Prologue to a restoration foretold: negotiating heritage in a former German village in Georgia

Abstract

Two hundred years ago, Germans emigrated to the South Caucasus. Settling in villages like Asureti (formerly Elisabethtal) in Georgia, they became quite wealthy. In 1941, the Germans were deported to Central Asia and Georgians were resettled in the empty villages. In Asureti there still exist numerous impressive, albeit poorly conserved half-timbered houses that are a witness to this history. Our story begins with plans to restore these buildings so as to attract tourists to Asureti and the uncertainty that these plans have called forth among the local population. Would todays village residents be reduced to mere bystanders in the development of their own villages, displaced by a polished image of successful German immigrants? Traditionally, heritage studies examine strategies linked to the concrete restoration of the built environment and how the local population responds. We look here at what happens before such restoration projects are realized. Long before the first craftsmen arrive, the people of Asureti have begun to chip away at the perfect image of the German giants so as to not disappear in their shadows. The actual restoration of the lived environment has yet to begin; how this lived environment might one day be understood is already underway.