in this district was accompanied not only
by the confiscation of their property but also by acts of extreme brutality.
This included physical violence against completely innocent people solely based
on their social origin, and in some cases, their execution without any form of
trial. In effect, this constituted so -called “lynch law”, or mob -perpetrated
killings.
This is confirmed by various documents
stored in the Georgian National Archive. According to the minutes of the
meeting of the Presidium of the Sighnaghi District Executive Committee, dated February
12, 1925, the following individuals were expelled from the village of
Bakurtsikhe in the Sighnaghi district,
and their property was confiscated: “The family of the stoned Giorgi Vachnadze
(patronymic - Solomoni) with children, the family of the stoned Mikheil
Vachnadze (patronymic - Zakaria) -two
sons, the family of the executed Mikheil Vachnadze (patronymic - Zakaria) -wife Iulia with two children, the family of
Adam Vachnadze (patronymic - Iosebi)
-stoned, the family of the stoned Niko Vachnadze (patronymic - Dimitri)
- brother, doctor Giorgi Vachnadze with his family, Irakli and Iliko Abkhazi
stoned by the people, the family of Siko (Simon) Vachnadze (patronymic -
Revazi), among others.”27
In the list of individuals expelled from
the village of Kardenakhi, we read: “The family of stoned Data Porakishvili
(Aleksandre’s son, also known as Ilarion's son), including his wife, children,
and daughter -in -law; the wife and children of Ivane Vachnadze, labeled as
'stoned'; the family of Viktor (Vakhtang) Vachnadze (Giorgi's son) executed -
his mother; and the wife and children of Levan Samadashvili, executed,” among
others.28
In the documents, the individuals mentioned
are labeled as “executed,” “stoned,” and others. The term “executed” refers to
those arrested on charges of participating in the armed uprising of August 1924
and sentenced to death without any form of trial. As for “stoned,” this process
was, in reality, a form of “Red Terror,” specifically a brutal reprisal against
entirely innocent individuals, involving their murder with stones and
clubs.
From the materials gathered, it becomes
evident that during the expulsion process, peasants incited by the Soviet
authorities killed several dozen innocent people in this manner.
As revealed in the unpublished memoirs of
Giorgi Mirianashvili, a contemporary and a member of the Sighnaghi District
Committee at the time, he personally witnessed the tragedy that unfolded in the
village of Bakurtsikhe.
Giorgi Mirianashvili writes that in early
September 1924, he was informed: “The chairman of the village council is
requesting assistance - come quickly, the village has risen up, and they are
entering the homes of the nobles and killing them.”29
An eyewitness told G. Mirianashvili: “The
people are in Zemo Bakurtsikhe, above the church. They are deciding on the
village’s resolution to kill the wives and children who are locked up nearby in
the adjacent barns, and I wouldn’t advise you to go there. Many of them are
drunk, and they might cause trouble for you as well.”30
Nevertheless, G. Mirianashvili went to the
village of Bakurtsikhe and saw that: “Five or six people were indeed lying
dead, killed with clubs and cold weapons. The crowd was swarming like flies.
Amid endless noise and commotion, they were urging each other to sign the
village’s resolution.”31
Giorgi Mirianashvili witnessed the same
horrors in the village of Kardenakhi: “Upon arriving at the Kardenakhi council,
it became clear that the villagers had already killed four people, beating them
to death with clubs and crushing them with stones. For one or two of them,
their homes had also been burned, and the revenge -driven mob had now moved in
another direction.”32
The texts regarding those expelled and
killed from the villages are followed by the signatures of the assembly
chairman and the members of Bakurtsikhe village council in the minutes of
meetings held in early October 1924 by the village councils of Bakurtsikhe and
Kardenakhi. It is also noted: “Since the assembly chairman, N.B., does not know
how to sign, Z.A. signs on his behalf.” Similarly, in the list of council
members, next to the names of three individuals, it is indicated that others
signed on their behalf because the council members themselves were illiterate”.33
In our study, the information contained in
the aforementioned archival material was tabooed during the Soviet period and
was transmitted orally among people. It was only from the late 1980s that
relatively open discussions about the brutal repressions carried out by the
Soviet authorities began to emerge, finding their reflection in various
journalistic writings.
In conclusion, we emphasize only that the
process of expelling the population from villages during the August 1924 anti
-Soviet armed uprising was not a spontaneous occurrence -it was orchestrated by
the Soviet authorities.
In our opinion, it is essential to seek and
analyze more comprehensive information about the individuals executed during
the Soviet repressions of 1924. Additionally, further research on the
aforementioned materials is necessary in order to expose the various forms of
Soviet repressions.
Literature
Makashvili,
E., ‘Sabedistsero kortsili’ (The Fatal Wedding), Caucasus 14, Paris 1970, 23-25.
Razmadze, I., ‘Shemodioda sikvdili tselit’
(Death was coming with a spear), Literary
Georgia, June 1989.
Simashvili, T., ‘1924 tslis „siskhliani
sektemberi“ telavshi’ (1924 "Bloody September" in Telavi). Ivane
Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Faculty of Humanities Institute of
Georgian History. Proceedings XVI. Tbilisi 2020.
