The map has been prepared by the
Soviet Past Research Laboratory within
The Soviet Past Research Laboratory
(SovLab) is aiming to create a proper
analysis and exploration of the Soviet
totalitarian past, analysing its legacy
and creating an environment for reflec-
tion and debate on this complicated
HISTORICAL TOUR
subject.
Red Terror Topography
We want to bring into the focus of
our diverse society the meaning of the TBILISI
culture of remembrance and to explain
the importance of participation in re-
searches and studies concerning recent
history.
HISTORICAL TOUR
Red Terror Topography
TELAVI
HISTORICAL TOUR
Red Terror Topography
BATUMI
5 www.sovlab.ge
BATUMI
In 1863, Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz
issued a “firman“ that decreed co­
n­struction of a new city in the
north-western part of today’s Batumi
city port. Its building was complete by
1868. Following the 1877-1878 Rus­
so-Turkish War Batumi became part of
the Russian Empire as a free econom­
ic zone (Porto Franco). It was a sepa­
rate administrative entity until 1886
(becoming part of the Batumi Okrug
subsequently), managing its own
budget and having a head of police.
City self-governance was introduced
for the city starting in 1888, with elec­
tions every four years. Work was com­
menced in 1878 to build a railway line
to Batumi from the already existing
Tbilisi-Poti direction. Then in 1907, the
3 The Soviet Past Research Laboratory
6
2
Baku-Batumi oil pipeline entered op­
eration.
Between 1918-1920, following the
end of World War I and proclamation
of independence of Georgia, Batumi
changed hands between the Ottoman
Empire, Great Britain and Georgia.
After the 1921 Soviet occupation of
Georgia Batumi underwent an essen­
tial transformation of its political and
social structure. Changes affected its
1 Translator: Tornike khomeriki
8 www.firstrepublic.ge
architecture, ethnic composition, and
order of economic relations. Being lo­
cated near a border zone of the USSR,
it was subjected to special control
and gradually turned into a closed
city. A kick-starting of construction of
resort and tourist infrastructure was
accompanied by a start of agricultur­
al production (tea, citrus and other
subtropical products). This is the pe­
the project “Developing a Topography
Tour of the Red Terror in Regions”.
The work group: David Jishkariani,
Shota Gujabidze, Ruslan Baramidze,
Nana Kvachadze, Irakli Khvadagiani
The map has been prepared based on
archival documents and oral histories.
Photo: Shota Gujabidze, Bachi
Murvanidze, Nana Kvachadze, Manana
Kveliashvili
Layout: Magda Tsotskhalashvili
would like to express its gratitude to
“Geoland” for assistance.
info@sovlab.ge
www.german-georgian.archive.ge
www.archive.ge
DVV International.
financial support of the
The map was published with the
International).
Adult Education Association (DVV
national Cooperation of the German
is financed by the Institute for Inter-
phy Tour of the Red Terror in Regions”
The project “Developing a Topogra-
riod encompassed by our map, with
addresses introduced below being a
small part of what are symbolic loca­
tions of Soviet repressions and chang­
es to daily life that took place in Soviet
Batumi.
Red Terror Topography
BATUMI
HISTORICAL TOUR
istoriuli turi

1 3
Corner of Gamsakhurdia and
Gogebashvili Street
CULT BUILDINGS AND THE TERROR
By 1871-1873 the city and its suburbs
were home to 8324 residents, most of
them of Muslim religious following.
This was followed by construction of
mosques. According to A. Avaliani,
the first of these — known as the Azizie
Mosque — was supposedly built with­
in a city building plan in 1863. Erected
with an initiative of Valide Khanum,
mother of Sultan Abdülaziz, it was de­
signed for Ottoman service members
and situated in vicinity of the city port.
After Batumi found itself under Impe­
rial Russian rule the city saw gradual
increase in population, with accompa­
nying changes in ethnic and religious
composition. Because of this the Azi­
zie Mosque, primarily designated for
Ottoman worshippers, soon lost its
function and property. Then one day in
the 1930s, citizens of Batumi were met
with a park in place of the Mosque on
the Azizie Square. A grand cathedral
named after Alexander Nevsky — sit­
uated in the Batumi Boulevard on the
spot of the subsequently built Intour­
ist Hotel — and a Georgian church on
today’s Gorgiladze Street were also de­
molished during the same time period.
Along with these developments, monu­
ments of Vladimir Lenin began to appear
in Batumi in the 1920s. The first one was
erected on the square first named after
Sultan Abdülaziz and later after the Oc­
tober Revolution, before if finally took on
the name of Lenin Square. It became the
city’s central square, with the presence of
the most significant cult figure designat­
ing it as the place for military parades and
demonstrations. The Lenin monument
was removed on March 18, 1990.
