Besarion Jughashvili
Encyclopedia
Besarion Vanovis Jughashvili (1849 or 1850 - 1909) was Joseph Stalin
's father. His surname means son of Juga, and is derived from either the Ossetian йуга Juga (that means 'herd') or the old Georgian ჯუღა djuga - 'steel'.
. In the mid-19th century, Zaza took part in a peasant uprising in Ananuri
, a small county seat near Ger on the Aragvi River
. The uprising was crushed by Imperial soldiers, and Zaza was captured with nine other rebels. Zaza escaped and hid in Gori, where he was recaptured and remanded as a serf
to Prince Eristavi. He became involved in another uprising on the Eristavi estate. It is unknown who his wife was, or the exact number of children he sired. Vano Djughashvili, Besarion's father, tended the vineyards of Georgian Prince Badur Machabeli in the village of Didi-Lilo. Besarion was born into an Orthodox Christian
serf
family from the village of Didi Lilo in Georgia, most likely in 1850. Besarion had a brother called Giorgi who was murdered by bandits.
tax and had to move to Gori
in search of employment.
_ivanovich_jughashvilis_grave.jpg)
In Gori, he lived in a house of Kulumbegashvili. Here, Jughashvili found a job as a cobbler
and married Ekaterina (Keke) Geladze on May 30 1872. He was a polyglot
, being fluent in Georgian
, Russian
, Turkish
and Armenian
. Their first two children (Mikhail and Giorgi) died as infants in 1875 and 1877 aged less than a year, the latter from Measles
. Beso soon developed a severe drinking problem
. Stalin's French biographer Souvarine speculated that Stalin's birth defects, notably his adjoining two toes, were probably due to his father's alcoholism. Djughashvili eventually opened his own workshop, and for a time he and his family were prosperous and happy, until his drinking problem resurfaced. He subsequently became very abusive toward his wife and son, at one point having tried to strangle Keke. His ability to work also suffered, to the point that his workshop was kept alive only by his apprentices. Although Besarion wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a cobbler, his mother instead had Joseph enrolled in school to be educated for the Orthodox priesthood. This enraged Besarion; in a drunken
rage, he vandalized a local tavern and attacked the village police chief. For this he was expelled from Gori. He kidnapped Stalin from the Gori school so often that Stalin's maternal uncles had to smuggle him in.
He moved to Tbilisi, where he found work at the Adelkhanov Shoe Factory, while his wife and son stayed in Gori. When his son entered an Orthodox seminary in Tbilisi, Beso made an unsuccessful attempt to remove him and teach him the cobbler's trade instead. He turned up once demanding three roubles from his son as he was moving away. Stalin threatened to call the watchman if he didn't leave so he went. Stalin still visited his father with his mother's cousin while at the seminary. Beso would give him leather boots as presents.
In January 1900 Stalin was imprisoned for the first time because his father had not paid his taxes for his village. Stalin's friends paid it for him.
In May 1901 Beso met his son for the last time. Soso, as he was called, was organizing a strike in the Adelkhanov shoe factory where Beso worked. Beso asked his son "Why are you coming here?" "To address these fellows." "Why aren't you learning a trade?"
In May 1902, he accidentally met his ex wife on her way to visit Stalin in Batumi
prison. He shouted:
"Stop or I'll kill you! He [Stalin] wants to turn the whole world upside down. If you hadn't taken him to school he'd be a craftsmen, now he's in prison. I'll kill such a son with my own hands, he's disgraced me." A mob protected her from him, she never saw him again.
Besarion died on August 25, 1909 in Mikhailovsky Hospital in Tiflis, suffering from tuberculosis
, colitis
and chronic pneumonia
. He is buried in Telavi
, Georgia in a pauper's grave. He had made no effort to contact his son.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's father. His surname means son of Juga, and is derived from either the Ossetian йуга Juga (that means 'herd') or the old Georgian ჯუღა djuga - 'steel'.
Family and early life
Besarion Jughashvili was the grandson of Zaza Jughashvili from the village of Geri, north of GoriGori, Georgia
Gori is a city in eastern Georgia, which serves as the regional capital of Shida Kartli and the centre of the homonymous administrative district. The name is from Georgian gora , that is, "heap", or "hill"...
