Chasing Stalin’s remembrance

The day before New Years Eve a group of people took down a statue of the Soviet-era dictator Josef Stalin in Telavi, Kakheti region. Some days before the Stalins statue was removed, Agenda.ge travelled to Telavi with the intention of photographing the Stalin statue and other expressions of the Soviet-era leader.We also wanted to speak with locals who had preserved other Communistic totalitarian symbolic artefacts or symbols.

Stalin was born Ioseb Jugashvili in the province town of Gori, Georgia. This has always been a dominant fact for Georgians, particularly those who are fond of Stalin. Members of the older population who remember the Soviet-era have a special sympathy towards Stalin since he was their fellow. Many of those people have fond memories and feel somewhat nostalgic of the Soviet times, which they associate with wellbeing, ensured income, and employment. In those times they did not have to worry about anything.

The three-metre statue, which was illegally erected in September by the Stalinists Association and the Union of Veterans, was dismantled by the Foundation for Civic Education a founder of Tabula magazine. The Foundation was the only participant of an electronic tender, announced by the Telavi municipality in December, to remove the statue. The statue had been removed by the municipality before. The total budget to remove the monument was 634 GEL ($360 USD).

The expression on the dictators face and his bright orange eyes, which stared into space added to his truly mysterious look. Photo by N.Alavidze. See more 'In Pictures'

The law adjusts Soviet-era related terms

Before the statue was removed, changes to the Freedom Charter were approved by the Georgian Parliament. These changes aimed to distance the country from the Soviet-era through restraining public displays of the symbols representing the totalitarian communist regime.

One of the changes involved official terminology. The term Communistic totalitarian symbolic replaced the term Soviet symbolic and the term Soviet ideology was changed to Communistic totalitarian ideology.

The Bill, initiated by the Georgian Dream party, was prompted by several attempts to restore Stalin monuments in numerous provinces throughout Georgia, including Kakheti.

The story of chocolate Stalin

Until recently, when it was removed, the Stalin statue had been located on the top of a hill called Zuzumbo, which looked over Telavi town. The dictator, surrounded by three other statues of Soviet-era men, was part of a World War II memorial. The expression on the dictators face and his bright orange eyes, which stared into space added to his truly mysterious look. Furthermore, the fact Zuzumbo was an abandoned but extremely calm area added more mystery to the whole experience.

"We returned him to his place on September 1 and the other day someone splashed [the statue] with orange paint, said Shota Lazarishvili, head of the Stalinist Association in Telavi. He is a middle age man and unemployed. When he spoke about Stalin and his ideology it was easy to understand that he absolutely believed everything he said.

Shota Lazarishvili, head of the Stalinist Association in Telavi holding his bottle emblazed with Stalins image. Mr. Lazarishvili bought it at the local market for five Laris ($2.83). Photo by N.Alavidze. See more 'In Pictures'

"Then, we re-colored it in dark brown because he was a man like a chocolate but [we] could not remove the orange color from his eyes.Mr. Lazarishvili claimed many people were supportive of preserving Stalins statue in Telavi. He argued that when he first decided to return the dictators statue to its place, people helped him to gather money to fund the exercise.

"In five months step by step we had managed to gather enough money to return the statue to its place, he said.

His decision to restore the statue was prompted by a statement made by former PM Ivanisvhili, who said it was up to the Georgian people if they wanted to have the Soviet-era leaders statue or not.

"I was so happy to hear this, Lazarishvili said.

To stay or not to stay

When asked why he believed Stalins statue should stay, his answers seemed ambiguous and confusing. However Mr.  Lazarishvili  finally concluded that he would take down the statue by himself if the Government ensured the comfortable life he enjoyed when the country was under the socialism rule, founded by Stalin.

"Do you see this rubbish everywhere around our residential buildings? he asked referring to the environment around him. Indeed, the outskirt of Telavi where Lazarishvili lives looked neglected.

"Why [is the] removal of Stalins statue so important when we are struggling with this [rubbish] problem, which is never solved?

He said everything worked under the socialism regime and people could live their lives properly.

