A Heritage Remembered: A History of the Georgian Diaspora in the US

Petre Khvedelidze

Petre Khvedelidze was born on June 15, 1918, in Tbilisi. After graduating from school in 1937, he moved to Stalingrad, where his brother worked as an engineer. In Stalingrad, Petre attended lectures before deciding in 1939 to continue his studies in Moscow. His plans were interrupted three months later when he was deployed to fight in World War II. In November 1939, he began his service in the army and was promoted to lieutenant in 1940. During the war, his squad was stationed in Basarabia. During this period, Petre was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Germans for nine months.^[1]

In the spring of 1942, Petre worked as a volunteer in a training regiment in Brandenburg, where he was wounded in combat.^[1] Two years later, he was transferred to the German-led Georgian Legion, which was stationed in Castres, France. In August 1944, the Georgian Legion joined the forces of French General Charles de Gaulle.^[1] From 1944 to 1948, Petre served with the international units of the French army in North Africa, until their deployment to Vietnam in 1948. In 1951, he was honorably discharged from service due to a serious injury.

After his discharge, Petre moved to Paris. He studied radio broadcasting and graduated from the Higher Institute of Electronics of Paris. In 1956, at the age of 38, he immigrated to the United States, settling in New York. There, he completed his education at the Radio Connection Broadcasting Institute^[2] while working as a technician and attending evening classes at Queens College. Petre became a U.S. citizen in 1963. In 1967, he applied for a position at Voice of America and, on May 1, began working as a journalist for the Georgian Service under the pseudonym Kika Tchaleli (კიკა ჭალელი).^[3]

After 18 years of service, Petre retired from VOA in 1985. He began writing his memoirs, collaborating with Tsitsino Djervalidze on a book that chronicled his life and correspondence with notable Georgian émigrés, including Levan Zourabishvili and Revaz (Rezo) Gabashvili. Zourabishvili was an engineer and a key Georgian figure in the French diaspora. He served as the chairman of the Georgian Association in France. Gabashvili was a key figure in the Georgian independence movement and a member of the Georgian Independence Committee. The two-part book, titled From Paris to Washington D.C. with Georgia on My Mind,^[4] offers a rich account of Georgian immigrants’ lives and their contributions to Georgia’s independence. The first volume contains letters exchanged between Petre and Zourabishvili, while the second focuses on his correspondence with Gabashvili. The book also provides an extensive biography of Petre, detailing his wartime experiences and work with VOA. The English translation of the books was done by Nino Petriashvili.^[5]

Petre Khvedelidze died in 2014 and was buried at the Didube Pantheon in Tbilisi. Just weeks before his death, the State Minister of Diaspora Affairs of Georgia honored him for “his efforts and charity in the struggle for the restoration of Georgia’s independence during his time in exile."^[6] Lekso Gelashvili ‘s interview interview with Petre Khvedelidze in 2011, is available on YouTube.^[7]