. In the mid-19th century, Zaza took part in a peasant uprising in Ananuri
Ananuri
Ananuri is a castle complex on the Aragvi River in Georgia, about 45 miles from Tbilisi.-History:Ananuri was a castle and seat of the eristavis of Aragvi, a feudal dynasty which ruled the area from the 13th century. The castle was the scene of numerous battles.In 1739, Ananuri was attacked by...
, a small county seat near Ger on the Aragvi River
Aragvi River
The Aragvi River and its basin is located in Georgia on the southern slope of the Caucasus Mountains. The river is 112 km in length. The basin covers an area 2,724 km² The ground strata is mostly sandstone, slate, and limestone. The hydro-electricity dam built on the river produces much of...
. The uprising was crushed by Imperial soldiers, and Zaza was captured with nine other rebels. Zaza escaped and hid in Gori, where he was recaptured and remanded as a serf
SERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
to Prince Eristavi. He became involved in another uprising on the Eristavi estate. It is unknown who his wife was, or the exact number of children he sired. Vano Djughashvili, Besarion's father, tended the vineyards of Georgian Prince Badur Machabeli in the village of Didi-Lilo. Besarion was born into an Orthodox Christian
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
serf
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
family from the village of Didi Lilo in Georgia, most likely in 1850. Besarion had a brother called Giorgi who was murdered by bandits.
Later life and Stalin
According to the Arsoshvili family (Djughashvili's relatives and longtime residents of Didi Lilo), Djughashvili (nicknamed 'Beso') couldn't afford paying a three-rubleRussian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
tax and had to move to Gori
Gori, Georgia
Gori is a city in eastern Georgia, which serves as the regional capital of Shida Kartli and the centre of the homonymous administrative district. The name is from Georgian gora , that is, "heap", or "hill"...
in search of employment.
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
and married Ekaterina (Keke) Geladze on May 30 1872. He was a polyglot
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
, being fluent in Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
. Their first two children (Mikhail and Giorgi) died as infants in 1875 and 1877 aged less than a year, the latter from Measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
. Beso soon developed a severe drinking problem
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. Stalin's French biographer Souvarine speculated that Stalin's birth defects, notably his adjoining two toes, were probably due to his father's alcoholism. Djughashvili eventually opened his own workshop, and for a time he and his family were prosperous and happy, until his drinking problem resurfaced. He subsequently became very abusive toward his wife and son, at one point having tried to strangle Keke. His ability to work also suffered, to the point that his workshop was kept alive only by his apprentices. Although Besarion wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a cobbler, his mother instead had Joseph enrolled in school to be educated for the Orthodox priesthood. This enraged Besarion; in a drunken
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
rage, he vandalized a local tavern and attacked the village police chief. For this he was expelled from Gori. He kidnapped Stalin from the Gori school so often that Stalin's maternal uncles had to smuggle him in.
He moved to Tbilisi, where he found work at the Adelkhanov Shoe Factory, while his wife and son stayed in Gori. When his son entered an Orthodox seminary in Tbilisi, Beso made an unsuccessful attempt to remove him and teach him the cobbler's trade instead. He turned up once demanding three roubles from his son as he was moving away. Stalin threatened to call the watchman if he didn't leave so he went. Stalin still visited his father with his mother's cousin while at the seminary. Beso would give him leather boots as presents.
In January 1900 Stalin was imprisoned for the first time because his father had not paid his taxes for his village. Stalin's friends paid it for him.
In May 1901 Beso met his son for the last time. Soso, as he was called, was organizing a strike in the Adelkhanov shoe factory where Beso worked. Beso asked his son "Why are you coming here?" "To address these fellows." "Why aren't you learning a trade?"
In May 1902, he accidentally met his ex wife on her way to visit Stalin in Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
prison. He shouted:
"Stop or I'll kill you! He [Stalin] wants to turn the whole world upside down. If you hadn't taken him to school he'd be a craftsmen, now he's in prison. I'll kill such a son with my own hands, he's disgraced me." A mob protected her from him, she never saw him again.
Besarion died on August 25, 1909 in Mikhailovsky Hospital in Tiflis, suffering from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, colitis
Colitis
In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
and chronic pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. He is buried in Telavi
Telavi
Telavi is the main city and administrative center of Georgia's eastern province of Kakheti. Its population consists of some 21,800 inhabitants . The city is located on foot-hills of Tsiv-Gombori Range at 500-800 meters above the sea level....
, Georgia in a pauper's grave. He had made no effort to contact his son.
Further reading
- Simon Sebag MontefioreSimon Sebag MontefioreSimon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...
: Young Stalin, 2007