‘The Issue Was Georgianisation’: Oleg Damenia on the Documents That Could Not Be Erased

The Head of the Centre for Socio-Economic Research, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences Oleg Damenia, is the only person in Abkhazia who has personally seen the original documents of the 1940s relating to the forced deportation of the peoples of the Caucasus, carried out as a result of the policies of I. V. Stalin and L. P. Beria.

— Mr Damenia, could you share your recollections of how, during your postgraduate studies, you were granted access to such highly classified archival documents from the 1940s?

Damenia: In 1967, I was admitted to postgraduate study at the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, completing my studies in 1970. At that time, the Head of the Section for the History of Philosophy of the Peoples of the USSR was Vasily Yevgrafovich Yevgrafov (1908–1982). He was a rather reserved and taciturn man. However, when he learned that I was a young postgraduate student from Abkhazia, he showed genuine interest in my homeland. He asked me about certain leaders of the republic who had worked in the period following the mass repressions of 1937–1953.

It should be noted that people of his generation, who had worked within state and party structures and lived through the harsh years of repression and constant tension, were generally characterised by a degree of reserve and what might be described as a ‘Nordic’ expression.

His questions surprised me, as I had no personal acquaintance with members of the republic’s leadership. Noticing my astonishment, Yevgrafov handed me a note with a telephone number and suggested that, if possible, I should visit the Department of Dialectical Materialism at the Moscow City University of Marxism-Leninism, where he held a position as an associate professor.

I was received there very warmly. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the surname of the woman who met me in the office. She brought several folders and said, ‘Please familiarise yourself with the documents.’

I was able to visit the place several times. Documents of state importance were brought in, relating to the fate of the peoples of the Caucasus and of Abkhazia. It was there that I personally saw Kremlin documents bearing Stalin’s handwritten notes concerning the resettlement of peoples. These documents related to the secret operation codenamed ‘Chechevitsa’ (‘Lentil’).

For reference:
On 23 February 1944, trains packed with people departed from the Caucasus for Central Asia. Over the course of several months, the majority of the Chechen and Ingush populations, more than half a million people, were deported eastwards.

I read documents and transcripts of meetings attended by L. Beria. The protocols from Stalin’s office specified which peoples were to be deported immediately and where action was to be delayed. The documents relating to ‘Chechevitsa’ contained a list of the peoples of the Caucasus subject to resettlement. I remember that the list was not arranged alphabetically, and that the Abkhaz were listed third.

Stalin had marked the entries for Abkhaz, Kabardians and Circassians with ticks in ink. Next to these ticks were question marks. Opposite the words ‘Abkhaz, Kabardians, Adyghe’, a handwritten resolution stated: ‘Additional arguments are required.’ There was nothing further about them in that document.

— It was said among the people that after the deportation of the Greeks from Abkhazia, freight trains stood for a long time on the railway lines awaiting the loading of Abkhaz. What do you remember about this?

Damenia: I knew that boxcars had been prepared for this operation. I remember that, as schoolchildren, we used to play in these empty wagons standing on sidings in the Ochamchira district. This was around 1947–1948. Between Ochamchira and Tquarchal there is a railway spur near the village of Pakuash, where an enormous train was stationed. Most likely, similar trains were prepared elsewhere as well. They disappeared, if I am not mistaken, in the early 1950s.

The Stalinist deportations of Chechens, Ingush and other peoples constitute a dark chapter in history. In the North Caucasus there were also peoples of Turkic origin: Karachays, Balkars and Nogais. They too were ruthlessly deported. Men, women, elderly people and children were loaded into wagons and sent to ‘develop’ the steppes of Central Asia.

By Stalin’s order, between 12 and 14 June 1949, more than 30,000 Greeks were deported from Abkhazia to Kazakhstan. Who knows by what criteria these lists were compiled?

I saw a transcript of a meeting at which Lavrentiy Beria nevertheless dared to ask Stalin:
‘And what shall we do with the Abkhaz, the Kabardians, the Adyghe?’

Stalin apparently remained silent for some time, as indicated by the ellipsis in the text. One can imagine the ‘leader of nations’ lighting his pipe. Then Stalin asked:
‘With whom do you intend to populate these territories of the Western Caucasus, including Abkhazia?’

Beria replied:
‘With Georgians.’

Another pause followed. Stalin then asked again:
‘And with whom do you intend to populate the areas from which you are resettling these Georgians?’

Beria had no answer. Stalin then stated bluntly:
‘There is no need to resettle them. The issue is their Georgianisation.’

