Introduction

Georgia is located in the southern Caucasus and borders Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Northern Turkey. Its population of 5.4 million comprises many different nationalities and religions, including an estimated 13,000 Jews. Tensions, conflicts and territorial disputes in the region have been frequent. Recent wars in Abkhazia, Chechnya and Nagorno-Karabakh have created a low standard of living, an intensification of criminal activity and a huge number of refugees, including many Jews. It is commonly believed that Georgia does not share the virulent antisemitic history that characterizes Russia and that of the other 13 former Soviet republics.

Jewish Life

In 1996, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews officially opened and registered in the capital city Tbilisi the Caucasus-American Bureau on Human Rights (CABHR), directed by Georgian Chief Rabbi Ariel Levine with Deputy Director Igor Klebansky. Rabbi Levine also operates a synagogue, a day school and charity programs. In Tbilisi there a number of Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Youth and Students Organization and the Chabad Lubavitch, as well as a Jewish museum. There are also synagogues, Jewish schools and cultural centers throughout Georgia in Batumi, Gori and Kutaisi. The current Georgian authorities have been sympathetic towards the Jewish minority, according to Rabbi Levine. President Eduard Shevardnadze has been more explicitly outspoken than the presidents of most other countries in the Former Soviet Union. The state media has been outspoken in denouncing antisemitism and Georgian state radio has launched a program in Georgian for residents of Israel in hopes of creating cultural ties between the two countries. In addition, the new constitution, adopted in 1995, provides for freedom of religion and migration, though the Office of Visas and Registration (OVIR) often illegally restricts foreign travel through bribes and long delays in issuing passports. Overall, Jewish life is very active in Georgia, and the CABHR believes that democratic reforms will struggle against infringements of the new constitution of Georgia.

Overview: Antisemitism and the Government Response

In spite of the development of Jewish life, some Jewish families have been targeted by the increased criminal activity created by the region's current political and economic instability. Georgia is still suffering under harsh living conditions and shortages of food and medicine, and disorder remains in many areas. In the strife-ridden provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where conflicts continue unresolved, nearly all Jews (about 1,800) have been airlifted to Israel. Elsewhere, gangs have robbed Jewish graves and ransoms have been demanded from Jewish families that are thought, mostly incorrectly, to be wealthy. The national government has had difficulty imposing its power and ending this crime wave, despite its declarations to Georgian citizens that they are safe. The following are several incidents that depict various manifestations of antisemitism experienced by the Georgian Jewish community. Antisemitic incidents in Georgia have included attacks on Jewish cemeteries and synagogues, hateful articles, and attacks on Jews in the process of emigrating. While President Shevardnadze has been responsive and should be lauded for his expedient condemnation of an antisemitic article published in an independent newspaper, the overall high level of crime, ethnic conflicts and lack of rule of law suggest that the situation for Georgian Jews must still be carefully monitored.

Destruction of Jewish Communal Property

The following are several examples representative of a trend of attacks on Jewish communal property:

In November 1994, 30 gravestones were destroyed at one of the Jewish cemeteries, adding to the 69 gravestones vandalized between 1988-1993. In response, the Chair of the Jewish Material Culture Fund appealed to President Shevardnadze and a 4-point draft verdict was made, including a provision to create a commission to investigate the event and steps to restore the gravestones. However, the commission has never been created and, in fact, was omitted as a provision when the verdict was published in the press in February 1995. -Reported by Chief Rabbi Ariel Levine and Igor Klebansky, Caucasus-American Bureau on Human Rights of the Union of Councils (CABHR)

In the spring of 1995, nine Sefer Torahs were stolen from a synagogue in the city of Akhaltsikhe. Sefer Torahs were also stolen in two other Georgian cities, Gori and Kutaisi.- CABHR

The synagogue in Gori was set afire and, almost every Friday, teenagers throw stones at worshippers entering the synagogue and scream at them "Get the hell out of Georgia!" -Reported by Helene Kenvin, President, The Caucasus Network, May 26, 1995 (TCN)

