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Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile

 

 
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Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile
 
 
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The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia

The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918?1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia .The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 (DRG) continued to function as the government in exile
Government in exile

A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country....
 (National Government of Georgia, NGG) after the Soviet Russian
Russian SFSR

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Republics of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union and became the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
 Red Army invaded Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia

The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet-Georgian War was a military campaign by the Russian SFSR Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the local Georgian Social Democratic Party government and installing the Bolshevik regime in the country....
 and the Bolsheviks took over the country early in 1921.

The elected Menshevik-dominated government of Georgia chaired by Noe Zhordania
Noe Zhordania

Noe Zhordania was a Georgia n journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent role in the Social Democracy revolutionary movement in Imperial Russia, and later chaired the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from July 24 1918 until March 18 1921, when the Bolshevik Russian SFSR Red Army invasion of Georgia forced him...
 decided to leave the country after the war with the Soviets was irreversibly lost.






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Noe Zhordania
The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia

The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918?1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia .The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 (DRG) continued to function as the government in exile
Government in exile

A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country....
 (National Government of Georgia, NGG) after the Soviet Russian
Russian SFSR

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Republics of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union and became the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
 Red Army invaded Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia

The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet-Georgian War was a military campaign by the Russian SFSR Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the local Georgian Social Democratic Party government and installing the Bolshevik regime in the country....
 and the Bolsheviks took over the country early in 1921.

The elected Menshevik-dominated government of Georgia chaired by Noe Zhordania
Noe Zhordania

Noe Zhordania was a Georgia n journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent role in the Social Democracy revolutionary movement in Imperial Russia, and later chaired the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from July 24 1918 until March 18 1921, when the Bolshevik Russian SFSR Red Army invasion of Georgia forced him...
 decided to leave the country after the war with the Soviets was irreversibly lost. At the last session of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia
Constituent Assembly of Georgia

The Constituent Assembly of Georgia was a national legislature of the Democratic Republic of Georgia which was elected in February 1919 to ratify the Act of Independence of Georgia and enact the Constitution of Georgia of 1921....
 held in Batumi
Batumi

Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and Capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia . It has a population of 121,806 ....
 on March 18 1921, the deputies voted for the exile of the government. On the same day, the members of the government, several deputies of the Constituent Assembly, a few military officers and their families went aboard the ship Ernest Renan and sailed first to Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
, Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, and then to France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 whose government granted the Georgian émigrés a political asylum.

Using Georgian state funds, the government bought a 5-ha domain surrounding a small "castle" (actually, a hunting lodge) in Leuville-sur-Orge
Leuville-sur-Orge

Leuville-sur-Orge is a small France town, south of Paris, France. It is situated in the Essonne department of the ?le-de-France region....
, a small town located near Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
. Leuville was declared as an official residence of the government in exile. Although the émigrés experienced permanent shortage of money, Zhordania's government maintained close contacts with the still popular Menshevik party and other anti-Soviet organizations in Georgia, and thus presented a certain nuisance value for the Soviet authorities. The NGG encouraged and helped the Committee for Independence of Georgia
Committee for Independence of Georgia

The Committee for the Independence of Georgia or the Parity Committee was an underground anti-Soviet organization active in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early 1920s....
, an inter-party bloc in Georgia, in its struggle against the Bolshevik regime, which culminated in the 1924 August Uprising. Prior to the revolt, Noe Khomeriki
Noe Khomeriki

Noe Khomeriki was a Georgia politician involved in the Social Democracy movement and shot during the Bolshevik Red Terror in the Georgian SSR....
, the Minister of Agriculture in exile, Benia Chkhikvishvili
Benia Chkhikvishvili

Benia Chkhikvishvili was a Georgia politician who was involved in the Social Democracy movement in the early 20th century. An active member of the Menshevik party, he led the Russian Revolution of 1905 in Guria , a Georgian province on the Black Sea....
, the former mayor of Tbilisi
Tbilisi

Tbilisi , is the capital city and the largest city of Georgia , lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tpilisi and it was officially known as ?????? in Russian, until 1936....
, and Valiko Jugheli
Valiko Jugheli

Vladimir ?Valiko? Jugheli was a Georgia politician and military commander.He was involved in the Marxist movement in Georgia at the beginning of the 20th century....
, the former commander of the People’s Guard, secretly returned to Georgia, but were arrested and shortly executed by the Soviet secret police, Cheka
Cheka

The Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet Union state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by an aristocrat turned communist Felix Dzerzhinsky....
.

