Bolshevik Terror and Religious Organizations in Georgia in the 1920s–1930s

Abstract

During the 1920s and 1930s, Georgia was part of the modernized Soviet empire—initially within the Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Republic and, from 1936 onward, as a nominally ‘independent’ Soviet republic. By this time, totalitarian rule had been fully consolidated throughout the Soviet Union. The Bolshevik regime launched extensive and brutal repression against perceived opponents, with religious communities—Christian and non-Christian alike—subjected to particularly severe persecution. The Soviet authorities considered religiosity to be an obstacle to the construction of socialism and thus pursued systematic campaigns to undermine and eradicate it. In Georgia, the Orthodox Church was declared an organization lacking legal authority by a decree of April 15, 1921, followed by large-scale confiscation of church property and persecution of clergy. Similar repressive measures were directed against the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Muslim community, the Catholic Church, and later, Protestant denominations and various sectarian groups.

Hundreds of Armenian churches were closed between 1921 and 1939, and numerous priests were imprisoned. In 1925, the Soviet authorities organized a reformist movement within the Armenian Church called the Brotherhood of the Free Armenian Church, which displayed loyalty toward the Soviet regime and fought against the old, experienced clergy. Following the anti-Soviet statements of Pope Pius XI, the authorities ceased to place any trust in Catholic clergy and lay believers alike. There were instances in which active members of the Komsomol insulted Catholic priests, demolished stone crosses, and desecrated sacred objects housed within Catholic churches.

The Bolshevik authorities subjected prominent Georgian Catholic clergy to particularly severe persecution. In 1923, Konstantine Saparashvili, priest of the Catholic Church in Gori, was expelled from the city, and the church itself was closed. He subsequently moved to Ude and later served as priest of the Rabati Church in Akhaltsikhe. In 1927, however, he was arrested once again and exiled to the notorious Solovki labor camp. Although released from imprisonment in 1926, he was prohibited from performing priestly duties and remained under police surveillance until his death. On 4 January 1924, a decree was issued entitled ‘On the Abolition of Religious Instruction in Adjara’s Schools.’ The government banned Muslim religious festivals such as Shakhsei-Vakhsei and Ramadan. In Adjara, campaigns were launched to unveil Muslim women and to promote among the population the idea that wearing the veil was unacceptable. Based on recommendations from the Anti-Religious Commission, the administrative closure of Muslim mosques commenced in various regions of Georgia and in Tbilisi, along with the arrest of mullahs who refused to comply with government directives.

The wrath of “militant atheism” soon extended to the Jewish community: The administrative closure of synagogues began, depriving Jews—already exiled from their historical homeland—of their only remaining source of cultural and religious identity. The authorities launched terror against those Jewish rabbis who refused to comply with official directives. In 1922, the synagogue in the village of Sujuni, belonging to the Abasha community, was closed, and Rabbi Mikhail Elashvili was executed. Rabbi David Ajiashvili of the village of Bandza likewise faced execution, while others—Moshe Janashvili, Shalom Roketelashvili, and David Janashvili—were arrested and tried. On 18 August 1924, in Kutaisi, on Gelati Street, the authorities ‘discovered’ an illegal Jewish school and sent an urgent notice to the head of the Kutaisi militia department: ‘Arrest immediately and send to the Kutaisi Political Bureau Rabbi Mikhail Davitashvili, Raphael Rizhinashvili, Daniel Kakitelashvili, and Itzhak Eligulashvili.’ The government imposed the strictest control over functioning synagogues and the activities of rabbis. The Jews appealed to Lev Trotsky for help, yet instead of support, they faced renewed terror and persecution.