Initially, tattoos were more than just body art. In the past tattoos could be used to learn about a person's past, identify a person's membership in a particular group or even determine a person's religious preferences. Now the situation has changed and a large number of people make themselves tattoos just for beauty.
However, it doesn't mean that those people who pay special attention to what's on the body of their new acquaintance have completely disappeared. Often there are cases when a seemingly harmless tattoo, made for no particular reason, became the cause of serious problems for its owner.
It is no secret that in different periods different tattoos were more popular. Despite the fact that there are still a large number of "eternal" tattoos, which at all times were equally meaningful to people, were in great demand. Exactly to such and refers Stalin tattoo, which was at the peak of its popularity in the middle and second half of the last century. Separately, it is worth noting that this image is quite common and among today's tattoo lovers.
History
In order to understand the reasons for the popularity of the Stalin tattoo, it is necessary to understand the role of the Leader in the national and world history. The whole point is that this man is one of the most controversial personalities of all time.
It was his reign that marked both the greatest repression and victory in World War II. It was he who sent hundreds of thousands of citizens of his homeland to rot in the camps, but he also raised the war-torn country from its knees. It is still impossible to find an unequivocal assessment of his personality, but this is what makes the tattoo of his image very popular.
Who knows what kind of tattoo Stalin had?
The word "tattoo" most likely comes from the Polynesian languages and was brought from Captain Cook's voyage to Tahiti. For the Maori people of New Zealand, the process of tattooing has spiritual significance. Maori men applied tattoos to the entire surface of the face. Each drawing (which was sometimes done over several weeks), was unique and intended to enhance the facial features of a particular person. But, actually, it's not only peculiar to distant natives.
10th place:
Perhaps one of the most surprising was the fact that we managed to find in books on the history of Ancient Rus: the ancient Slavs had tattoos mostly worn by women. Drawings on the skin were the ritual amulet of the keeper of the home.
9th place:
The Catholic Church was not at all opposed to tattoos. When converting natives to their religion, Catholics tattooed converts in the form of a cross or crucifix to prevent them from converting. And now there are more than a hundred officially registered Christian tattoo associations that offer tattoo services with biblical themes and canonical texts. You can even have your tattoo consecrated if you like.
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In the British royal family tattoos are also approved, since 1862, when the future King Edward VII, made himself a tattoo in the shape of a cross on his arm. Prince Charles also had a tattoo, but he removed it shortly before his marriage to Diana. Virtually the entire body of King Harold of England was tattooed with scenes of military battles.
7th place:
John Kennedy had his tattoo removed only at the insistence of his wife (he had a turtle on his shoulder), and Winston Churchill had a tattoo in the form of an anchor. Incidentally, in 1900 it was found that 90% of U.S. Navy sailors had tattoos. A turtle means a sailor has crossed the equator.
6th place:
Albert Einstein, Nicholas II and Stalin also had tattoos.
5th Place:
In Japanese geishas, a tattoo was considered one of the five proofs of love. The other four were cutting hair, writing a love oath, cutting fingernails, and finally cutting off one's little finger.
4th place:
The most vulgar tattoo was once on Joseph Kobzon's shoulder. Imagine, it was an inscription made in blue ink, "I will not forget my mother."
3rd place:
The wittiest tattoo. During the Vietnam War, an American conscript got a tattoo of two obscene words on the rib of his right hand. The tattoo was only visible when he saluted, so he was not taken into the army.
2nd place:
The world's most "tattooed" man lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. 99.9% of his skin surface is covered with a tattoo that replicates the pattern of a leopard skin. The only areas of his body not covered by the tattoo remain between his toes and inside his ears
1st Place:
Victoria Beckham. She tattoos the names of people she cares about on her, sorry, butt. There's already a tattoo with her own name, her husband's name and her first son's name on it. Recently, she got a tattoo of her second son's name on her other buttock. By the way, it is said that Victoria wants to retire from show business and have five more children.
Tattoo and the underworld
Surprising is the fact that the Stalin tattoo was very popular among prisoners during his rule. It is worth noting that the meaning of that tattoo was significantly different from the modern interpretation.
There were a total of two main reasons why prisoners tattooed Stalin on their chests. These reasons were the planned escape and the desire to avoid being shot. The whole point was that the guards might be afraid to shoot a prisoner with a portrait of the leader on his body, even if that prisoner attempted to escape. As for the second reason, the capital punishment of a firing squad was carried out by a shot to the chest. And since now the Chief was wearing his chest, the execution could be replaced by a long term of imprisonment.
Thus we see that the two different reasons were united by the desire to survive. It was this desire that made the prisoners to make such tattoos on their bodies.
In addition to this there is another opinion, according to which the value of tattoos with Lenin, Stalin and other prominent figures of the USSR was done by prisoners in order to gain loyalty from the regime. However, it is not known for certain whether such tattoos were effective in this sense.
Who else had portraits of Soviet leaders tattooed on their bodies?
