In 1941, the photo on the left was taken of Soviet soldier Eugen Stepanovich Kobytev on the day he left to go to war. The photo on the right was taken in 1945 after the end of the war, just 4 years apart
In 1941 he was a young man ready to start his creative life as an artist when Germany attacked the Soviet Union and he had to join the Army. Four years later, the difference in his face is striking. A thin and tired face, deep wrinkles, a troubled stare, this man was completely changed after witnessing 4 years of a no-rule war in the Eastern Front.
4 years of scattered mostly non-recuperative sleep, regular physical traumas varying in severity, extreme boredom that threatens to explode into chaos at any moment, regular food shortages, any number of contractual illnesses/conditions trading between the ranks, battle fatigue/nervous exhaustion, constant morbid paranoia/existential dread, substantial bereavement, bearing witness to slaughter, participating in slaughter, survivors guilt, an all consuming and extreme hatred of the enemy and some PTSD to go.
