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All we know about these boys is that they were photographed in Moscow during 1953. It does not seen to be a family snapshot. The boys are clearly not brothers. We think the boys may go to a pre-school that had a sailor suit uniform. We are not sure hiw else to explain the identical sailor suits.
A reader werites, "Isn't the tall boy too old for pre-school? I would think these kids were about 6 or even 7 years old and therefore in first grade at least. Notice that we are dealing here with long stockings, not tights. Tights wern't worn in the Soviet Union until at least the middle 1960s."
Yes this is a tricky one. All we know is the date and location. And age estimates are always guesses at best. The tall boy does look a little older, but not older than 6 and I would guess 5 years But the other boys are clearly pre-school age. And remember you can have 6 year olds in pre-school/Kindergarten. The children have to be 6 when school starts. Children who turn 6 after the beginning of 1st grade remain in pre-school. Age estimates aside, I think the sailor suits tell us that the boys are not in 1st grade because they are not wearing the standard Soviet school uniform. Of course it is possible that they are not wearing a pre-school uniform, but I don't know how better to explain the sailor suits.
A Russian reader provides what is probably a better answer than our pre-school assessment. He writes, "I think I can explain the photograph of the boys wearing the sailor suits. I do not think they are wearing a school uniform, even a pre-school uniform. I agree that the boys are not brothers. But they can be flat-neighbors. Maybe you have heard about Soviet phenomena of the 'communal apartment'. It was widely practiced in the Soviet Union until the 1960s when economic conditions began to improve. Several families lived in one flat. Such a small communities were sometimes like large extended families. So it was a normal situation when some mother that could "get" some more or less
good piece of cloth sewed the same suits for her son and his friends that lived with them in the apartment."
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