The Issue of Repatriation of Deportees from Southwestern Georgia in 1944 in the National Liberation Movement of the 20th Century (1989-1990)

Abstract

In this paper we have discussed one of the most important pages in the recent history of Georgia, which deals with the population deported from Samtskhe-Javakheti in 1944. The focus of the paper, which we have
presented, has not been the subject of wide discussion in the Georgian scientific space yet. The paper does not claim to exhaust the issue, however, we intend to continue researching the issue and studying it from a broader perspective. The issue of repatriation of deportees to the Georgian reality in 1944 has been on the agenda many times since the restoration of Georgia's independence and has always been accompanied by public debate and a number of controversies. In this article, we discuss the beginning of this long process – the late 1980s and early 1990s – and show the attitudes of diVerent groups towards the issue. This chronological framework was specially chosen because, on the one hand, the National Movement was creating a Georgian collective
historical memory in the late 1980s, and on the other hand, ater the Round Table came to power (October
28, 1990), the issue took a diVerent, formal form and was resolved. It has already become the “prerogative” of independent Georgia. In the article, we tried to answer to foreign scientists who, when considering the issue by the national movement in 1980, saw only nationalist or chauvinist motives.