When asked to name some locals who might have preserved Soviet-era symbols, for us to photograph, Mr.  Lazarishvili  refused. He explained that people were afraid of going public and said he could only be responsible for himself and his bottle, emblazed with Stalins image,  which he bought at the local market for five Laris.

Stalin in peoples heads

A young woman, who refused to give her name, said many people believed Stalin was a dictator and only a small number  were aware of how "charming and warm he was. Surprised by her confession,  Agenda.ge was interested to find out where she had the opportunity to gain this opinion, and then she surprised us even more.

"My pastor always mentions Stalins name with particular warmth, the woman said.  

"He told me that in the church near here there is an icon which could not be saved if no Stalin.

The woman further refused to give us the name or contact information of her pastor, however, she helped guide us to places with other Soviet-era symbolism.

The story of Stalins disappearance

In the small village of Akura, about  15 kilometers from Telavi, we asked locals about the location of a Stalin bust.

"Are you going to remove it? the locals replied.

It appeared they had heard that the statue in Telavi was about to be removed and were cautious with their words.Since we strictly refused their suggestion, we were taken to the statue. However when we arrived the statue had disappeared. Just the old signboard on the background of the empty memorial site stated: "Nobody and nothing is forgotten.

Locals angry at Stalin's statue disappearance staying at the empty memorial site with the signboard on the background stating:"Nobody and nothing is forgotten". Photo by N. Alavidze. See more 'In Pictures'

In 2012 on the dictators birthday, December 21, locals erected the statue. Shortly after, this statue was damaged and splashed in pink paint. At the time the statue was removed by locals and kept in a safe location with the aim of preserving it from attackers.

Today, no one knows where the Stalins bustis but it is possible locals have again decidedto keep it in a secret location until times are safe again.

At the empty memorial site, local man Vakhtang Churgulashvili said he was angry at the situation.

"I am 67 years old and I have been in love with him, he was everything for us. I am very disappointed that the government is fighting with his statues, he said. Other people, mostly pensioners who had gathered around the empty stand, also seemed angry. They said 80 percent of the villages inhabitants wanted the statue to stay in the square.

Meanwhile, our investigation to find where the statue was, has led us to the Governor of the village.

Otar Khatiashvilisaid he had no idea who would take the statue down before he addressed us to his assistant, Mrs. Nasi. She looked surprised to learn the statue had disappeared. After some phone calls, she said there was no way we could find out where it could be but promised to let us know when the statue reappeared.

Communist Totalitarian ideology reflections in Telavi and beyond

From here we decided to focus our search on other Soviet-era memorabilia.

Local man Mr. Omari showed us his small statue of Stalin. He only allowed photographs to be taken from outside his home.

"I was working as a carrier driver. Once I carried things of the man who was creating these statues, Mr. Omari said.

Owner of this statue, Mr. Omari from Akura village refused to be photographed alongside it, saying he did not want "to be involved in politics. Photo by N. Alavidze. See more 'In Pictures'

"I asked [him] to give me this instead of [a] fee and he did. [It has been] here 30 years and everybody knows that if it is standing facing towards the window it means that I am at home [and] if vice versa, I am not. Mr. Omari refused to be photographed alongside his statue, saying he did not want "to be involved in politics.

After visiting more families with other communist totalitarian symbolic artifacts, we headed back to Tbilisi. It seemed like we were not going to see any more signs of Stalin or his era but we were wrong.  

As we passed through the village Vejini, a portrait of Stalin hung proudly outside a property.

Local man Mr. Merabi, 65, had painted it when he was in his youth. He had displayed the portrait outside his house since then simply because he wanted to.

Last year Carnegie Endowment for International Peace carried out a  survey  to reveal public attitudes towards Joseph Stalin in South Caucasus and Russia. The results showed 45% of Georgian respondents had a positive attitude towards the Soviet-era leader while 68%said they would not want to live in a country ruled by a person like Stalin.Almost 65% of Georgian study participants thought Stalin was a "wise leader who brought the Soviet Union to might and prosperity while 53% p agreed that "Stalin was a cruel, inhuman tyrant, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people.In addition, the study revealed an overall trend that there was a growing level of indifference towards Stalin, especially among young people.