Konstantin Alexandrovich Chkheidze ( cz, Konstantin Alexandrovič Čcheidze, ka, კონსტანტინე ჩხეიძე, russian: Константин Александрович Чхеидзе) (19 September 1897 – 28 July 1974) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

writer, philosopher, and

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik commun ...

. Born to a Georgian father, of the noble family of

Chkheidze Chkheidze ( ka, ჩხეიძე, russian: Чхеи́дзе) is a Georgian family name which is – apart from the capital Tbilisi – most frequently to be found in the western Adjara, Guria and Imereti and the eastern Kvemo Kartli an ...

, and a Russian mother, Chkheidze entered the Imperial Russian military service and fought on the side of White armies during the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

. In 1921, as part of the defeated White Cossack forces, Chkheidze was evacuated to

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

whence he moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, in 1923. Chkheidze graduated from the Russian Faculty of Law in Prague and then lectured there. He joined the

Eurasianists Eurasianism (russian: евразийство, ''yevraziystvo'') is a political movement in Russia which states that Russian civilization does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the geopolitical concept of Eurasia, t ...

in the 1920s and emerged as one of their leaders in the 1930s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Chkheidze was active in Russian anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

underground in Prague, but was arrested by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

SMERSH SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...

in 1945 and placed in a

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

camp from where he was not able to return until 1955. He was a follower of

Fyodorov Fyodorov or Fedorov (russian: Фёдоров, masculine) and Fyodorova or Fedorova (Фёдорова, feminine) is a common Russian last name that is derived from the given name Fyodor and literally means ''Fyodor's''. It is transliterated in Polish ...

’s philosophy and wrote on Russian society and culture as well as

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

legends and Soviet nationalities policy. Chkheidze's memoirs are a valuable first-hand account of the 1917-1955 events in Russia and the Soviet Union. He committed suicide in Prague in 1974.Chinyaeva, Elena (2001), ''Russians outside Russia: The Emigre Community in Czechoslovakia, 1918-1938'', pp. 204, 212. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chkheidze, Konstantin 1897 births 1974 suicides Russian writers Russian memoirists Nobility of Georgia (country) Russian nobility White Russian emigrants to Czechoslovakia Gulag detainees Russian people of Georgian descent 20th-century memoirists 20th-century Russian philosophers Suicides in Czechoslovakia