5-MIN STORY

FILM TITLE: Cancelling Stalin

LOCATION TITLE: Tbilisi

Grigol Oniani shows Evan his collection

GRIGOL: This is Stalin’s so-called mobile phone. Mobile telephone. <laugh>

VO: Grigol Oniani is an avid collector of Joseph Stalin memorabilia

GRIGOL: Feel how heavy it is.

Grigol Oniani shows Evan his collection

VO: His Tbilisi home is part museum, part alter to the brutal former Soviet Dictator

Grigol Oniani shows Evan his collection

GRIGOL: Now I will show you Stalin’s work tools

EVAN: Oh, there'd be a few people a bit scared about seeing him with these, I bet.

VO: But there’s something here that Grigol is most proud of

SUPER: Grigol Oniani

GRIGOL: This is a nose. This is a moustache.

EVAN: Is that his Mustache? Stalin's mustache! and his nose.

GRIGOL: When Khrushchev announced there should no longer be monuments to Stalin, the communists tore down the Stalin monument. They ran over it with a tank and threw it somewhere. I searched for 40 years before I finally discovered where it was buried

Grigol interview

EVAN: What is it that you love about Stalin?

GRIGOL: Firstly, Stalin saved the earth, the whole planet and civilisation from fascism. It is a lie that the Allies, that England or the USA defeated fascism. Fascism was defeated by Stalin, by the Great Genius.

EVAN: But there was the repression, up to a million who were executed under Stalin, people who were sent to the gulags. Why is that not mentioned here? Or what do you think about that?

GRIGOL: It was nothing like that. During the 30 years of Stalin's rule, not a million people as they are saying, but 686,000 people were executed. This number includes recidivists, state traitors, enemies of the state and others

GRIGOL: Everything you know is a lie. You are young and were not able to witness Stalin’s glory. Stalin was the greatest man on the planet.

EXPLAINER: Who was Stalin

VO: Joseph Stalin is one of the most infamous figures of the 20th century

He helped the Allies defeat Hitler, then became a Cold War rival

But he's perhaps best remembered for killing his own people in gulags, executions and famine

In 1989, a Soviet newspaper put the figure at 20 million dead

But exactly how many died - we don’t know

Despite Stalin's brutal history, and over 70 years since his death, his reputation in Georgia is mixed

LOCATION TITLE: Gori

State Stalin Museum

VO: Stalin was born in Gori. And today the town hosts the State Stalin Museum

But many are appalled by this commemoration of his legacy

PTC

EVAN: So just outside the museum is a concrete plinth where the city council was planning to install a Stalin statue. It remains bare, and I'm going to meet a Gori resident who wants it to stay that way

SUPER: Teona Pankvelashvili

Evan: Hello. Hi. Hello.

Teona: Yes. Teona.

Evan: Evan. Evan, nice to meet you.

Teona: Nice to meet you too.

Evan: So, this is the famous plinth. What happened here?

Teona: When the Stalin statue was removed from the city centre, the locals were upset. The civil servants from the municipality decided to reinstall the statue and they built this pedestal for it. My friends and I opposed this. We made the case against bringing the statue back. The law forbids the use of Communist, totalitarian or Nazi symbols such as monuments, statues or street names. Bringing back Stalin’s statue was not possible as it’s forbidden by law. If we go to Germany now, we won't see statues of Hitler. Stalin is guilty just like him

Teona interview

VO: Here in Gori, the plinth is in Stalin Park, opposite the Stalin Museum, all of which is on Stalin Avenue

But for Teona, the issue is deeper than just a name

Teona interview

TEONA: We are living through a hybrid war. Part of this hybrid war, part of the Russian propaganda, is this monument to Stalin. The only place he belongs is the history textbooks, just like Hitler.

CREDITS

Reporter

Evan Williams

Producer / Camera

Colin Cosier

Editor

Micah McGown

Associate Producer

Carolyn Cage

Fixer

Dima Bit-Suleiman

Translations

Masho Lomashvili

Graphics

Caroline Huang

Thanks to

Konstantin Stalinsky in Tbilisi, Georgia

SBS News Library

Production Co-ordinator

Bronte Baskin

Gabrielle Katanasho

Production Manager

Kayla Kingsland

Series Producer

Agnes Teek

Executive Producer

Georgina Davies