2 ed by the regime arrived in Batumi and
7, Memed Abashidze Avenue
MEMED ABASHIDZE HOUSE-MUSEUM
After the 1921 Soviet occupation of
Georgia, the Revolutionary Committee
(revkom) of Batumi — the highest body of
governance — avoided radical actions for a
certain period of time. The new authorities
had no human, economic or ideological
resources for immediate establishment of
the new order. This meant that even with
the political terror they carried out, the
body still left space for cooperation with
former opponents and ideological oppo­
sition. One of such political leaders was
Memed Abashidze, a figure the Bolsheviks
needed for solving issues and problems of
the “Muslim Georgia”.
Memed Abashidze was born in Batumi in
1873 and received elementary education
in the Batumi school of the Society for the
Spreading of Literacy Among Georgians.
Learning Arabic, Persian and Turkish lan­
guages, he worked as director of the
Muslim Georgia Liberation Committee
between 1918-1920 and as editor of the
Muslim Georgia newspaper. Abashidze
was chairperson of the Muslim Georgia
Majlis in 1921. Following the Soviet occu­
pation of Georgia the Bolsheviks invited
him to serve as a member of the Batumi
district revkom. Arrested along with oth­
er leaders from Adjara in 1923. After his
release Abashidze was member of the
Union of Writers of Georgia and chairper­
son of the Adjara ASSR Union of Hunters.
Arrested in 1937, he was sentenced by a
session of the Military Collegium of the
Supreme Court of the USSR to capital
punishment by shooting on September
17, 1937. The sentence was executed the
same night. A February 22, 1958 decree
of the Military Collegium of the Supreme
Court of the USSR rehabilitated Abashidze
and ceased the criminal case due to “ab­
sence of elements of crime”. However the
authorities still concealed the information
on his shooting from relatives, informing
them that Abashidze had died on March
16, 1941.
3, Rustaveli Avenue
THE 1924 UPRISING
In February and March of 1921, high-ran­
king political figures of Georgia found
themselves in Batumi, looking for evacu­
ation from the losing war between Russia
and Georgia. A small group of them left
the country from the city port on ships,
along with the government, and fol­
lowed the latter into emigration. The city
itself became a hotspot for a resistance
movement in the early years of the Soviet
occupation — numerous people persecut­
attempted to illegally cross the border
into Turkey. The city was also a transit
point for the underground’s communica­
tion with foreign partners and became a
border crossing for migration of political
opposition.
During the 1924 anti-Soviet uprising, au­
thorities — granted an initiative by pro­
tests in Chiatura a day earlier — carried
out active repressions against members
of the resistance movement in Batumi
and Adjara, arresting and shooting doz­
ens of citizens.
Aghati Gordeladze was born in the vil­
lage of Supsa of the Ozurgeti Uyezd, part
of the Kutaisi Governorate. Before and
after the 1917 Revolution she worked as
a tailor with no property or elementary
education. Joined the resistance move­
ment as an active member starting in
1921; her tailor shop served as point of
meetings for underground conspirators.
Her relative Viktor Tsenteradze, one of
the resistance leaders, was arrested in
August 1924 in Batumi, with an arrest
of Gordeladze herself, by an extraordi­
nary commission of Adjaristan, follow­
ing soon after. On August 30, a cheka
collegium of Adjaristan, involving mem­
bers Kavtaradze, Kiladze and Katamidze,
sentenced Aghati to capital punishment
by shooting. She was charged with hav­
ing ties with the central committee of
the Mensheviks and their Batumi or­
ganisation, support of illegally residing
Mensheviks, connections to a military
organisation and active participation in
preparing a military coup. Her sentence
was carried out on September 1.
4 of the People’s Commissariat for Internal
11, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia Street
NIKOLOZ (NIKO) SABASHVILI
The building is situated on the intersec­
tion of the Konstantine Gamsakhurdia and
Abashidze streets in the Old Town, with
its frontispiece facade decorated with
Atlas sculptures. The house belonged to
Nikoloz (Niko) Sabashvili, a wealthy Ba­
tumi resident and owner of shops, houses
and land in Batumi.
Nikoloz Sabashvili was born c. 1860 and
moved from the village of Vale, part of the
Akhaltsikhe District, to Batumi, where he
managed to gain considerable wealth.
While Sabashvili did not receive educa­
tion, he was a shrewd entrepreneur and
achieved significant success in his deal­
ings. He took active part in developing
Batumi, as well as in public life in the city.
As a Catholic resident of Batumi he con­
tributed to the construction of a Roman
Catholic church in the city.
Sabashvili resided in this house until So­
vietisation. The building was taken away
from him by the Soviet authorities, who
used it as offices for various state agen­
cies. It currently houses the State Security
Service.
