5
Oct
In Memory: Meliton Kantaria
An army officer Meliton Kantaria would be 100-year-old today. He is credited – together with Russian army officer Mikhail Yegorov – of hoisting the flag of victory over the Reichstag on 30 April 1945 at 21.50 local time.
Meliton Kantaria was born in Jvari, a village in Samegrelo, West Georgia, on 5 October 1920, which appeared to be the last year of independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921). Thus, it is a double mistake that the English version of Wikipedia states his nationality as Soviet. He was born to Georgian parents, father Varlam Kantaria and mother Lidia Shonia. Also, there is no nation such as the Soviets, which were political organisations and governmental bodies of the late Russian Empire, primarily associated with the Russian Revolution', according to another entry from English Wikipedia.
Like many of his co-citizens, Meliton Kantaria had to live most of his life in Georgia occupied by the Red Army of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. When this unfortunate and unfair situation for Georgia and the Georgians changed, the young grandson of Meliton Kantaria joined the Georgian Army to defend his homeland from another Russian try to occupy it again, putting his life to this great cause.
