1956 Tbilisi massacre
The 1956 Tbilisi massacre was a bloody suppression of anti-Soviet demonstrations by Soviet troops in Tbilisi in the Georgian SSR on March 9, 1956. The protests began as peaceful demonstrations by students for the late dictator Josef Stalin , but ended in an uprising against the Soviets Rule in Georgia .
background
On February 25, 1956, CPSU General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev announced in a secret speech before the 20th party congress that his Georgian predecessor Josef Stalin had been a brutal despot and thus initiated the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union. He demanded to break with the " personality cult " that had held people tight for 30 years.
Khrushchev's speech was not publicly known, but rumors about it leaked out. What they heard was seen as an insult to Georgian national pride. Georgian youth had grown up with constant praise for Stalin's genius and proud of the fact that a Georgian ruled over the Soviet Union and - according to a widespread belief - determined world politics. The sudden criticism of her idol came as a shock and was viewed as political parricide.
Stalin demonstrations
A few days before Stalin's third anniversary of his death, students held spontaneous demonstrations at the Tbilisi Stalin monument near the bank of the Kura . The demonstrations in the Georgian capital sparked similar protests in other parts of the Georgian SSR.
On March 5, around 150 students marched to the Stalin memorial, showed portraits of the now ostracized party leader, carried red flags with mourning ribbons and put down flower arrangements. Motorists were asked to honk. On March 7th, students left their schools and joined the demonstrations. Thousands of young people moved along Rustaveli Boulevard to the government building (today the parliament building ). Accompanied by a horn concert they sang “dideba did Stalins, dideba did Stalins” ( Long live Stalin, long live Stalin ) over and over again.
Anti-Soviet twist
On March 8, the political content of the demonstrations turned. The students criticized the government, asked why there was no mourning flag in the city and no portraits of Marx , Engels , Lenin or Stalin in the administration. A spokesman pointed in the direction of the headquarters of the Soviet armed forces and shouted: “Georgians! If you want the portraits of Stalin and Lenin, go and ask them. ” The demonstrators marched in front of the headquarters of the armed forces, shouted and knocked on the gate. In the evening a loudspeaker system was installed on Leninplatz (today Freedom Square ) that anyone who wanted could use it. Radical students demanded Georgia's state independence.
On March 9, white-collar workers and workers also joined the demonstration. The party and government seemed to give way. Georgia's party leader Vasily Mschawanadze announced in a public speech that the wishes of the population would be taken into account. In the evening, anti-Soviet and national speeches were again given at meetings at the Stalin Monument and the Lenin Monument.
revolt
Around 11:45 p.m., people tried to storm the Tbilisi radio station and the telegraph office. The Soviet Army opened fire. Tanks arrived in the center of Tbilisi to end the uprising. People fought with knives, stones and belts. The fighting lasted until 3 a.m. The number of insurgents killed is estimated at at least 80 and possibly over 150. Several hundred are said to have been wounded and arrested. There are still no official information on this.
Follow-up in Gori
In the early morning hours of March 10, insurgents from Tbilisi arrived in Stalin's hometown of Gori . They penetrated the area of the textile mill and shouted: “Why are you working? There is civil war in Tbilisi . The Russians are killing us. ” Large parts of the night shift workers joined the Tbilisi. People were taken from their homes and drove to the Georgian capital on trucks. There it was not possible to regain the reins of action because the armed forces held all strategic places in the city and fired warning shots as soon as there was a riot.
The 1956 Tbilisi massacre was a taboo subject in the Soviet Union. Inside the party, it was portrayed as a provocation of foreign spies . The Georgians were deeply politically shaped by the incidents. There was no public protest in the Georgian SSR for the next 20 years.
See also
literature
- Vladimir A. Kozlov: Mass Uprisings in the USSR: Protest and Rebellion in the Post-Stalin Years . ME Sharpe, Armonk, New York [et al. a.] 2002, ISBN 0-7656-0668-2 .