Sabashvili himself survived Soviet repres­
sions and died in 1934 in Tbilisi, where his
family had moved since falling into pov­
erty.
5 members. Based on sentences handed
38/19, Memed Abashidze /Demetre
Tavdadebuli Street
NEWSPAPER PUKHARA
This building was commissioned by So­
viet authorities in the 1930s to house
offices for a newspaper staff. The news­
paper itself was founded in 1921 by the
Batumi District Committee and revkom of
the Communist Party of Georgia. The title
for the publication was changed several
times, from Notices to Proletarian Strug­
gle (1922) to Struggle to Pukhara (1924),
a word meaning “impoverished” or “prop­
ertyless” in local Adjarian dialect. Starting
in 1929 the newspaper was printed under
the name of Soviet Adjaristan, which was
later renamed to Soviet Adjara. In 1959
its staff involved 950 peasant and worker
reporters. It was ultimately renamed to
Adjara in 1990. The great terror of 1937-
1938 did not leave the newspaper staff
untouched.
Aleksandre Goliadze was born in 1907 in
the village of Dvabzu, part of the Ozurgeti
Uyezd. A peasant with social background,
he served as member of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union but expelled
during the repressions. Worked as tempo­
rary editor of the Soviet Adjara newspaper
before his arrest. An extraordinary troika
Affairs charged him with membership in a
“counterrevolutionary Trotskyist and ma­
licious organisation that carried out the
assassination of Sergey Kirov”. Sentenced
to capital punishment by shooting on
January 16, 1938, Goliadze was executed
on January 19.
Akaki Khvingia was born in 1911 in the
village of Kvemo Barghebi, part of the
Samurzakano Uyezd. Was member of
the All-Union Leninist Young Communist
League (known as the Komsomol) until
his expulsion following arrest, and worked
as head of department of the Soviet Ad­
jara newspaper. An extraordinary troika
of the People’s Commissariat for Internal
Affairs charged him with membership in a
“youth counterrevolutionary organisation
aiming to overthrow the Soviet govern­
ment”. Sentenced to capital punishment
by shooting on December 4, 1937, with
the sentence executed on December 11.
6 lin — it concerned 3700 Greek and Turkish
7, Rustaveli Street
BATUMI HOUSE OF THE CHEKA
Throughout 1936-1937 repressions be­
came a mass occurrence throughout the
Soviet Union and touched every layer
of society. The most active role in carry­
ing them out was played by the People’s
Commissariat for Internal Affairs and its
down by a troika of the People’s Commis­
sariat for Internal Affairs of the Georgian
SSR, 372 individuals fell victims of the re­
pressions in Batumi between August 11,
1937 and October 11, 1938. Of these, 205
were sentenced to execution by shooting,
while the rest were sent to “labour and
correction camps” for various length of
time. Some of the members of the Adja­
ra Commissariat — those who themselves
carried out the repressions — were also
subjected to persecution after their own
arrests.
Sergey Kugel was born in St. Petersburg
in 1904 with social background of a serv­
ant and Jewish nationality. Served as
member of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union starting in 1931 and as Dep­
uty Head of the People’s Commissariat for
Internal Affairs of Adjara until his arrest.
An extraordinary troika of the Commissar­
iat charged him with “leading counterrev­
olutionary talks, carrying out active un­
dermining work, spying for the German
intelligence service and participation in
a terrorist act against the Soviet govern­
ment”. Sentenced to capital punishment
through execution by shooting, he was
shot on July 12, 1938.
Germane Jinjolia was born in 1896 and
served as member of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union. He worked as
People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs of
Adjara until his arrest. An extraordinary
troika of the Commissariat charged him
with “leading a counterrevolutionary or­
ganisation within the apparatus of the
Commissariat, personally carrying out
recruiting and undermining work, main­
tained connections with foreign intelli­
gences with which he took direct partic­
ipation in preparations of a terrorist act”.
He was sentenced to capital punishment
through shooting and was executed on
March 14, 1938.
Neoclis Konstantinidis was born in the
Ottoman Empire in 1901. Served as mem­
ber of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union starting in 1927. Expelled from the
Party on charges of counterrevolutionary
activity following his arrest. Worked as
head of a subsection of the State Secu­
rity Section of the People’s Commissar­
iat for Internal Affairs of Adjara. A troika
charged him with “membership of a
counterrevolutionary organisation with­
in the Adjara Commissariat, carrying out
malicious activity and ties with Turkish in­
telligence”. An extraordinary troika of the
Commissariat sentenced him to capital
punishment through shooting at a March
28, 1938 meeting. The sentence was exe­
cuted on March 30.
