Anti-Soviet Movement in Tusheti (Georgia) During World War II

Abstract

The paper deals with the activities of the Tush wing of the anti-Soviet organization ‘Samani’ (Young Fighters for the Prosperity of Georgia") created during the Second World War. Several illegal organizations led by Levan Gotua, Adam Bobghiashvili, Kote Khimshiashvili and others were established in Georgia during World War II, but Soviet Special Forces destroyed all of them. Over the course of the Second World War the Tush people, motivated by the desire of Georgia's independence, fantasied in the illusions, dared and from the high mountains of Tusheti confronted with the Soviet totalitarian state. Provided the Russian-Bolshevik regime, based on the studying the numerous archival material, we consider the twinkle of the idea of such a national movement like "Samani" as a special case study, and think that the work fulfilled by the Tush Samanels is more than a dream: in the shortest possible time and under the greatest political pressure, this movement carried out a complete paralysis of Soviet rule in the mountainous Tusheti. In the 1940s, the national liberation movement in Georgia took place in difficult historical conditions. The Tusheti community unfamiliar with the essence of the ideology of Nazism and Fascism, and convinced in the victory of Germany which was already approached the Caucasus Mountains, linked their dreams to the victory of Germany in the WWII. They considered the defeat of the Soviet Union by Germany as a favorable guarantee of Georgia's independence. The aim of the organization was to overthrow the Soviet Union, liberate Georgia from Russian influence, and bring the country out of the Soviet Union-German war unharmed. Shedding light on the ‘Saman’ movement is of great importance not only for clarifying the issue of the national liberation movement in Georgia, but also in the Caucasus.