Georgian archives from League of Nations returns home

Scanned copies of historical documents describing Georgian-European relations at the beginning of the 1990s have been returned to their origins and presented to society.

The majority of the Georgian public is unfamiliar with the materials stored in 50 cases at the National Library of Switzerland. These materials will reveal the unknown pages of the 20th Century history of Georgia.

Scanned copies of personal archive of Khariton Shavishvili preserved at UN Library have returned home. Photo by National Archive of Georgia.

The personal archive of Khariton Shavishvili – the diplomatic representative of the Democratic Republic of Georgia to Switzerland from 1918-1934 – was presented to the public today at the Cinema Hall of the National Archive.

Shavishvili’s files were handed to the University Library of Geneva by his friend Andre Chavanne after Shavishvili died in 1975. His archive was assigned international significance in 1991, which resulted in its transfer to the UN library, where it has been kept until now.

Through collaboration of the National Library of Switzerland, the United Nations (UN) Library and Archive and the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, the personal archives of Shavishvili is now available for Georgian scientists and armatures interested in Georgia’s recent past.

Georgia’s Minister of Justice, Thea Tsulukiani, visited the Library of Geneva last year and personally negotiated to obtain the rights to allow the National Archives of Georgia scan the documents.

Georgian specialists ware working to scan the documents at the UN Library. Photo by National Archive of Georgia. 

As a result of the negotiations, the National Archives of Georgia experts went to Geneva with special equipment and created digital copies of these important archival materials.

The documents represented the working process of the Georgian representatives in "The League of Nations" [prior to the UN], correspondence between European organisations and European politicians about the Georgian problematic issues.

The files also revealed the relationship between Georgian representatives and Georgian immigrants, and the activities of The Bureau of Foreign Press of Georgia and the International Helping Committee of Georgia.

The archive of Shavichvili also contains his memoirs, letters, books and other documentation.