Antisemitic Newspaper Articles

Widely distributed and popular Georgian newspapers have been publishing antisemitic articles. In February 1996, the newspaper Iberiis Garbtskineba began publishing a paper written by Vladimir Dall in the 19th Century called "Of Ritual Murders: An investigation into the murder of Christian children and the use of their blood by Jews." Dall's article ran for 10 months until December 1996, when an article about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was published. In response, the CABHR applied to the General Procurator on September 2, 1996 to request that a criminal case be opened against the newspaper under Article 75 of the Georgian Criminal Code, for kindling inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred. The Georgian Academy of Science, called in for its expert opinion, reviewed the newspaper article and concluded that its character was antisemitic and its contents lies. However, the newspaper has continued to publish antisemitic articles and has even published CABHR's declaration to the General Procurator, accusing the bureau of slander and incompetence. The newspaper article states that "an international organization (i.e. UCSJ) supposedly defending human rights, which demands the arrest of an editor of a newspaper for the repeat publishing of documents which had once been published, in fact not defends but deprives human rights." Another newspaper, Noy, published the text of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, with each "protocol" followed by editorial comments. When the 7th protocol was published in August 1996, the editor and publisher of Noy, Givi Alaznispireli, wrote a companion article entitled "Watch Out, Jews Ahead!" blaming the Jews for all of Georgia's troubles and calling Jews "vampires and sadists." In an excellent example of a strong response, President Eduard Shevardnadze sharply condemned the article, describing it as full of "fascism and bigotry." Alaznispereli was fined and sentenced to three years in prison after an charge made by Jewish community representatives, and the paper was suspended from publication. Shevardnadze promised that strict sanctions would be applied against the newspaper.- CABHR

Failure to Return Jewish Communal Property

A former synagogue which is now being used by the Georgian Theater has yet to be returned to the Tbilisi Jewish Community, despite a court case launched in 1995 which offered documents proving that the building did belong to the Jewish community. In addition, authorities failed to respond when a big window in the shape of the Star of David was destroyed in the synagogue. -CABHR

Criminal Attacks and Vandalism

A number of criminal attacks have been made against Georgian Jews who, expecting disregard, are often reluctant to ask the police for help. Many such crimes go unreported. The following examples are some of the reported attacks on Jews:

A Georgian Jew, Yuza Enukashvilly, was kidnapped in July 1994 in Kutaisi. His dismembered body was found after his relatives failed to pay a huge ransom. On December 27, 1994, Abram Masmistvalov, a citizen of Israel who was visiting his relatives in Georgia, was kidnapped and then released after two months when his family paid the large ransom. And in March 1995, Rafael Avdalinov was shot with a machine gun in his apartment after he refused to give money to his attackers.- CABHR

There have also been attacks against Jewish families in Georgia who are preparing to leave for Israel and the United States. These crimes occur because Jews who are emigrating have money set aside for the travel costs. In February 1996, three men with machine guns entered the apartment of the Yakobashvilly family and beat, robbed and threatened the inhabitants. While law enforcement agencies sometimes attempt to identify the criminals, they are ineffective in actually battling this kind of crime. Some Jewish leaders suspect that OVIR officials identify such Jews to criminals, who later split the profits of the robberies with the officials.-CABHR

In December 1996, Shoshina, a Georgian citizen, came to the Caucasus Bureau of the Union of Councils complaining that in 1994, her neighbor had pushed her off the staircase screaming "Go back to your Israel!" Shoshina's collarbone was broken and she was hospitalized. Her complaint to the courts has been ignored, as has her complaint to the regional police station. -CABHR

On March 12, 1995, a Georgian Jewish man was stabbed to death and his wife beaten during a robbery of their home in Tbilisi by three masked men. The couple were in the middle of plans to move to Israel.- Israeli Consulate Bulletin, March 1995