7
22, King Parnavaz Street
MASS DEPORTATION OF 1944
The most large-scale deportation in Soviet
Georgia during World War II took place in
1944. It concerned population of Akhalt­
sikhe, Akhalkalaki, Aspindza, Bogdanovka
and Adjara ASSR, with ethnic groups of
“Turks, Kurds and Hemshin people” affect­
ed irrespective of their party affiliation or
membership in the Komsomol. The State
Committee for Defence substantiated
their deportation on basis of increasing
state border security. In total, 16700 fam­
ilies involving 86000 individuals were for­
cibly resettled. The deported individuals
were permitted to take with them person­
al belongings, jewelry, clothes and other
items within a limit of 1000 kilograms.
Those subjected to resettlement were
moved to territories in Kazakhstan, Kyr­
gyzstan and Uzbekistan. Upon arrival the
Agricultural Bank of the USSR was tasked
with providing each deported family with
7000 roubles for living necessities and for
building houses for residence. The fami­
lies subjected to the repressions were ex­
pected to return the sum to the state with
payments in phases, within seven years.
Mustafa Bardakoğlu — a Greek from
Pontus, whose predecessor with a family
name of Perdachi moved to Batumi and
changed their name to the Ottoman style
of Bardakoğlu, which underwent chang­
es in pronunciation with time. The family
used means from their work to purchase
five apartments in the house at 22, Tel­
man Street and resided there until 1944.
As “Turks” they were subjected to a mass
deportation in 1944 and were forcibly
resettled to the Budyonovka District of
Kyrgyzstan until 1956. Upon their return
the family sought to reclaim their home
through court proceedings for years,
however Soviet authorities did not allow
them to regain the ownership.
8 popular discontent. One of the first pub­
King Parnavaz Street
MASS DEPORTATION OF GREEKS
1949
In 1949, Kandid Charkviani, First Sec­
retary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Georgia addressed
just another of his reports to Joseph Sta­
families that were to be forcibly resettled
out of Georgia through “special action”.
The categorisation of “Turks” involved
not only ethnic Turkish people but also
Turkish state subjects, ethnic Armenians
and Greeks, as well as members of the
Dashnaktsutyun Party. Initial estimates
concerned 3000 families from Abkhazia
and 400 from Adjara, however the num­
bers rose sharply during actual resettle­
ment.
Deportation also concerned former Greek
subjects with no citizenship and those
who obtained Soviet citizenship later. The
resettlements involved adult family mem­
bers of those under the above-mentioned
categories, except those with no Greek
citizenship before or at the time of depor­
tations. Underage family members were
sent to special relocation areas along with
their relatives.
With each resettled family a case for de­
ported individual was created. Deporta­
tions went ahead following formal conclu­
sions drafted by heads of security services
for relevant territory — after their review of
a case — and a confirmation from district,
regional, etc. prosecutors of the republic
in question. The remaining property of
deported families was detailed by local
commissions and handed over to state
agencies. The forcibly resettled Greek
population received the right of return in
1958 and began arriving back in Georgia
in stages.
In 1949, Greek residents of Batumi were
also subjected to deportation on ethnic
basis. They resided in every district of the
city and represented an inseparable part
of the city. Most of the resettled Greeks
lived on King Parnavaz Street, from with
68 families, 212 individuals in total, were
forced out.
9
Zviad Gamsakhurdia Street
ANTI-SOVIET PROTEST OF PUPILS
Major changes took place in Kremlin
in 1953. Death of Joseph Stalin was
followed by arrest and execution of
Lavrenty Beria. These events led to a
charged political atmosphere — with on­
going political developments unclear to
the population of Georgia, they led to
lic manifestations of this protest took
place in Batumi, where anti-Soviet proc­
lamations were put up in four locations
of the city on July 12, 1955. The main
protagonists in the action were elemen­
tary school students Iuri Gigineishvili,
Gia Soselia, Badri Akhvlediani and Givi
Akhvlediani.
“It’s not dead, only sleeping
And will be back awake,
And those willing for its end
Will be struck down on the spot.
The people of Georgia!
Awaken and come to your senses, look
at your conditions. Free yourselves for
a minute from the poisonous thoughts
holding your minds in captivity. Ask
yourselves: what awaits us? What awaits
our homeland?
In these circumstances Russification
is the fate of Georgia — this will be wit­
nessed by each one of you in your daily
lives.
Do not let an outsider trample our cul­
ture, our traditions, our customs and the
native language.
Georgian workers! Wake up, give a
thought to and judge our future. Do not
forget that this shameless effrontery of
Russians will not end well for us.”
A police officer noticed the students as
they put the proclamations up. Escaping
the police, they were arrested only after
several months it took relevant agencies
to discover their location. Age and back­
ground history of the arrested was tak­
en into consideration at the court case,
with the court collegium releasing them
on a three-year probation period.
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