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The News in Brief

Wednesday, March 13
Schwabenstrasse instead of Stalin - Street name changed in the village of Asureti.

One of the streets of the village of Asureti in Tetritskaro municipality is called Schwabenstrasse Street. The union of protection of the German heritage in South Caucasus has published a photo of the sign of the changed street name, which had previously been named after the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Swabians are a sub-ethnic group located in the southwest of Germany in the region of Swabia. The majority of Germans who arrived and settled in Georgia in 1817 with the support of the Russian empire were Swabians.

They established several settlements in Tbilisi, Kvemo Kartli and Abkhazia. In Kvemo Kartli, the settlement of the present population of Asureti was called Elizabetali.

According to the Georgian-German archive, general census of population in 1926 showed that 12982 Germans (6004 men and 6978 women) lived in the entire territory of Georgia.

The situation changed after the war between the Soviet Union and the Nazi Germany in 1941 when the Soviet regime intended to exile German families.

Thousands of German families were evicted from their places of residence. Later, ethnic Georgians settled in their homes.

They were released from the place of deportation on the basis of the 1955 resolution, but they still did not have the right to return to their homes.

“…or where could they return – “others” have already been living in their houses. The majority of exiled Germans were born in the German colonies in Georgia. With their deportation they stopped the model of cultural and socio-economic life that they were engaged in Georgia”- stated Davit Jishkariani in an article placed on the page of the Georgian-German archive.



Irakli Kobakhidze - 100 years ago, Parliament left Georgia a considerable legacy

The 100th anniversary of the first session of the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia is celebrated on March 12 and Georgian Parliament was founded just at this session.

The statement on this topic was made by the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze on March 12.

According to Kobakhidze, 100 years ago the Parliament left Georgia a very important heritage.

“It is an important day in the history of our country. 100 years ago, the first session of our first parliament, democratically elected, was held and Georgian parliamentary system was founded. The tradition of the parliamentary system was created then and that parliament left Georgia a considerable legacy after the restoring of independence.

In the 90s our parliament was based exactly on this heritage. The greatest Georgian public figures, such as Niko Nikoladze, Ekvtime Takaishvili and others were the members of that Parliament. This is a very valuable legacy for all of us” - says Irakli Kobakhidze.
(By Anita Magradze)