The Second World War in the Political Discourse of Contemporary Georgia


Abstrakt

This article deals with political decisions and public discussion related to the memory of World War II in Georgia. This issue does not attract much public attention, which may be explained by the fact that the war was not fought on Georgia’s territory and did not lead to any change in its status. The few debates that are there are linked to the contemporary political issues, such as attitudes to the West and Russia. As the Russian leadership under Putin has intensified its efforts to use the memory of World War II to project its ‘sharp power’ in Georgia and in other places, the pro-western part of the society responded by demands to make the commemoration of the war more ‘European’, for instance, by moving the date of the official Day of the Victory over Nazism from 9 to 8 May. The Georgian origin of Joseph Stalin, the architect of the Soviet victory over Nazism, further complicates the issue.


Andersen E., Gruziny «po tu storonu»:1941–1945. Unpublished paper available at: http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/Georgia/GEORG%20LEGION.htm.

Bakhtadze M., Kartvelebi meore msoplio omshi [Georgians in the Second World War], Chemi Samkaro #17, 2017, available at https://www.gfsis.org/files/my-world/17/3.pdf.

Bakradze L., “Kartvelebi germanelebis mkhareze meore msoplio omshi” [Georgians on the German side in WWII], an unpublished transcript of a lecture given in May 2009 at Goethe-Institut in Tbilisi, Georgia, available at: https://matiane.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/bakradze-georgians-on-german-side-ww2/.

Bershidsky L., “Putin’s Latest Obsession: A New World War II Narrative”, Bloomberg, 10.01.2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-01-10/putin-s-latest-obsession-rewriting-world-war-ii

Courtois S., and others, Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999).

Dalakishvili N., “Stalinizmi rogorc religia da rogorc iaragi” [Stalinism as a religion and a weapon”, Voice of America, 15.04.2016, https://www.amerikiskhma.com/a/ori-stalin-sentiments-in-georgia/3287854.html.

Furet F. and Nolte E., Fascism and Communism, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Guinn W.K., “A Footnote to the 1939 Census of the USSR”, Soviet Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Apr. 1963), pp. 421–424.

Javakhishvili N., “Kartul-ebrauli megobrobis istoriis brtskinvale purtseli” [A brilliant page in the history of Georgian-Jewish friendship], Menora Independent Jewish Newspaper in Georgia No. 3 (426), March 2017.

Lomsadze G., “Georgia’s World War II commemoration becomes ideological battlefield”, EurasiaNet 09.05.2019, https://eurasianet.org/georgias-world-war-ii-commemoration-becomes-ideological-battlefield.

Mamulia G., «Gruzinskiy legion v bor’be za svobodu i nezavisimost’ Gruzii v gody Vtoroy mirovoy voyny» [The Georgian Legion fighting for the freedom and independence of Georgia in the years of the Second World War], Tbilisi 2007.

Metskhvarishvili M., “Lasha Bakradze: Archevnis sakitkhia, evropastan ertad vizeimot pashizmze gamarjveba, tu rusettan” [Lasha Bakradze: It’s a matter of choice, should we celebrate the victory over Fascism with Europe or with Russia]. Netgazeti 09,05.2016, https://netgazeti.ge/news/113088/.

Milosevic-Juaristi M., “The Immortal Regiment: Pride and Prejudice of Russia”, Real Instituto Elcano, 27.09.2018, http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/ARI110-2018-MilosevichJuaristi-Immortal-Regiment-pride-prejudice-Russia.

Oskanian K., “The Balance Strikes Back: Power, Perceptions, and Ideology in Georgian Foreign Policy, 1992–2014”, Foreign Policy Analysis 12 (April 2016), p. 629.

Pentikäinen O. and Trier T., Between Integration and Resettlement: the Meskhetian Turks, ECMI Working Paper #21, September 2004, available at https://www.ecmi.de/uploads/tx_lfpubdb/working_paper_21b.pdf.

Prokopeva S., “Russia’s Immortal Regiment: from Grassroots to ‘Quasi-Religious’ Cult”, RFE/RL, 12.05.2017, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-immortal-regiment-grassroots-to-quasi-religious-cult/28482905.html.

Radchenko S., “Vladimir Putin Wants to Rewrite the History of World War II”, Foreign Policy 21.01.2020, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/21/vladimir-putin-wants-to-rewrite-the-history-of-world-war-ii/

Snyder T., “Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?”, The New York Review of Books, 27 January 2011, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/.

Szabo Ch., “Why are we so understanding towards the crimes of Communism?”, Intellectual Takeout, 23.07.2015, https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/why-are-we-so-understanding-towards-crimes-communism/

Tughushi L. (ed.), Threats of Russian Hard and Soft Power in Georgia, European Initiative – Liberal Academy Tbilisi, 2016. http://www.eilat.ge/images/doc/policy%20document.pdf.

Walker Ch. and Ludwig J., (2017) “The Meaning of Sharp Power: How Authoritarian States Project Influence”, Foreign Affairs, November 16, 2017, available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2017-11-16/meaning-sharp-power.

Varadashvili M., “Nazizmze gamarjvebis dged 8 maisis gamocxadebas itxoven – petitsia” [They demand the day of victory over Nazism to be celebrated on May 8th”, Netgazeti 10.05.2020, https://netgazeti.ge/news/363063/.

Žižek S., “The Two Totalitarianisms”, London Review of Books, Vol. 27, No. 6, 17 March 2005.


Opublikowane : 2021-11-22


Nodia, G. (2021). The Second World War in the Political Discourse of Contemporary Georgia. Studia Polityczne, 49(2), 41-59. https://doi.org/10.35757/STP.2021.49.2.02

Ghia Nodia  ghian@iliauni.edu.ge
Ilia State University, Tbilisi  Gruzja
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0873-918X