DOCUMENTS ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE RED CROSS SOCIETY IN GEORGIA IN THE 20S OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

Currently, when Georgia is striving to maintain a worthy place in the world community, to develop its economy, to establish close business relationships with different countries and to attract investors and tourists to the country, it would be very important, from our point of view, to find and publish archival material about the activities of the Red Cross Society in Georgia in the 20s of the 20th century. The documents on this topic are kept in the Central Archive of Contemporary History at the National Archives of Georgia.
Studying this material gives us the opportunity to get acquainted with processes that took place in Georgia in the first years after its occupation. For ideological reasons, Soviet historians paid little attention to these questions. These documents will enable us the better understanding of the research problem and its development phases, as well as of current legislation of this time. It allows us to establish a comparative characteristic of how the activity of the Red Cross Society was regulated in Soviet times and what role the central government of Soviet Russia played in it.
The Red Cross International Humanitarian Organization was founded in 1863 by Swiss citizen Henry Dunant. A year earlier, he had published a book called "A Memory of Solferino", in which he advocated the creation in peacetime and in all countries of volunteer groups to provide the necessary medical care to soldiers wounded in hostilities. On February 17, 1863, five Swiss citizens - H. Dunant, G. Moynier, H. Dufour, L. Appia and T. Maunoir got together and established a committee to consider the above mentioned initiative of A. Dunen. The members of the committee approved Dunen's initiative to create a society for providing medical assistance to soldiers wounded in battles.
One of the main goals of this meeting was also the adoption of a single distinctive emblem for the Society of Red Cross, the use of which would be supported by law. The emblem was supposed to be simple and easy to spot from afar. Everyone would know it and it had to be acceptable to both allies and opponents.
On October 26, 1863, the first international conference was held. It was attended by delegates from 14 countries. 10 resolutions were adopted, which were supposed to regulate the creation of societies designed to help wounded soldiers. A Red Cross emblem (the red cross on a white background) was also adopted at the conference to distinguish the organization from the others. On August 22, 1864, on the initiative of Henry Dunant, a convention was signed in Geneva, which provided for the granting of emergency aid to the wounded and maimed soldiers in war battles. Furthermore, the activities of the Red Cross also included the peaceful population. In this convention it was pointed out that doctors and medical staff of the organization bear a universal distinctive mark. As such, as stated above, there was a symbol depicting the Red Cross on the white background (an inversion of colors of the national flag of Switzerland).
In 1906, in the Ottoman Empire, by analogy with the Red Cross, a charitable organization, the Red Crescent, was established, which carried out its activities in Muslim countries. Later, the activities of Red Crescent also included the civilian
population.
After Georgia declared its state independence, the establishment of the Red Cross Society was, among others, one of the most important issues intended to consolidate the newly established Georgian state. The initiator of this was the wellknown Georgian doctor Michael Zandukeli, who at that time was in charge of dissolving the Russian Red Cross in Georgia. Zandukeli then addressed in writing to the chairman of the Georgian government N. Zhordania and described in detail the need to create a Red Cross Society in Georgia. The government considered the proposal of Mikhail Zandukeli and on July 16, 1918 adopted a resolution on the creation of the Georgian Red Cross Society. The company was to take over the Russian Red Cross assets left in Georgia.
The Georgian government also commissioned M-Zandukeli to draft new statute, charter and regulations, as well as to find the means and sources that would ensure the successful functioning of the Georgian Red Cross. The government considered the Red Cross Society as an organization entitled to provide assistance to the sanitary-medical unit of the Georgian army. The society had to conduct its activities according to the principles which gave these societies in different countries the opportunity to set up a unified international committee. After Soviet power was established in Georgia, Georgia's new government - the Revolutionary Committee - on March 4, 1922 issued Decree N 164 on the reorganization of the Georgian Red Cross.
From now on, the Georgian Red Cross Society ceases its independent existence. It is subordinate to the People's Commissariat of Health Care. On May 9, 1928 the Central Executive Committee of All Georgia and the Council of Commissars of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic issued a decree to change the name of the society. The name Society of the Red Cross of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia was replaced by the name Society of the Red Cross and Red Crescent of All Georgia. As a symbol, the society was allowed to use the rectangular red cross and the red crescent on the white background.
The Fund of the Georgian Red Cross Society is kept in the Central Archive of Recent History. In various other archival funds, you can also find various materials about the activities of this society. We decided to select such documents that clearly would show how the activities of the Georgian Red Cross developed in the first third of the 20th century. Below you can see some of these documents.
When transmitting the text, diplomatic and scientific-critical methods were used. The diplomatic method implies the exact reproduction of a number of elements that the original document contains. These are elements such as form, personal names, transcription, geographic name, etc. The scientific-critical method means preserving the stylistic and linguistic features of the document while observing modern spelling and punctuation rules.
We believe that information obtained as a result of studying the above documents will arouse great interest among the general public. It must be said here that most of the documents have never been published before. But now its publication will enrich Georgian historical science, as well as all scientific potential of Georgia with new knowledge and facts. Results of such research will benefit not only professionals, but also the Georgian state structures, diplomats and all citizens of the country who are interested in history. They will also be interesting for representatives of the younger generation. Research will contribute to increasing public interest in history and creating a new impetus for the development of new research problems. It will also encourage the choice of dissertation topics and their implementation.