German Wall piece in Tbilisi and forgotten late president Shevardnadze

A couple of days ago a piece from the Berlin Wall was installed in Old Tbilisi as a symbol of Georgian-German friendship.

The event also hosted an exhibition which absolutely ignored Georgia’s second, late president Eduard Shevardnadze, who contributed much for the demolition of the Wall separating Germany.

Shortly after the occasion Georgia’s PM told the media he was surprised by the absence of Shevardnadze’s photos at the exhibition.

It was not the end of the story as Shevardnadze’s grandchildren have addressed the German Ambassador to Georgia Heike Peitsch with a letter, in which they expressed regret over the fact that Shevardnadze's photos were not exhibited at the opening event.

“We would like to express our deepest regret over the fact that at the exhibition in European Square no place could be found for our grandfather, Eduard Shevardnadze's photos. This fact is a complete neglect of history,” the letter reads.

“PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili fairly called the fact an ‘anomaly’. We thank him for the right state, civil and human position”, the grandchildren wrote.

They reminded the German ambassador of several historical events about the personal contribution of Shevardnadze to the independence of Germany.

“We believe that a gross, completely unjustified mistake was made during the planning of the exhibition and that this is not the position of the German people and the German state.

“We believe that you will make every effort to eradicate this shameful mistake and the traditionally friendly and strategic relations between Georgia and Germany will not be damaged," says the letter signed by Shevardnadze's grandchildren: Tamar Mosashvili-Shevardnadze; Sophio Shevardnadze; Mariam Shevardnadze; Lasha Shevardnadze and Nanuli Shevardnadze.

The Governmental Administration of Georgia shortly responded to the letter, sharing its content and confirming Shevardnadze’s “huge role” in the historic event of unification of Germany.

The administration defined that on November 9, the exhibition was organized by the Communication Department of the Government of Georgia and that the Embassy and the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany were not involved in the preparation of the event.

“The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany attended the event as an invited guest,” the statement reads.

“We want to explain that only the fragments of the Berlin Wall will permanently remain on the European Square, while the exhibition was organized only for the evening of 9 November,” the statement added.

If one asks any Georgian about Shevardnadze time, he will definitely remind permanent blackouts, poverty, corruption and many other negative things.

However, it was the time full of challenges and the late president avoided bloodshed when he left peacefully in the wake of the 2003 Rose Revolution.

May be Shevardnadze’s years in Georgia were not something worth remembering, but the man could do a special thing for Germany, for Europe, which must not have been forgotten.