Soviet Forceful Resettlement Practices through the Eyes of the Caucasus Highlanders:
The Cases of the Chechens, the Ingush, and the Georgian Mountaineers, the Khevsurs
PhD project
Soviet Forceful Resettlement Practices through the Eyes of the Caucasus Highlanders: The Cases of the Chechens, the Ingush, and the Georgian Mountaineers, the Khevsurs, investigates Soviet forced displacement practices, including internal forced resettlements such as that of the Khevsurs, which remains one of the least studied aspects of Soviet displacement policies. Drawing on oral histories, personal narratives, and self-testimonies, the project pursues two interconnected objectives. First, it uncovers previously unknown aspects of the resettlement operations, including their implementation, the conditions under which they were carried out, and their immediate and long-term consequences. Second, through the analysis of original interviews, the research explores how these forced displacements transformed the social and cultural fabric of traditional mountain communities.
Focusing on the historical borderlands of the North Caucasus and Georgia, and on the territories that were temporarily incorporated into the Georgian SSR following the dissolution of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (1944–1957), the project examines how forced displacement shaped\reshaped long-term neighborhood relations between the North Caucasian peoples and the Khevsurs. By analyzing these entangled experiences and memories, the research sheds new light on the enduring social, cultural, and historical consequences of Soviet resettlement policies in the Caucasus.
Anna Tchintcharauli is PhD Candidate at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. During her stay at the ZZF Potsdam she is Visiting Fellow in Department I: Communism and Society.