The NGG attempted on numerous occasions to bring the Georgian affairs to international attention. Several memoranda, urging for the support of the Georgian independence cause, were sent to the British, French, and Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 governments as well as the League of Nations
League of Nations

The League of Nations was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919?1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members....
 which adopted two resolutions, in 1922 and 1924, in support of Georgia's sovereignty. Although the struggle of Georgian Social Democracy
Social democracy

Social democracy is a political philosophy of the left-wing politics or centre-left that emerged in the late 19th century from the socialism movement and continues to exert influence worldwide....
 garnered widespread sympathy among the Socialist
Socialism

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or Egalitarianism method of compensation....
 circles of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, the hopes of the Georgian émigrés that the Great Powers intended to help had begun to vanish. A heavy loss was sustained by the Georgian emigration when Karlo Chkheidze committed suicide in 1926 and Noe Ramishvili
Noe Ramishvili

Noe Ramishvili was a Georgia n politician and the first Prime Minister of Georgia. He was one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party....
, the most energetic Georgian émigré politician and Minister of the Interior in Zhordania’s government, was assassinated by a Bolshevik spy in 1930.

With the emigration of Zhordania's government and the establishment of the Georgian SSR
Georgian SSR

The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Georgian SSR for short, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union that made up the former Soviet Union....
, the question of recognition arose for the foreign states that had de jure
De jure

De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".The terms de jure and de facto are used instead of "in principle" and "in practice", respectively, when one is describing politics or legal situations....
 recognized the independence of Georgia before the Soviet takeover. Some countries, particularly Liberia
Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, C?te d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean....
 and Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, recognized the DRG when its government was already in exile, on March 28, 1921 and May 12, 1921, respectively. The NGG continued to be recognized for some time as "the legitimate Government of Georgia" by Belgium
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 and Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
. The NGG was able to maintain a legation in Paris until 1933 when it was closed as a result of the Franco-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 29 November 1932. The NGG and its chief ally in Europe, the International Committee for Georgia, the president of which was Jean Martin
Jean Martin

Jean Martin was a France actor of stage and screen. Martin served in the French Resistance during World War II and later fought with the French paratroopers in First Indochina War....
, director of Journal de Genève, later launched a campaign against the admission of the Soviet Union into the League of Nations, which nevertheless took place in September 1934. Henceforth, the NGG effectively became defunct.

The Soviet intelligence managed to heavily penetrate into the exiled government structures due largely to Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Soviet Union politician, and chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin. He was top deputy of the NKVD during the Great Purge, responsible for many of the millions of imprisonments and killings....
's personal intelligence network.

Heads of the National Government of Georgia in exile

  • 1921-1953 - Noe Zhordania
    Noe Zhordania

    Noe Zhordania was a Georgia n journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent role in the Social Democracy revolutionary movement in Imperial Russia, and later chaired the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from July 24 1918 until March 18 1921, when the Bolshevik Russian SFSR Red Army invasion of Georgia forced him...
     (1868-1953)
  • 1953-1954 - Evgeni Gegechkori
    Evgeni Gegechkori

    Evgeni Gegechkori was a Georgia politician and Social Democracy revolutionary.He first entered the leftist student movement in 1903 during his studies at the Moscow University and soon joined the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party....
     (1881-1954)


See also

  • Georgian emigration in Poland
    Georgian emigration in Poland

    The documented ties between Georgia and Poland reach back to the XV century, when the Georgian King Konstantin sent a diplomatic mission to the Polish King Alexander Jagiellon....