Geneticists from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin have identified three Georgian victims of Stalinist crimes whose remnants were found near Batumi. Their research was the final key link in the historical and archaeological work of the international team identifying the victims of the Great Terror.
The role of the scientists of the Pomeranian Medical University was to obtain good quality DNA from the skeletal material, determine the genetic profiles of the victims and their families, and then make comparisons and calculations to be able to pronounce on the identity of the people whose remnants were found.
The remnants of 27 victims murdered in 1937 were found in the grounds of a monastery located near Batumi. This is the first case in Georgia’s history of identifying victims of the Stalinist regime, but also the first direct evidence of Soviet executions in the country.
