Lasha Bakradze: Deutsch-Georgische Wechselfälle. Graf Schulenburg und die deutschgeorgischen Beziehungen

The history of the Caucasus region is yet to be discovered in Germany. The lecture by Dr. Lasha Bakradze, historian and head of the Georgian museum of literature, particularly addresses the German relations with independent Georgia following the First World War. Here, Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg proved to be a key figure. In Germany, Schulenburg is most prominently known as an ambassador in Moscow (from 1934) and as a participant in the resistance against Hitler in 1944. Being an expert on the Caucasus, he became the driving force behind the German support towards Georgia’s independence after the First World War. The lecture outlines the calculations and motivations of German-Georgian diplomacy during that time. Thus, not only does the lecture examine a widely ignored period of German-Georgian relations, but it also discusses a newly relevant topic in light of the current international situation and tensions between independence, peace, security, and great power politics in the Caucasus.

Dr. Lasha Bakradze was born in 1965. He studied German philology and literary studies in Jena and history at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, among other studies. In 2001, he received his PhD from the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University with a project on “German-Georgian relations during the First World War.” He currently is a professor at Ilia State University in Tbilisi. Since 2010, he is head of the Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature in Tbilisi. In early 2023, he curated an exhibition titled “Schulenburg and the First Georgian Republic” at the Goethe-Institute in Georgia.

Moderation: Zaal Andronikashvili (ZfL)

The event will take place in cooperation with the Georgian office of the Max Weber Foundation and the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg.

Fig. above: Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg, © Bundesarchiv, N 2273 Bild-1293-10.
Portrait of Lasha Bakradze: © Lasha Bakradze.