Art Hiding in Plain Sight: Soviet Conscript Demobilization Albums and Artistic Forms of Commemoration

In 1967, the Soviet government altered its expectations and procedures for mandatory military service by reducing the overall length of service and instituting biannual call-ups. This article looks at the demobilization albums created by several generations of conscripts as their time in the army or navy approached its end. These sources have received little attention to date, despite the wealth of information that they contain. The focus here will be on the artistic styles and different media commonly employed by the young men who made such scrapbooks and how these connect to the overall commemorative aspects of their creations. After discussing how some soldiers literally used parts of their uniforms to fashion their albums, thereby establishing an embodied memory of their time in the armed forces, the focus shifts to the ways in which picture postcard collages commemorated geographic locations and introduced a touristic aesthetic into the albums. Next the article considers the ways in which paintings and cartoons were employed to express concepts of time as experienced by the conscripts. The final section of the article is devoted to the private photographs that were included, specifically those taken to commemorate the friendships built while the young men endured a common rite of passage.