Photographs shared in viral social media and weblog posts authentically depict the identical Soviet soldier, Evgeny Kobytev, earlier than and after WWII.
On Might 22, 2020, a post by X person @Dr_TheHistories claimed to point out the identical Soviet soldier earlier than and after serving in World Warfare II. The publish consisted of two photographs stitched collectively into one picture, with the left facet exhibiting a fresh-faced younger man and the proper facet exhibiting a person displaying comparable options however with a gaunt look, furrowed forehead, and haunted gaze.
(X person @Dr_TheHistories)
That is hardly the primary time the photographs have gone viral since Might 7, 2020, when, as Know Your Meme explains, they have been posted on the Russian information aggregator website Zen. From there, they rapidly unfold to Reddit, Facebook, and different corners of the web.
Within the English-speaking world, two extensively shared posts have claimed to inform the total story behind the photographs. One is a post by the weblog Uncommon Historic Photographs, which was most lately up to date on Jan. 9, 2024, however first appeared in much shorter form in July 2020. The second is a thread by X person @fakehistoryhunt, which had been retweeted round 7,900 instances and favored round 25,000 instances on the time of this writing.
I am getting a number of questions on these photographs, so this is what I’ve discovered;
The photographs present Евгений Степанович Кобытев (Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev) and sure, it is the identical man in each photographs and sure, earlier than and after his experiences throughout WW2.
However there’s extra.
Thread; pic.twitter.com/7wTvW7trii— Pretend Historical past Hunter (@fakehistoryhunt) August 25, 2021
Each the weblog publish and the X thread determine the person within the photographs as Russian artist Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev (additionally transliterated from Cyrillic as “Kobitev”), a trainer and artist from Altai who graduated from artwork college in Kyiv in 1941 and instantly joined the Crimson Military. A couple of months later, in keeping with the posts, Kobytev was captured and despatched to the “Khorol pit,” a infamous German jail camp in central Ukraine. After escaping from the camp in 1943, the posts declare, Kobytev rejoined the Crimson Military at some point of WWII after which returned to inventive life within the Siberian metropolis of Krasnoyarsk. The photographs, the posts declare, subsequently ended up within the assortment of an establishment known as the Pozdeev Museum.
Sadly for readers who would possibly wish to double examine the accuracy of this data, neither Uncommon Historic Photographs nor @fakehistoryhunt cited or linked to any sources for the compelling story.
Nevertheless, by turning to Russian-language sources, which we consulted utilizing Google Translate, Snopes was capable of affirm that the small print offered by Uncommon Historic Photographs, @fakehistoryhunt, and different posts are appropriate. Because of this, we have now rated the declare as “True.”
One informative and authoritative Russian-language supply we consulted is a Might 7, 2019, article revealed by Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. The article consists of an interview with Kobytev’s daughter, Vera Polynskaya–Kobyteva, who corroborates the key particulars and dates of the story included the X and Uncommon Historic Photographs posts, together with the timelines of Kobytev’s service within the warfare and his inventive profession. The article additionally features a {photograph} exhibiting weathered prints of the 2 photos of Kobytev earlier than and after the warfare.
(Komsomolskaya Pravda)
As for the photographs themselves, they’re certainly a part of the gathering of the Pozdeev Museum (formally, the Faculty Museum of the Artist Andrey Pozdeev) in Krasnoyarsk, because the Uncommon Historic Photographs publish and a few social media posts declare.
In keeping with a 2013 post on the museum’s Russian-language web site, which incorporates a picture of the identical two images proven within the Komsomolskaya Pravda article, the museum started working with Kobytev’s daughter to accumulate the artist’s private archives in 2005. Whereas Snopes was unable to substantiate the precise yr the museum took possession of the photographs of Kobytev earlier than and after World Warfare II, a page devoted to the museum’s assortment of Kobytev memorabilia clearly explains that the photographs are at present on show on the museum and do depict Kobytev as he appeared first in 1941, the yr he joined the Crimson Military, after which in 1945, the yr he returned to his adopted hometown of Krasnoyarsk.
As a result of the key particulars in regards to the images as offered by common English-language protection of the pictures are corroborated by authoritative Russian sources, we have now rated this declare as “True.”
