Europe-Georgia Institute representatives (Giorgi Inalishvili, Mariam Ghibradze, Rati Kobakhidze, Giorgi Andronikashvili and Giorgi Javakhishvili) visited Latvia on 27 July – 7 August, as part of the Erasmus youth exchange program.
Project was international – Slovenians, Germans and Latvians participated in it, together with Georgians. The goal of the project was to explore and study the memory of totalitarianism.
During the project, Georgian participants made a presentation to European peers about characteristics of totalitarianism, its manifestations and the Georgian experience of totalitarianism.
Furthermore, the participants visited important historical places, as well as museums and memorials, which serve to preserve and properly present the memory of the Nazi and Communist regimes in Latvia. They visited , among others, the Jewish Museum in Riga, the Museum of Occupation, the Museum of the Popular Front, the Salaspil Memorial.
The participants learned in detail the history of the persecution of Jews in Latvia under the Nazi regime, as well as the history of the Latvian people’s fight against the communist regime. In addition to this, the Georgian participants studied ways of interestingly presenting these stories through museums and memorials and its educational and cultural significance.
A Georgian evening was also organized by our representatives, where participants from other countries tasted Georgian wine and Churchkhela, listened to Georgian music, saw Georgian dance and were exposed to Georgian culture.