9 March 1956 massacre in Tbilisi

The March 9 massacre in Tbilisi, 1956 was a crackdown of peaceful demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union by Soviet troops on March 9 1956.

Background

On 25 February 1956, in a sensational speech to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev, a new Soviet leader, denounced the late dictator Joseph Stalin (born in Gori, Georgia) as a brutal despot, thus initiating policy of de-Stalinization. He said he wanted to break the "Stalin cult" that had held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_2703000/2703581.stm]

Khrushchev’s policy of de-Stalinization was a blow to Georgian pride if only because he cast aspersions on the Georgians themselves. Georgian youth, bred on the panegyrics and permanent praise of the “genius” of Stalin, was proud to consider him being a Georgian that ruled over great Russia, and, as believed widely, dominated the world. Now sudden shock of denigration of Stalin was considered as a révanche taken by Khrushchev over the dead giant of history, and as national humiliation.

Massacre

leader, lost control and passed on the responsibility to the army. Suddenly the shooting started from several buildings, and the army soldiers and tanks pursued the escaping students. Although no precise numbers of casualties is known, at least 80 (and maybe over 150) young people were killed and several hundreds wounded and arrested.

The March 9 tragedy was a tabooed theme for decades. But the lesson was learned. For some twenty years no open confrontation ever took place, until a new generation of Georgian youth arrived on the scene, so strong was the shock and bitter frustration.

See also

*1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations
*April 9 tragedy
*Hungarian Revolution of 1956
*Poznań 1956 protests
*Prague Spring

Further reading

*Vladimir A. Kozlov: "Mass Uprisings in the USSR: Protest and Rebellion in the Post-Stalin Years". M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York [u.a.] 2002, ISBN 0-7656-0668-2

External links

* [http://rolfgross.tripod.com/Texts/Giahistory.htm 70 years of Soviet Georgia]
* [http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv5n2/georgia.htm Soviet journalist about the incidents in Georgia, March 1956]
* [http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L3&ArticleID=1956constant1&SubjectID=1956secret&Year=1956 L. Piradov’s Criticism of Student Behavior, 1956]