Besarion Jughashvili
| Besarion Jughashvili | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Besarion Vanovis Jughashvili ბესარიონ ჯუღაშვილი Виссарион Иванович Джугашвили c. 1850 Didi Lilo, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 25 August 1909 (aged 59) Tbilisi, Russian Empire |
| Occupation | Cobbler |
| Spouse(s) | Ketevan Geladze |
| Children | Mikheil Giorgi Ioseb |
| Parent(s) | Vano Jughashvili |
Besarion Vanovis Jughashvili (Georgian: ბესარიონ ჯუღაშვილი; Russian: Виссарион Иванович Джугашвили, Vissarion Ivanovich Dzhugashvili, Ossetian: Дзугаты Иваны фырт Бесæ) (1849 or 1850 – 25 August 1909) was Joseph Stalin's father. He often went by the nickname "Beso". He was a cobbler by trade, though later in life he slid into alcoholism and became a vagrant. His wife and Stalin's mother was Ketevan Geladze.
Besarion Jughashvili was the paternal grandson of Zaza Jughashvili from the village of Geri, north of Gori. In the mid-19th century, Zaza took part in a peasant uprising in Ananuri, a small county seat near Ger on the Aragvi River. The uprising was crushed by Imperial soldiers, and Zaza was captured along with nine other rebels. Zaza escaped and hid in Gori, where he was recaptured and remanded as a serf to Prince Eristavi. He became involved in another uprising on the Eristavi estate. It is unknown who his wife was, or the exact number of children he sired. Vano Jughashvili, Besarion's father, tended the vineyards of Georgian Prince Badur Machabeli in the village of Didi Lilo (დიდი ლილო). Besarion was born into an Orthodox Christian serf family from the village of Didi Lilo in Tiflis Governorate, most likely in 1850. Besarion had a brother named Giorgi who was murdered by bandits.
According to the Arsoshvili family (Jughashvili's relatives and longtime residents of Didi Lilo), Jughashvili (nicknamed "Beso") couldn't afford paying a three-ruble tax and had to move to Gori in search of employment.
In Gori, he lived in a house that belonged to the Kulumbegashvili family. Here, Jughashvili found a job as a cobbler and married Ekaterina (Keke) Geladze on 30 May 1872. He was a polyglot, being fluent in Georgian, Russian, Turkish and Armenian. Their first two children (Mikhail and Giorgi) died as infants in 1875 and 1877, aged less than a year, the latter from measles. Beso soon developed a severe drinking problem. Stalin's French biographer Souvarine speculated that Stalin's birth defects, notably his adjoining two toes, were probably due to his father's alcoholism. Jughashvili eventually opened his own workshop, and for a time he and his family were prosperous and happy, until his drinking problem resurfaced. He subsequently became very abusive toward his wife and son, at one point having tried to strangle Keke. His ability to work also suffered, to the point that his workshop was kept alive only by his apprentices. Although Besarion wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a cobbler, his mother instead had Joseph enrolled in school to be educated for the Orthodox priesthood. This enraged Besarion; in a drunken rage, he vandalized a local tavern and attacked the village police chief. For this he was expelled from Gori. He kidnapped Stalin from the Gori school so often that Stalin's maternal uncles had to smuggle him in.
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