Gaioz Devdariani () (
October 2, 1901–1938) was a
Bolshevik revolutionary, intellectual, Soviet politician and a victim of the
Great Purge. Devdariani was born in the village of
Kharagauli, Western
Georgia into a large middle class family. In
1919, Devdariani was arrested by the
Menshevik Government of Georgia for alleged plotting and masterminding an insurrection against the government. He was imprisoned in
Metekhi and managed to escape from the prison in
1920. During the same year, under the instructions of the
Bolshevik party, Devdariani was sent to
South Ossetia to quell the rebellion. Between
1921 and
1923, Devdariani worked in various communist ministries in
Georgian SSR. Devdariani was one of the most highly educated intellectuals in the Georgian Bolshevik circles. Due to his academic and educational background he became the first
Minister of Education of Georgian SSR in
1931. After only a year as a Minister, he was promoted to the First Secretary of the
Communist Party of the
Georgian SSR. However, soon after his appointment,
Lavrentiy Beria (Communist Party Secretary of
Transcaucasia) started agitations and provocations against Gaioz.
Brothers of Devdariani,
George Devdariani (commanding officer of Soviet Division in
Transcaucasus) and
Shalva Devdariani held important positions in Georgian SSR and the communist party. They became the first targets of Beria and
Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze. In
1933, George Devdariani was shot by one of the deserters from his division. It has been alleged that Beria plotted the
desertion and instructed the soldier to kill his commanding officer. In
1934 Shalva Devdariani was arrested in
Tbilisi and was said to have been personally executed by Beria. After learning of his brother’s arrest and execution, Devdariani resigned from his position and moved to
Zaporizhia, Ukraine. There he became the head of military aviation factory. Under the pressure from Beria,
Stalin gave an order to arrest Devdariani and indict him with charges of plotting to assassinate Lavrentiy Beria and of having links with exiled
Leon Trotsky. Devdariani was declared an "enemy of the people" and was denounced for
Trotskyism. While the charges against Devdariani were entirely false, Beria, a master provocateur, persuaded Stalin to grant him an approval for Devdariani's liquidation.
Before the arrest and murder of his brothers, based on his personal letters and diaries, Devdariani lost any belief in communism and confessed to his family members of being intolerant to the totalitarian regime of Stalin, Beria and the Bolsheviks. Before his final days in Tbilisi prison cell, he hoped for the chance to emigrate to
Laville France where he would join the Menshevik government of
Noe Zhordania in exile. However, he was condemned to death by
NKVD troika and executed in 1938. His son,
Spartak Devdariani was sent to the
Eastern Front in
Penal military unit (being charged under
Article 58 of counter-revolutionary activities) where he was killed during the
Prague Offensive. His second son
David Devdariani was imprisoned for being the
“the son of the enemy of the people” (
Russian language: "сын врага народа"). He later became a political
dissident and activist for independent Georgia. He was finally released by the order of
Nikita Khrushchev.
Devdariani published numerous books and articles about Communism and Georgia, of which the most popular one was
The History of Communism in Georgia.
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