Photo Exhibition and Lakoba

Today, I was walking into a cafe in central Sukhum, but before I could enter a woman stopped me and directed me to follow her.  She spoke very quickly and said that I should come see an exhibition of photos nearby. When we arrived, the place was full and the walls were covered with late 19th and early 20th century photos of Abkhaz people and families.   The images were great and they came from the collections of several families.   As I was wondering how they had managed to survive the years of revolutionary upheaval and civil war, the purges and then the destruction during the war with Georgia, the woman again approached me and introduced me to Gennady Lakoba.  He is an artist and currently lives in Belarus.  Mr. Lakoba had travelled to Abkhazia to be at the exhibition.  

It was fascinating to talk to Mr. Lakoba because his distant relative, Nestor Lakoba, had been the party boss in Abkhazia during the Stalin era.  However, during the 1930's he had conflicts with Lavrentiy Beria, who was then the Transcaucasian party chief and later headed the NKVD.  Lakoba was popular in Abkhazia and stood up to Beri's brutality and for the Abkhaz people when he could.   At the time of his death, he was called to Tbilisi to meet with Beria.  Despite his apparent health, it was announced that he died of a heart attack.  Most historians believe he was poisoned on Beria's orders.  It was during this period that Beria settled large numbers of Georgians and Mingrelians into Abkhazia.  

 Discussion of photos by man in traditional Abkhaz garments.