Figure 1.-- Here we see a Russian military family (figure 1). It is a good example of how during the Soviet era, the size of Russian families declined. There were several reasons for this. It certyainly did not help whern the Communists incouraged school children to report on their parents any hint of anti-Communist thiought. One such boy was made a national history--Pavel Trofimovich Morozov--although Stalin thought twice about releasing a movie taht was made by the great Sergei Eisenstein, about Pavel.

The greatest war in history was fought in rge area between Germany nand the Sviet Union, much f it inky Soviet soil -- the Western Soviet Union (1939-45). While the Soviet Union was allied with the NAZIs (1939-41), rgar was klittle umoact on the country. When the NAZIs in vaded (Hune 1941), huge damage resulted and some 25 million Soviet citizens, mostly civilians were killed. The NAIs surrenderded (May 1945), but the country was devestated. The infrastructure of the occupied area was destroyed, The damage was damage, especually in the cities, but the agricultural infrastructure was also largely destroyed. Recovery began after the war, but it would take more than a decaded to repair the damsge and rebuild the cities and infrasdtructure. We have collected a range of family images. We see a family enjoying themnselves in a park on what looks like a spring day. The boys are smartly dressed with berets. We also have images of a mining, peasant, and military family as well as a Moscow city family. Most Moscovites lived in apartments. So we have a good cross section of Russian families in the 1950s showing popuolar fashions. The children seemed well dressed, although the boys in the mining family are barefoot. While thery weear long oants, shirt oants seem common in portraits which seem to be mostly city residents. Less so in the countryside. Long stockings were still quite common which children wore during cold weather. Yonger boys still wore short pants with long stockings.

Military Family (about 1950)

Here we see a Russian military family (figure 1). It is a good example of how during the Soviet era, the size of Russian families declined. There were several reasons for this. It certyainly did not help whern the Communists incouraged school children to report on their parents any hint of anti-Communist thiought. One such boy was made a national history--Pavel Trofimovich Morozov--although Stalin thought twice about releasing a movie taht was made by the great Sergei Eisenstein, about Pavel. After the Red Army Purge (1930s) you would think that Red Army officers would be a little concerned. There is only one child, a boy who looks to be about 8 years old. We would have guessed the portrait was taken in the 1940s, but fathre's few medals may rule out the 40s. The dealer believes it was taken in the 1950s. That could be, but if so only in the early-50s. Mother's rather plain dress seems consistent with the late-40s-early 50s. He wears what looks like a blouse with a bow, suspender shorts, and long stockings.

Urban Park Visit (1950)

The photograph on the previous page shows a Soviet family on an outing in the park. Father is fiddling with his camera, seated beside mother and perhaps a sister (the boys' aunt?). They are seated on a park bench on a nice crisp day in some municipal park--probably in St Petersburg (then called Leningrad) or Moscow. The boys are smartly dressed for the outing in short trousers suits with long stockings and beret-style caps. The older boy (about 8 years old) is wearing the fashionable beige long stockings (worn with supporters--notice the rubber button clasps) with sandals. His younger brother (about 7 years old) is wearing black long stockings with Oxford style low-cut shoes. Long stockings were still prominent boys' wear during the 1950s in the Soviet Union--not only because of their practicality (comfortable for chilly weather) and economy. Even today mothers dress younger boys in tights, firmly believing that it is healthy. We are led to believe, because some mothers considered them more 'classy'/'dressy' and fashionable than the standard baggy long trousers, an interesting trend in a classless society. They were often chosen for school wear. The photo is dated 1950.

Mining Family (about 1950)

The family portrait of four brothers was taken in a village of Kusinsky District in Chelyabinsk Oblast. This is an area in southern Russia located in the Ural Mountains. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken in the late-40s or early 50s. After that it became less common to crop boy's hair like we see here. And as the Soviet economy improved after the War, it became less common to go barefoot. We do not know their names, but the two boys in the center are brothers. The other two are relatives--we assume cousins. They belong to a mining family. Notice the younger boys are weating long pants. We note middle-class boys in thr cities wearing short pants. This was much less common in rural areas and among working-class families.

Peasant Family (1950s)

This is described as a Russian 'arcade' prtrait. We are not entirely sure about what that meant. We think it meant a very basic studio set up in oarks and othr attractiions when Soviet people could have an inexpensive portarit taken of themselves and theit families while on an outing. Here we see a peasant family photographed, we think in the 1950s. It is not identified. It could be either Russian or Ukranian. The dealer is located in the Ukraine.There are some interesting aspects of this portrait. First is how small the family is. We see three generations. hat hing patrirds. A grown son or diaughter. And a precious single grasnddaughter sandwithched between them. In Soviet times even peasant families were small. Second, notice the dress. The grndfather a tunic-like short. His grown son a modern shirt. The women still wear headscarves. It was peant families like these that stalin had targeted in the Ukranian genocide (early-1930s). We know nothing about the expeiences of this family. They may have been a family which replaced the families murdered. The workers on the collective farms like this family were essentially new serfs. They were not allowed to seek jobs in the cities without permission. They had to stay and work on the collectibe farms. This was necessary because condition in tghr=ed cities were so muvh better than the collective farms. Unless thet were forced to remaon in yhe collectives--the Siviets would lose heur rural work force.

Moscow Apartment Family (1959)

This 1959 wire service portrait shows a mother and her two sons in their new Moscow apartment. You can see what thevblock looks like by looking out the window. After World War II the Soviets began building large numbers of these aprtment blocksall overMoscow. single family homes were almos unknown in Soviet cities. Some existed in small townas and rural areas often built before the Revolution. Some 99 percent of Russians, living in the Moscow live in apartments. The same pattern follows in other major cities. Private houses within the Moscow is very rate. The same is true of other major cities, although not to the same extent as Moscow. Today there are townhouse communities in Moscow. All of them date to the era after the fall of Communism. One source describes a typical Mocow apartment. "The way one describes apartments in Russia differs from the US way of describing apartments. We do not count bedrooms, we count rooms. So, we have one, two or three room apartments. In the rare case � 4 room apartments. The notion of a studio does not exist � there will typically be a separate kitchen and one room in a 1-room apartment. Usually one room will be the living/dining room, and one or two rooms will be bedrooms. Most standard apartments will have one bathroom, having a master bathroom and a guest bathroom is considered to be chic. Apartments lack dedicated storage spaces, so the balcony usually serves as a storage for everything � from winter tires to skis, strollers and other items." Here note the boys are wearing sime firm of scull caps. We thought they might be Jewish. We all see Mulims and other from central Asia wearing these caps. The boys do not, hoever, look Asian. It was diffucukt for centrlnAsians to ger permission to live in the capital.

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Created: 6:35 AM 10/14/2021
Last updated: 6:36 AM 10/14/2021