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AVALISHVILI,
ZURAB (1876–1944). Prominent Georgian historian, jurist, and
public figure. He graduated with a degree in law and a golden medal from
the St. Petersburg University in 1900 and continued his studies at the
University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1901–1903. Returning to Russia, he
defended his dissertation on decentralization and local government in
France in 1905 and was associate professor of law at the St. Petersburg
University until 1909. From 1910–1917, he was professor and head of
the Department of Administrative Law of the St. Petersburg Polytechnical
Institute. He was appointed to the Imperial Senate following the
February Revolution in 1917 but offered his services to the Democratic
Republic of Georgia. He returned to Georgia in April 1918 and became
chief adviser on foreign affairs. He was one of the founding fathers of
Tbilisi State University, where he was a professor in 1918–1921.
Avalishvili contributed to the drafting of the Georgian Constitution. He
was instrumental in directing Georgian foreign policy, and he helped
establish close relations between Georgia and Germany that led to the
latter’s recognition of Georgian independence. In 1919, Avalishvili
represented Georgia at the Paris Peace Conference, where he successfully
argued against partitioning the western Georgian lands.
After the Soviet occupation of Georgia in 1921, Avalishvili emigrated to
Europe, where he lived in France and Germany. He worked as professor at
the University of Munich and was one of the leaders of the Georgian
Association in Germany. He served on the editorial boards of the
academic journals Georgica and Byzantion. Avalishvili left a diverse
academic legacy covering international law and affairs, history of
Georgia and the Caucasus, Georgian literature and diplomacy, etc. He
died in Schwartzenfeld and was buried at Schwandorf in Germany in 1944.
In May 1993, his remains were transferred to Georgia, where they were
interred in the Pantheon of Georgian public figures in Tbilisi.
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