Russian Tattoo - NON CRIMINAL

[0o_higanbana_o0]

Hello, yes, me again ^^

I'd like to thank all the kind helpers, I have learned so many things thanks to my previous post. Stay awesome, LD community.

I hit another snag in my story, but I'm afraid this one will be a lot harder to answer.
I'm still giving it a try, tho.

So. In canon, the Russian man working for the KGB in the early 1960s has a

Comments

[psa_98]

There was, as far as I know, three main channel of KGB enrollment process: (1) entering KGB high military school past school graduation (2) enrollment after (compulsory) military service or transferring from military officers (people who served with attached to KGB Border Guards had better chances) (3) enrollment of young people just graduated from universities. For young agent after first variant of carrier track having such visible tattoo would be completly impossible - he would be disqualified even before admission. Military people from (2) carrier track could probably had military based tattoo (classic ДМБ tattoo); former university student possibly could have tattoo like that on photo for some personal reasons. Of cource, any agent could get any kind of tattoo as part of cover legend.

[0o_higanbana_o0]

Thanks a lot for that info, this is really helpful to me!

[serpent_849]

My grandpa had a tattoo with his name. He was born in 1940 (in Moscow) and got it during his military service.

On a different note, you could look into him having had his military service abroad. My history teacher (admittedly younger) had his in DDR. I don't really know anything but this could give you some ideas?

[0o_higanbana_o0]

Thanks a lot! Really useful input! :D

[xenia_27]

so, my graddad, born in USSR in 1931 has 2 tattoos :) a first one is a girl's name Зоя, whom he dated in his early 20s and when they broke up he had it redone into Эдя - his own name. and the second one is an anchor because he was in the Navy. So having his own name tattooed on his arms or hands - is not unheard of. I saw some older men with their names tattooed on their fingers - where the criminals have tattoos which show how many times they were in prison.
Hummer's ancestors who were Jewish, that's why the name, flee from Russia just before the revolution. So he basically has his family name written in Cyrillic alphabet. Хаммер - Hammer

[0o_higanbana_o0]

Thanks a lot for all your input, this is really helpful!! The character in the story was born in 1931 too, so it's very helpful info, historically speaking.

[xenia_27]

as an afterthought, Курякин can have a tattoo that means something to him - hammer was a part of the soviet coat of arms, but of course in Russian it's a different word, it can be a best friend's name, like army buddy, or an abbreviation. But it's rather hard to find a logical explanation that would fit 100% :)

[0o_higanbana_o0]

Very interesting! I'll take everything, digest it, and see what I can do with it!
THANK you EVER SO MUCH for your contribution.