General Kvinitadze's granddaughter hails "dream come true" as he is laid to rest in Tbilisi a century after leaving country
Kvinitadze's remains were flown from France to Tbilisi last week, with the general's legacy honoured in a public ceremony on Independence Day before his burial at the Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures. Photo via Administration of the Government of Georgia.
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The granddaughter of General Giorgi Kvinitadze, the Commander in Chief of the army of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia, said it was a "dream come true" to see the historical figure's remains laid to rest in Tbilisi on Georgia's Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday, 100 years after the general was forced into emigration by the Soviet invasion of Georgia.
Actor Maryam d'Abo - the daughter of Nino Kvinitadze, herself the daughter of the general - said a return to Georgia had been her grandfather's dream during his forced exile in a suburb of Paris, adding the burial of his remains on May 26 at Tbilisi's Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures marked the realisation of the hopes.
Kvinitadze's remains were laid to rest at the cemetery next to those of Kakutsa Cholokashvili - deputy defence minister of the 1918-1921 Georgian republic - after a public funeral ceremony was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral and a ceremonial flyover by Georgian Defence Forces' aircraft over the Freedom Square in central Tbilisi marked the return as well as Georgia's Independence Day.
— Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S) May 26, 2021
The general's remains had been flown to Georgia from his burial place in France on Saturday. The occasion also saw the general's descendants hand over memorial items from his life to the Georgian National Museum network for an exhibition, attended by President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili and representatives from the armed forces.
Zurabishvili said the remains were taking their "rightful spot next to those of famed and honoured children of the country", adding the occasion marked a honouring of Kvinitadze's "uncompromising struggle and military valour", and extended the date to mark historical struggles of the Georgian army for independence.
The Shavnabada folk music ensemble performed at the public funeral ceremony of General Kvitinadze on Inependence Day in Tbilisi:
Born in 1874 into the family of a colonel, Kvinitadze received military education in Tbilisi and St Petersburg before joining a regiment in the Imperial Russian army in 1894. Promoted in service during the armed forces' campaigns against Japan, in World War I, and by the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kvinitadze had the rank of major general when he became the Commander in Chief of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918.
It is symbolic to see the Commander in Chief of the Georgian armed forces, forced into exile by the invasion and occupation by the 11th Russian Army, return to Georgia after 100 years, on Independence Day, in an independent and free state
- Salome Zurabishvili, President of Georgia
General Giorgi Kvinitadze and his spouse Mariam Makashvili, photographed in the Paris suburb of Chatou, during their exile to France after the occupation of Georgia by Soviet forces in 1921. Photo via National Parliamentary Library of Georgia.
He led the armed forces over the three-year independence of the country, with gaps in the service due to disagreements with, and his criticisms of, the Georgian government during the period that led to his resignations. Kvinitadze successfully defended the military school in Tbilisi - founded by him - from an assault by Bolshevik forces, and defeated Muslim revolutionary forces in southern Georgia's Akhaltsikhe province, before leading the armed forces in Georgia's defensive campaign against the invading Red Army in the early 1921.
Serving as Commander in Chief of the armed forces in the campaign, Kvinitadze was forced into emigration along with members of the government and his colleagues in the army after the successful occupation of Tbilisi on February 25, 1921 - and subsequently the rest of the country - by the Soviet forces. In France the former general lived in western Paris' suburb of Chatou and was buried at the location's cemetery after his passing in 1970.
General Kvinitadze was posthumously honoured with the title of the National Hero of Georgia in 2013.