Giorgi SOSIASHVILI

On February 25, 1921 the Soviet Russia had occupied Georgia. After the establishment of the Soviet rule, the country had undergone massive repressions, as the Bolshevik’s had persecuted all the individuals with different political ideas. This was expressed in forms of taking citizens rights of voting away from them (Sosiashvili, 2011:49), making them exile or in certain occasions their physical liquidation. The Bolshevik terror has had struck upon the higher circles of the society. The citizens, who had been deprived of the belongings, were punished on the grounds of being "a nobleman and an enemy of the working class", they were deprived of any property, houses, livestock, etc., The sources kept at the archives gives us heavy and unvarnished information about the situation in Georgia. The Bolsheviks took away the property of the Georgian noblemen and gave it to the state.The bolshevik government also attacked the Orthodox Church along with other religious minorities (Sosiashvili, 2014:224).  During the 20s of the XX century more than 1000 churches had been closed. Prior to the repressions in the country there had been approximately 1350 churches, where 1700 priests, 1527 monks and 280 nuns had served. The number had decreased to couple of dozens (Japaridze, 2009:115).The presented sources allows us to see the clear-cut picture about the repressions in the country during the I quarter of the XX century, which had had an astonishing blow on the Georgian society. Unfortunately, the Bolshevik terror had not stopped there, as it became regular to persecute citizens in the later years, whereas the “Red Terror” took away the lives of many other innocent people.

Keywords: Georgia, occupation, Bolshevik government, Shida Kartli, repressions