Victims of Soviet repressions remembered, names read out loud in Tbilisi

Under the decree N00447, a troika - group of three officials – was set up, which gave rulings in each detainee’s case in two or three minutes, without fair or public trials. Photo: Agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 30 Jul 2019 - 18:40, Tbilisi,Georgia

Names of the residents of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi who were killed or exiled during the 1937-38 Soviet repressions were read out loud in Tbilisi today. 

The victims of the Soviet regime were remembered in relation to the date (July 30, 1937) when the Soviet Union leadership issued decree N00447 on the detention and punishment of so-called “kulaks, criminals and anti-Soviet elements.”

The entrance of the former NKVD office. Photo:Agenda.ge.

The event was organised by the Soviet Past Research Laboratory which aims to explore the Soviet past and explain the importance of remembrance of the victims and encourage the government’s involvement in studying their history.

Under the decree N00447, a troika - group of three officials – was set up, which gave rulings in each detainee’s case in an accelerated fashion, in two or three minutes, without fair or public trials. 

Event organiser, researcher Irakli Khvadagiani said the repressions applied to people from different social classes and ethnicities in Tbilisi. 

The event organisers affixed the printed text of the decree N00447 on the wall. Photo: Agenda.ge.

He also added the list presented today is still not complete.

82 years have passed since the 1937 Great Purge in the Soviet Union which claimed the lives of thousands of common citizens, intellectuals and independently minded artists in Georgia.

29,051 Georgians were repressed by the Soviet totalitarian regime and those in power in 1937-38. 

Of these people 14,372 were sentenced to capital punishment, while 14,679 were exiled.