1945. World War II has come to an end, and a new phase in the division of spheres of influence among the victorious powers is beginning. It was during this period that the prominent Georgian philosopher, Professor Shalva Nutsubidze, found himself in Berlin. Nutsubidze’s presence in Germany was tied to an assignment from the Soviet authorities. According to a widely circulated account, his mission was to determine the fate of Joseph Stalin’s son, Yakov Dzhugashvili. However, archival materials uncovered later revealed that Nutsubidze’s time in Berlin coincided with covert operations carried out by Soviet secret services against members of the Georgian political emigration.
One of the most high-profile cases involves the story of Tite Margvelashvili.
Tite Margvelashvili — philosopher, historian, representative of the National Democratic movement, an old friend of Shalva Nutsubidze, and one of the signatories of the Act of Independence on May 26, 1918.
While in Berlin, Shalva Nutsubidze established contact with Tite Margvelashvili. According to available records, Nutsubidze invited Margvelashvili to a meeting in the Soviet-occupied East Berlin sector and sent a car to pick him up. Tite Margvelashvili brought his 18-year-old son, Givi Margvelashvili, along to the meeting.
The father and son were taken to the military commandant’s office in East Berlin. After a single night, they were separated forever. Givi Margvelashvili was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which was being operated by Soviet authorities after the war. He spent nearly two years there before being sent back to Georgia. For a long time, the fate of Tite Margvelashvili remained unknown.
According to records preserved in the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (formerly the KGB Archive) — Fund No. 6, Case No. 46182 — proceedings against Tite Margvelashvili began in Moscow in March 1946 and concluded in Tbilisi in October of that same year. The court found him guilty under several sub-clauses of Article 58 of the Soviet Penal Code and designated him a “person dangerous to society.” Tite Margvelashvili was sentenced to the supreme penalty: death by firing squad. The sentence was executed on October 17, 1946.
A tool of the Soviet system, or an active accomplice? There is still no definitive answer, but Nutsubidze’s name occupies a deeply unsettling place in the tragedy of Tite Margvelashvili.
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