Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.

My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.

It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter

to people here, but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.

And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths. We have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice.

So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find

plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. You're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me Dan Hardoon.

I'm bringing you a story from Georgia in the 1930s when the country was under Joseph Stalin's

control as part of the Soviet Union. So I've come to a high-rise apartment block in

Georgia's capital Tbilisi and I've come to a high-rise apartment block in Georgia's capital Tablise, and I'm here to speak to Levin Pestvianice about his family's history.

His grandfather, Victor, and Uncle Georgi, were both executed without trial during Stalin's great terror of 1937 to

1938, which targeted tens of thousands of Georgians.

But Leavans only recently been finding out more about what happened to them.

As you can see, there is three signatures and it says to execute by firing squat.

There was no appeal, there was nothing like that. He was just executed.

Hello. Hi, nice to meet you.

We're looking now at the only surviving photo of your

grandfather. He's in his late 30s he looks very well dressed wearing a smart

jacket, a flat cap and a very prominent moustache.

How do you feel when you look at that photo?

I feel pride because he never stopped fighting.

And of course the anger that I feel about this part of our family history

...