Destruction of Abkhazia's National Library and Archives by Georgian Forces

Abkhazia's fight for survival and self-determination have been little noticed in the West.  Even less attention have been paid to the acts of cultural destruction and vandalism perpetrated by Georgian forces in an attempt to erase the cultural history of the Abkhaz.  Bear in mind that during this period, Georgian political leaders were trying to deny the history of the Abkhaz in their own land and Georgian military leaders openly spoke of genocide. During the 1992-93 war, in a series of premeditated acts, Georgian forces destroyed libraries and burned books, periodicals and the entire stock of 6,000 volumes of rare editions in the National Library in Sukhum.  The card catalogues were even destroyed.  By the conclusion of the war in 1993, Abkhazia had only 5 surviving libraries from a pre-war total of 421.  Approximately 35 -40% of all books were burned and all of the periodicals from 1920 -35 were destroyed.

Because of this attempt at cultural genocide, priceless and irreplaceable literary works have been lost forever. Another consequence has been that a society that formerly had high interest in books has seen a dramatic reduction in reading.  

Because of assistance from the Russian National Library, other Russian sources and the United Nations there has been a restocking of some of the materials lost.  However, much of what was burned by Georgian forces can never be replaced.

Please take a look at the short film on the destruction of Abkhazia's National Library and Archive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lcNIQ6fhcU