Alexander Svanidze | |
|---|---|
| ალექსანდრე სვანიძე (Georgian) Александр Сванидзе (Russian) | |
 Svanidze in 1915 | |
| Born | 1886 |
| Died | 20 August 1941(1941-08-20) (aged 54–55) |
| Alma mater | University of Jena |
| Occupation(s) | Old Bolshevik historian |
| Known for | Brother-in-law ofJoseph Stalin |
| Spouse | Maria Korona |
| Children | Ivan Svanidze |
| Parent(s) | Svimon Svanidze Sipora Dvali |
| Relatives | Kato Svanidze (sister) |
Alexander Semyonovich "Alyosha" Svanidze (Georgian:ალექსანდრე სვანიძე;Russian:Александр Семёнович Сванидзе) (1886 – 20 August 1941) was aGeorgianOld Bolshevik, politician andhistorian. He was a personal friend ofJoseph Stalin and a brother of Stalin's first wifeKato. Nevertheless, he was arrested during theGreat Purge in 1937 and he was shot in prison in 1941.
Born of apetty noble family in a small village of Baji in western Georgia, then part of theRussian Empire, Svanidze was educated atTiflis and later atJena where he learnedGerman andEnglish and engaged in historical research of ancient civilizations.
He joined theRussian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1901 and then theBolsheviks in 1904.[1] worked in the Bolshevik underground until being forced by the authorities to leaveindependent Georgia in 1919. He worked for theSoviet foreign office in the years 1920–1921 and then served asPeople's Commissar for Finances of theGeorgian SSR andTranscaucasian SFSR in the years 1921–1922. In 1924, he was appointed Soviet trade envoy toGermany and, upon his return to theSoviet Union, in 1935, he became Deputy Chairman of theSoviet State Bank. For most of the 1930s he was head of theSoviet Foreign Trade Bank.
At the same time, Svanidze continued his scholarship; he founded theJournal of Ancient History, studied theAlarodian languages, and translated into Russian the medieval Georgian poetShota Rustaveli.[2]
At the height of the Great Purge, he was arrested by theNKVD. Svanidze refused to confess to being a German spy in return, as the NKVD offered him, for his life.[3] "Such aristocratic pride," Stalin is quoted to have said. Svanidze and his sister Mariko were executed in 1941, as the Germansadvanced.[4] His wife Maria (née Korona; 1889–1941), a singer for theTbilisi Opera House, was sentenced to ten years in Dolinskoye, a women's prison camp inKazakhstan. She died of aheart attack upon being informed of the execution.[5] His son,Ivan (born Dzhonrid in honour ofJohn Reed) was married to Stalin's daughterSvetlana Alliluyeva from 1957 to 1959.[6]
