Shalva Maglakelidze

Shalva Maglakelidze (1893-1970) was a Georgian politician and commander of the Georgian Legion of the Wehrmacht.

A graduate of Berlin University and PhD in Justice, he served as a high-ranking official in the Georgian government of 1918-1921. In 1919-1920 he was a Governor General of Tbilisi. Following the Soviet invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, Maglakelidze was forced to leave the country in 1921. He was one of the leaders of the organization of Tetri Giorgi (1925-1945) and the Union of Georgian Traditionalists (founded in 1942) both created by the Georgian political émigrés in Germany. A member of the Georgian National Committee in Berlin, he led the Caucasian Committee with the beginning of the World War II.

During the war, Maglakelidze served in the Nazi forces and commanded theGeorgian Legion (Georgien Legion) of Wehrmacht formed by the Georgian patriots to fight the Soviet Union and restore the state independence of Georgia. In 1944, he was promoted major general. After the WW2, he lived and worked in West Germany. In 1949-1953, he was a military advisor to Konrad Adenauer. In 1953, he was kidnapped by the Soviet KGB agents.

He spent his last years in a city of Rustavi, Georgian SSR and died at the age of 77.