Grigol Lordkipanidze ( ka, გრიგოლ ლორთქიფანიძე; 2 September 1881 – 2 September 1937) was a

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 ...

politician and author. During the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, he was involved in the Georgian independence movement. From 1919 to 1921, he served as a Minister of Education and then as a Defense Minister in the government of Noe Zhordania, a Menshevik leader of the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...

. After the

Soviet invasion of Georgia The Red Army invasion of Georgia (15 February17 March 1921), also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia,Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361� ...

in 1921, he did not follow his fellow ministers into emigration and chose to stay in Georgia. Despite an amnesty granted by the newly established

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

regime, he was arrested in May 1921, and deported to Suzdal where he composed his historical essay “Thoughts on Georgia” (“ფიქრები საქართველოზე”, 1922-1924). In 1925, he was moved to

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

, where he was involved in educational activities and edited a local newspaper. In 1928, the Soviet authorities allowed him to return to Georgia and even consulted him on local affairs. Lordkipanidze, however, started to overtly criticize the forcible

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

and the creation of the highly unpopular

Transcaucasian SFSR , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

in which the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

was merged with Armenian SSR and Azerbaijan SSR. As a result, he was rearrested and redeported from Georgia. In 1929, he congratulated

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

whose jubilee was pompously celebrated throughout the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. The letter sent to the Soviet leader also contained harsh criticism of Stalin's policies, and hence he was rearrested and exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. During the 1937

Great Purges The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

, he was summoned by

Lavrenti Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

to be interrogated as a "politically unreliable person". During the examination, he was subjected to extensive tortures and died on his 56th birthday on September 2, 1937. Lordkipanidze's family learned of his death only in the late 1950s, but the place of his burial remains unknown to this day.

References

*Zarkua, G. (2002), ''Grigol Lordkipanidze (1881-1937): Bibliography''. Ena da kultura,

, (Georgian, Russian, English) 1881 births 1937 deaths People from Imereti Social Democratic Party of Georgia politicians Democratic Republic of Georgia Government ministers of Georgia (country) Great Purge victims from Georgia (country) {{Georgia-politician-stub