It is also known that Stalin disliked and criticised the theory of Academician Nikolai Marr (1864–1934). Marr maintained that the Abkhaz language stood, linguistically, at one of the highest stages of the development of speech. Fortunately, Marr was not repressed and died a natural death. Stalin, however, initiated a ‘scholarly work’ intended to prove the Kartvelian origin of the Abkhaz language. This monograph had no scientific value and was not supported even by competent Georgian linguists.

Stalin had a plan: ‘The Soviet Caucasus must be Georgian.’ He understood that the greater the Georgian population in the region, the easier it would be to govern. He adhered to this view even before the war. Ultimately, Stalin proved more cunning than Beria. It is difficult to say definitively what exactly saved the Abkhaz from deportation.

+ The Stalin-Beria Terror in Abkhazia, 1936-1953, by Stephen D. Shenfield

+ Documents from the KGB archive in Sukhum. Abkhazia in the Stalin years, by Rachel Clogg

+ Bolshevik order in Georgia: Social Status and Repressions: Abkhazians, Adjarians, Ossetians, by Marc Junge & Bernd Bonwetsch

+ On the Demographic Expansion of Abkhazia (1937 - Mid-1950s), by Adgur E. Agrba

— Mr Damenia, how do you assess the events of that period?

Damenia: I believe that Stalin did not have a fixed, immutable policy towards the peoples of the Caucasus; it was still in the process of formation. As for the Abkhaz, the policy of Georgianisation had been pursued since the late nineteenth century.

After the Russo-Caucasian War, when Abkhazia was virtually depopulated, the question arose as to who would settle these lands. Stanislav Lakoba wrote extensively on this subject. The Georgian elite of the time understood that the Russian Empire might occupy the empty territories. They feared expansion and devised their own measures. At the same time, the authorities of Tsarist Russia also lacked a clear understanding of the region. Russian settlers, including Cossacks and military personnel, often could not survive in the harsh mountainous conditions without appropriate agricultural skills. They moved to the plains, while officials populated the mountains with other peoples.

The territories left empty after the mass exodus were settled by Armenians, Germans and Estonians. Eventually, the Emperor was informed that Russia could lose these lands if there were no indigenous population adapted to the climate.

For reference:
The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Field Marshal A. I. Baryatinsky, wrote to Alexander II about the need to deport highlanders to Turkey in order to ‘clear’ the country. However, it later became clear that the region required substantial resources to maintain order.

The Emperor ordered that a delegation be sent to Turkey with a proposal for the Abkhaz to return. Between 1879 and 1883, around 13,000 people returned, but they were not permitted to settle in their native villages. Many did not trust the Tsar and remained in Turkey or settled in Adjara.

An important fact is that during the First Russian Revolution (1905–1907), the Abkhaz did not participate, despite Bolshevik agitation. Pyotr Stolypin reported to Nicholas II:
‘The Abkhaz fought against Russia, but they do not intend to rise against the Tsar.’
Having become convinced of this, the Tsar annulled the decree on the ‘culpability of the Abkhaz people’ with a single stroke of the pen.

For reference:
From 1877 to 1907, the Abkhaz were regarded in the Empire as a ‘culpable population’. During this period, their share of the region’s population fell from 85.7 per cent to 55.3 per cent due to intensive colonisation, primarily by Mingrelians. In 1907, at Stolypin’s initiative, the status of ‘culpability’ was abolished.

Damenia: Having become equal citizens, the Abkhaz demonstrated heroism during the First World War as part of the ‘Abkhaz Hundred’. After the February Revolution of 1917, a process of restoring statehood began: the Abkhaz People’s Council was established and a Constitution adopted. It is possible that this historical continuity, and the dignified manner in which the Abkhaz had previously conducted themselves, also played a role in the fact that they were not deported in the 1940s.

The story of the wagons was not a secret even in Moscow. According to the recollections of Ilarion Nestorovich Gartskia, in 1946, while a cadet at a Higher Military School in Moscow, he sent a letter to his mother in the village of Agubedia. He implored her to sell the cow and household belongings to secure money for survival, having heard of the impending deportation.

The letter was intercepted by the censors. The cadet was summoned to the special department. He honestly admitted that he feared for his relatives, knowing the fate of the Greeks and other peoples. A ‘conversation’ was held with him and he was released. It remains a mystery how the cadet learned of this. This suggests that information was being passed from mouth to mouth. The wagons remained until Stalin’s death in 1953, after which they disappeared.

This testimony was shared by Ilarion Gartskia’s daughter-in-law, human rights defender Asida Lomiya.

Material prepared by Indira Bartsits.

This interview was first published by ApsnyPress and is presented here in English translation by AbkhazWorld.