Who supports Stalin in his native Georgia in 2017

64 years have passed since the death of Joseph Stalin. In his homeland, Georgia, following Ukraine and the Baltic states in 2011, the use of communist symbols was banned. And at the same time, the largest museum dedicated to Stalin is located in Gori, and many residents of the city consider it one of the greatest in the history of Georgians.

German photographer Sebastian Hopp traveled to Georgia and talked with modern followers of the dictator to understand why these people are proud of such a controversial heritage.

(15 photos in total)

Source: Calvert Journal

In 1952, a six-meter statue of Stalin was erected on the central square of Gori in Georgia. It was removed only in 2011.

Mikhail was a security guard at the Lenin and Stalin Mausoleum in Moscow.

Olga has prepared her car for the Victory Day parade. Burn.

A room of a young family in the village of Kojori about 20 kilometers from Tbilisi.

Georgy from Tbilisi joined the pioneers in 2015: the Unified Communist Party of Georgia operates in the country.

The Gori authorities and the Communist Party cannot agree on whether to return the monument to Stalin to the central square, but the party nevertheless began to erect a pedestal for him.

When Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum, Shalva and nine other people decided to get tattoos with a portrait of the leader.

In the apartment of this family, photographs of Stalin are side by side with icons.

"I, Tamuna, joining the ranks of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, in the face of my comrades I solemnly promise: to love my Homeland dearly. To live, study and fight, as the great Lenin bequeathed, as the Communist Party teaches. It is sacred to observe the Laws of the pioneers of the Soviet Union."

Members of the Communist Party of Georgia, which consists of about 100 people, meet here.

Varketili is a district of Tbilisi, built at the end of the Soviet era.

Souvenir shop at the Stalin Museum in Gori.

In Soviet times, Nugzar was an officer — with his own house, a good car and a high salary. After the collapse of communism, he, like many others, no longer understood who he was now. Now Nuzgar has his own small driving school in Tbilisi. He wears the uniform only on special occasions — for example, on Victory Day.

The parade on May 9.

Ushangi D. lives in an apartment building. In 1956, he began to build a Stalin museum in the garden near the house.