Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Ilia Chavchavadze's Assassination
They descended from Svaneti across Latpari Pass down into the Tsenitskhali river
valley. In Lentekhi they heard the news for the first time. Ilia Chavchavadze, the leader of
Georgian Renewal for forty years, had been assassinated by two Bolshevik thugs hired by the
Okhrana.
George Dadiani had the Benz waiting for them. Alexandra raced to Tiflis in one day and
night.
Tiflis was draped in black flags. Deda, all in black, received them with red eyes. Finally
they heard the details of Ilia's murder.
Ilia had secretly returned to Tiflis a week before the Duma was to be sworn in. To avoid
problems with Vorontsev he had quietly sat it out in Zaguramo.
On the fateful day Ilia, Olga, and Leist had visited friends in Tiflis. On their way back Ilia
stopped their Phaeton at theTsitsamuri Ravine to take a bottle of water home from the spring.
Half a verst further two men jumped the carriage and shot Ilia at close range. Olga was
wounded but not fatally, Leist escaped in shock
Alexandra and Niko wanted to see Ilia one last time. Konrad and Claudia joined them.
Alexandra drove them to Zaguramo that night.
Ilia was lying nearly buried under flowers on a bier in the living room where they had
celebrated so many memorable nights. A large photo stood on an easel between candles near
his head. His face was quiet and peaceful. The presence of the dead man and the smell of
wilting flowers filled the house.
Konrad and Niko took Claudia on a walk through the house and left Alexandra alone
with the hero of her childhood. She was finally able to shed tears. She retrieved a neatly folded
piece of paper from her décolleté and put it into the breast pocket of the suit they had dressed
him in. It was a poem she had written the night before. "Farewell my friend, I loved you as
much as Mother did!" He seemed to smile ironically. She looked around. The others were
upstairs. In a sudden impulse she slipped off her underpants and hastily stuffed them into his
pocket. She smiled and briefly put a kiss on his lips with her finger.
United across all political differences, thousands followed the hearse that carried Ilia
from Zaguramo to Tiflis. Jordania and Vorontsev walked next to Olga, Leist, Alexandra’s
parents, and the Tsinandali Chavchavadzes. Tamunia-Deda cried copiously, more than Olga
whose head was still bandaged.
Ilia’s death marked the end of the old Georgia.
They buried him in the graveyard behind the monastery on Mtatsminda Giorgi. Akaki
Tseriteli delivered a rousing oratory invoking the spirit of the poet and the freedomof his
beloved Georgia.
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