Keke Geladze

Keke Geladze კეკე გელაძე
Ekaterine Geladze (credited as Dzhugashvili)
Born	(1858-02-05)5 February 1858 Gambareuli, Gori, Russian Empire
Died	4 June 1937(1937-06-04) (aged 79) Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Spouse(s)	Besarion Jughashvili
Children	Joseph Stalin
Parent(s)	Glakh Geladze Melania Homezurashvili

Ekaterine "Keke" Geladze (Georgian: ეკატერინე "კეკე" გელაძე; 5 February 1858 – 4 June 1937) was the mother of Joseph Stalin. Her husband and Stalin's father was Besarion Jughashvili.

Keke was born to a family of Georgian Orthodox Christian serfs in Gambareuli near Gori in 1858. Her father, Glakh Geladze, was a potter belonging to Prince Amilakhvari. He died young and the family was always poor, but somehow her mother Melania (née Homezurashvili) ensured that Keke learned to read and write.

At 17, Keke met and married Besarion Jughashvili. Her first two children died shortly after birth—Mikhail in 1876 and Georgy the following year from measles. Her third son (and last child), Joseph, was born on December 18, 1878 and survived. Nicknamed "Soso", Joseph grew up in a violent home: his father ("Beso") was incessantly drunk and beat his mother and him frequently. Once Joseph was beaten so hard there was blood in his urine for just over a week. When Stalin's father beat Keke, Keke occasionally fought back. Once, a blood soaked Joseph ran to the Gori police chief Davrichewy crying: "Help! Come quickly! He's killing my mother!" Joseph even threw a knife at his father while defending his mother. Before Joseph was 10, Beso left the family home (some sources say he was thrown out by his wife).

To support herself and her son, Keke took on any menial job available; mainly housework, sewing and laundering. They had nine homes in the next decade. She returned once when Beso promised to improve, but she soon left to live with Father Charkviani. Keke often worked in the houses of rich Jewish traders in Gori, and sometimes took her son along. She did housework for Davrichewy, laundered for Egnatashvili (the best man at her wedding), with whom she may have had an affair. Beso would smash his tavern windows when he heard. She eventually settled in a couture shop where she worked for 17 years. Joseph was said to have been a smart child and he entertained some of the householders, including David Pismamedov who encouraged the young Stalin to study, and gave him money and books to read. Charkviani's sons taught Joseph Russian.