Simashvili,
T., Sabchota represiebi telavshi -
1921-1924 (Soviet Repressions in Telavi - 1921-1924), Part I. Tbilisi 2020.
Kldiashvili, G., Sakartvelos 1924 tslis agvistos ambokheba gare-kakhetshi da sasuliero
pirebi (Religious Figures and The August 1924 Uprising in Kakheti),
Ministry of Internal Affairs Archives. The Archival Buletin, Tbilisi 2010.
National Archives of Georgia. Fund 284.
Register 3. Case 42.
National
Archives of Georgia. Fund 284. Register 3. Case 11.
Ministry
of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund 6. Inventory 6, Case 24256.
Ministry
of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund 6. Inventory 1, Case 2425.
Ministry
of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund 12. Inventory 1, Case 10.
Public Archive of the Soviet Past Research Laboratory. Giorgi
Mirianashvili, Rcheul mogonebata krebuli (Collection
of Selected Memoirs), Provided
by Davit Khvadagiani.
Jikashvili,
L., ‘Agsarebis saidumlos gatsemas sikvdili archia’ (He Chose Death Over
Revealing the Secret of Confession), Kviris
Palitra, 18-24 September, Tbilisi 2006.
1 T. Simashvili, Sabchota represiebi telavshi 1921-1924
(Soviet Repressions in Telavi, 1921-1924), Part I, Tbilisi 2020.
2 T. Simashvili, ‘Sabchota
represiebi telavis da sighnaghis mazrebis soplebshi 1924 tslis sektembershi’
(saarqivo masalebis mixedvit)) Soviet Repressions in the Villages of Telavi and
Sighnaghi Districts in September 1924 (Based on Archival Materials). Ivane
Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Humanities, Institute of
Georgian History, Proceedings XX,
Tbilisi 2024, 258-292.
3 G. Kldiashvili, ‘Sakartvelos
1924 tslis agvistos ambokheba gare-kakhetshi da sasuliero pirebi’ (Religious
Figures and The August 1924 Uprising in Kakheti), Ministry of Internal Affairs
Archives. The Archival Buletin, Tbilisi 2010, 98-113.
4 Ministry of Internal
Affairs Archives. Fund 12. Inventory 1, Case 10. Page 58, not 832. G. Kldiashvili, ‘Sakartvelos 1924 tslis agvistos ambokheba
gare-kakhetshi da sasuliero pirebi’ (Religious Figures and The August 1924
Uprising in Kakheti), Ministry of Internal Affairs Archives. The Archival
Buletin. Tbilisi 2010, 98-113.
5 T.
Simashvili, ‘1924 tslis „sisxliani sektemberi“ telavshi’ (1924 ''Bloody
September" in Telavi), Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Faculty of Humanities Institute of Georgian History. Proceedings XVI. Tbilisi
2020, 198 -296
6 This
tragic history has been analyzed by us in the work: T. Simashvili, ‘1924 wlis
„sisxliani sektemberi“ telavshi’ (1924 ''Bloody September" in Telavi), 198
-296
7 Ministry of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund
6. Inventory 6, Case 24256, 9.
8 Ministry of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund
12. Inventory 1, Case 10, 246.
9 Ibid., 252.
10 Ministry of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund
6. Inventory 1, Case 2425, 44-56.
12 Ibid., 23-25; I. Razmadze, ‘Shemodioda
sikvdili tselit’ (Death was coming with a spear), Literary Georgia, June 1989.
13 L. Jikashvili, ‘Aghsarebis saidumlos gatsemas
sikvdili archia’ (He Chose Death Over Revealing the Secret of Confession), Kviris Palitra, 18-24 September, Tbilisi
2006.
14 Ministry
of Internal Affairs Archives. Fund 12.
Inventory 1, Case 10,
233.
15 Ibid., 180.
16 Ibid., 270-271.
17 National Archives of
Georgia. Fund 284. Register 3. Case 42.
18 For a detailed discussion on this topic, see my article: T.
Simashvili, ‘Sabchota represiebi telavis da sighnaghis mazrebis soplebshi 1924 tslis
sektembershi’ (saarqivo masalebis mixedvit)) Soviet Repressions in the Villages
of Telavi and Sighnaghi Districts in September 1924 (Based on Archival
Materials), 258 -292.
19 National Archives of
Georgia. Fund 284. Register 3. Case 42. Page 32.
20 Ibid., 32.
21 ‘Glexoba tavad-aznaurebis tsinaaghmdeg’ (Peasantry
against the nobles), Telavi, Newspaper Communist.
1924. September 13.
22 National Archives of Georgia. Fund 284. Register
3. Case 42.
23 National Archives of Georgia. Fund 284. Register
3. Case 11, page 9.
24 Georgian
National Archive, Fund 284, Register 3, Case 11, page 9.
25 Ibid.,
10.
26 Ibid., 10.
27 Georgian National Archive, Fund 284, Register 3, Case 42, 1-3.
28 Ibid.,
41-45.
29 Public
Archive of the Soviet Past Research Laboratory. G. Mirianashvili, Rcheul
mogonebata krebuli, Collection of
Selected Memoirs, 105. Provided by Davit Khvadagiani.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.,
101.
33 Georgian National
Archives, Fund 284, Register 3, Case 42, Page 40.