Often tattoos of Stalin or Lenin were applied by criminals on the run. The basic idea was that if the prisoner was caught, he would rip off his shirt and display the Soviet leader on his chest or back. After that, law enforcement did not shoot the fugitive, but beat him severely. The main thing was to stay alive.
The second option - the escaped prisoner runs into a "green" guard. If an inexperienced jailer saw a criminal with images of Soviet leaders, he was lost. Taking advantage of the moment, the prisoner would simply run away.
Prison officials could not stop criminals from tattooing images of Stalin or Lenin. Often inmates would paint them secretly or even get into the zone with these portraits on their backs or chests.
Meaning
As previously mentioned, the meaning of the Stalin tattoo these days is quite different from the one it received behind bars. Here, the main interpretations are as follows:
- patriotism;
- respect for dictatorial methods;
- love of anarchy;
- love of history.
Now in order. The patriotism of people with such a tattoo is expressed in the fact that they consider Stalin a great leader and therefore want everyone around them to see their point of view.
On the other hand, the image of the Leader can often be found in people who share his dictatorial methods of government. These people believe that brute force and brutality are the only way to achieve anything in our lives. As the saying goes, the end justifies the means. It is very interesting that the image of Stalin on his body for this very reason is often stuffed by people holding positions of power.
Sometimes people make tattoos of Stalin in the form of caricatures. This way they are trying to express their rebellious nature. The comic image of the terrible dictator allows them to show the frailty of the whole world, because even the cruelest tyrants can become an object of ridicule after a while.
Also, we should not forget that many tattoo enthusiasts view Stalin as a neutral personality. He arouses only a research interest. Therefore, his portrait can coexist with images of other historical figures on the same body.
Shoot, well!
Photo © Wikimedia Commons
Later, in the 30s and 50s of the twentieth century, this life-saving move was adopted by the Gulag prisoners. Many thieves tattooed Stalin and Lenin on their chests in order to avoid execution - the execution teams cowardly shot the images of the leaders, and the recidivists stayed alive.
If a convict stabbed himself with Stalin's profile on his chest, it meant that he was ready to "go to the green prosecutor," in other words, to go on the run. And when the search party caught up with him, he ripped his shirt across his chest - shoot! In the profile of the leader and teacher, of course, no one would shoot, the convict was beaten to death, but left alive. Some prisoners stabbed an entire iconostasis on their chests - Marx, Engels, Lenin, but in the center there had to be Stalin.
Photo © Wikimedia Commons
Note that portraits of Lenin and Stalin on the chest did not always save prisoners. It is true that only one such case is officially recorded. Documents show that in January 1938, after witnessing a similar scene, the governor of Barnaul's Sviridov ordered his subordinates to use a rifle bayonet to cut off the skin of a prisoner with images of the leaders on his chest, after which he was shot.
Different styles
There are many variations on what the Stalin tattoo means, so it is not surprising that such a tattoo can be performed in different styles. The most popular options are:
- old-school;
- new-school;
- realism;
- thrash polka;
- Dotwork.
Old-school and realism are exactly the styles in which tattoo masters in Soviet prisons performed their work. Their distinctive feature is the maximum resemblance to the original and the presence of elements such as quotations, ribbons and even roses.
New-school and trash polka dots are suitable for those people who like to show their creativity. Here they can ask the master to portray Stalin in an unusual setting or comic situation. A characteristic feature of Thrash Polka is the predominance of red and black colors, as well as a certain gloominess of the subject.
Well and dotwork will be a very original option for a tattoo with the Chief because the whole work is a combination of dots of different diameters.
George Orwell
British writer and publicist of the mid-twentieth century. Introduced the term "Cold War" into political language. In Burma he got tattoos on his finger bones - blue krg, which symbolized the struggle against the imperialist ruling class.
The significance of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin in the history of the formation of the Soviet state is enormous. He was respected and feared for his totalitarian way of governing. In the tradition of tattooing the image of the leader of the proletariat entered with the appearance of prison tattoos. Most interpretations passed on to contemporaries from this very set of meanings.
Popular locations for tattoos
Although it has been pointed out that Stalin tattoos, photos of which you see in this article, were stuffed by prisoners on the chest, this was and is far from the only place where you can see the portrait of the Leader.
It is no secret that the chest is still the most popular place for this tattoo. The second most popular is the back, and further goes the shoulder and the forearm. Thus, it is possible to notice a clear tendency of placing the tattoo of Leader on the upper part of the body.
On the chest - a profile of Stalin.
The tale of portraits of Lenin and Stalin in Soviet prisons was told to newcomers. Some actually believed that the guards would not shoot at the leaders. Such tattoos were often found on prisoners ready to "go to the green prosecutor." In other words, ready to escape. The chiefs' faces performed a similar role - protecting them from the bullets of the search teams. It was enough for a prisoner to rip his shirt on his chest to make the armed guards hesitate.
It is impossible to control the distribution of tattoos in prison. Convicts tattoo their own images or come in with portraits that were tattooed when they were still on the outside. All that was left for the Soviet prison guards was to educate the new guards. The main thing in such a situation is not to get lost.