A three-year old Tbilisi girl was beaten by one of her neighbors, who called her "kike's offspring." The police refused to investigate, despite several witnesses to the attack. A week later the family's car was set on fire and a neighbor who belongs to a Georgian nationalist organization told the child's father, "If all of you want to stay alive, you should give your apartment to one of the Georgian families that is a victim of the ethnic war in Abkhazia."-TCN 1995 Report

A group of Jewish men leaving a meeting of the Youth Association of Georgian Jews in Tbilisi were accosted and severely beaten by several Georgian nationals who yelled, "We'll show you the next Holocaust! You dirty Jews! Instead of going to your meetings you should go and fight in the war as we do....Maybe you think that only Mkhedrioni (an ultra-nationalist Georgian paramilitary organization) should go and die." The police arrested the Jewish victims and detained them for two days without food or medical attention. When the victims' families asked the police why the aggressors were not detained, they were told, "These people are from Mkhedrioni and we trust them more than you because they fight for our country." No charges were ever brought against the Georgian perpetrators. -TCN 1995 Report

A Jewish woman was assaulted while waiting on a bread line in Tbilisi. A Georgian woman screamed "I know this kike; she lives in my building. Why should we feed them and stay hungry ourselves?" Other people yelled at the Jewish woman and pushed her out of the line. Someone hit her hard and she fell to the ground. Four months pregnant, she went into premature labor and lost her child.- TCN 1995 Report

An elderly Jewish couple living in a provincial town had been threatened and terrorized over the last three years. In December 1996, their home was invaded by Georgians screaming antisemitic curses. The assailants told the Jews that they already should have left Georgia. Then they severely beat the wife and murdered the husband.-TCN 1995 Report

Vandals broke into the home of a Jewish family in Kutaisi and destroyed Hebrew books and Jewish ritual objects. They left a note with antisemitic slurs and a demand that the Jews leave their home and Georgia and that if they did not do so voluntarily, they would be forced from their home. The family reported the attack to the police, who said they had neither the time nor the resources to deal with crimes involving religious or national hatred. -TCN 1995 Report

In Tbilisi, an 11 year-old Jewish girl said her teacher announced to the class that "the government should stop wasting money educating Jews." The girl's home has been vandalized repeatedly, racial slurs and threats painted on the walls and windows broken. Her family was ultimately forced to flee when Georgian refugees from Abkhazia broke into their apartment and threatened to kill the Jews if they did not leave.- TCN 1995 Report

Human Rights

The human rights situation in Georgia has been assessed by many observers to be poor due to the rampant ethnic conflict, political turmoil and crime. Freedom of the press and of assembly is restricted in practice, and the police and military have abused and tortured detainees. Other problems include deaths in custody, judicial corruption and denial of fair and expeditious trials. However, President Eduard Shevardnadze has taken steps to improve Georgia's human rights record and remove criminal and corrupt members of the police force. There is also a growing awareness by Georgians of their individual rights and a rising number of independent NGOs, including the CABHR. The Parliament is more active and reformist than its predecessor, and independent newspapers have been increasingly bold in criticizing government policies.

History of Jews in Georgia

Jews have been living in Georgia for over 1,000 years. Historically, Georgia has witnessed comparatively little antisemitism. During the 15th Century, life for the Jews deteriorated with the decline of the Georgian Kingdom and the numerous occupations by various Muslim powers. Muslim domination finally ended in the early 19th century, when Georgia was annexed by Russia. In 1918, during the period of Georgian independence, Jews were given full rights under law and some Jews held important positions of power. Even when Georgia was under Soviet rule, when religious and cultural freedoms were abolished, relations between Georgians and Jews remained relatively amicable.

Conclusion

Overall, Jewish life continues to grow, and the Georgian government has been increasingly supportive of the Jewish community. However, the level of strain in Georgian society and a lack of effective actions by the government against crime and corruption calls for continued close monitoring of the situation for Jews in Georgia.

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