Monument to Efrem Eshba

Location: Sukhumi, Abkhazia

Completed: 1973

Sculptor: Marina Eshba

Genre: Soviet monument, former USSR

Efrem Eshba (1893-1939) was an Abkhaz revolutionary and leading figure in the struggle for the establishment of Soviet power in Abkhazia. After a number of both political and non-political roles, Eshba was accused of Trotskyism as part of Stalin’s campaign of political repression known as the Great Purge (1936-1938). He was arrested by the NKVD in April 1936 on charges of espionage and counter-revolutionary terrorist activities and shot three years later, in April 1939.

The marble sculpture of the statesman was created by his daughter, Marina Eshba, in 1973 to mark his 80th birthday. The monument was badly damaged during the Abkhazia-Georgia conflict (August 1992-September 1993) and was reconstructed in the mid-1990s.