Christian Iconography in Soviet Tattoos:

An Identity Factor?
Giovanni Moretto
University of Milan
ABSTRACT
In the USSR tattooing was widespread above all in criminal circles and places of impris-
onment. Soviet tattooing frequently made use of Christian iconography for a range of
reasons, marking the relationship of the wearer to both the Soviet system and religion,
as well as the relationship between each of these. Images borrowed from religion could
be of any kind, and were ofen mixed up among themselves or presented alongside pro-
fane imagery, in strong contrast with the ofcial culture. Te study of Soviet tattooing
thus ofers an insight into the concept of identity in the USSR.
In URSS il tatuaggio fu per lo pi tipico della sfera criminale e delluniverso carcerario.
Esso attinse abbondantemente dalliconografa cristiana per una serie di ragioni in cui il
rapporto dei soggetti tatuati con il sistema sovietico e la religione, nonch tra questi ultimi
due, risulta fondamentale. Le immagini di carattere religioso utilizzate erano di ogni tipo,
combinate tra loro e associate a un ampio retaggio visuale profano, in forte contrasto con la
cultura ufciale. Lo studio del tatuaggio sovietico permette, quindi, di approfondire signi-
fcative questioni legate al concetto di identit in URSS.
INTRODUCTION
In the Soviet Union, religion was not forbidden, though it was of course discouraged.
Tus, religious cultures practised on Soviet territory developed along tracks that were
peripheral to the ofcial party-state culture and opposed to its philosophical and ideo-
logical position on spirituality and metaphysics. Afer the October Revolution, Ortho-
dox Christianity (the most widespread religion in the former Tsarist Empire, espoused
by the Tsars themselves) lost its past hegemony. During the Soviet period, forms of re-
ligious opposition to the party-state arose, such as alternative cultures and subcultures.
Some of these, even without promoting religion, used religious symbols and iconogra-
phy to develop particular identities, diferent from the ofcial culture and from that of
the religious institutions.
Giovanni Moretto 32
Within this sphere, the tattoos done during the Soviet period in the criminal world
(which represent most Soviet tattooing) ofer an interesting case. People would mark
their bodies using religious images and words taken from Orthodox tradition, which
became not only symbols of expiation but also symbols of opposition towards the pow-
er that had imprisoned them. Analysing this phenomenon within Soviet society, it is
possible to distinguish between an imposed concept of identity and alternative non-
institutional notions of it, where religious symbols and iconography are non-organized
means of confrontation with power. Such an analysis opens up interesting perspectives,
useful for understanding the relationship people had with religion in the USSR and
their ideas on identity and citizenship.
Te phenomenon of Soviet tattooing has been studied in general, but not with a partic-
ular emphasis on the link with religion. Of the few works that exist on the subject, the
most signifcant (as it ofers the largest amount of iconographic sources) is the three-
volume Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia, published recently in English follow-
ing a huge collection operation (1948 to 2000) by Danzig Baldaev, who served for 33
years in the Soviet Ministry of the Interior.
TATTOOING THROUGH THE CENTURIES
First and foremost, tattoos communicate something about the identity of the person
that is marked with them. Tattoos may be applied at the request of the wearer or im-
posed upon him. Teir purpose may be positive (i.e. when it is a form of aesthetic or
decorative display, backed-up by a world-view or when it has apotropaic signifcance
even without any underlying religion or world-view) or negative (i.e. when the tattoo
is imposed by an authority to mark ownership, as in the case of animals, slaves, prison-
ers, deserters, etc.; or when it is used as a form of punishment or revenge to shame the
wearer, thus becoming a kind of stigma)
1
.
In Europe, in the past, tattoos were traditionally associated with criminal, sailors and some
military cultures, as well as, later, transgression. However, nowadays, they have been ap-
propriated globally and transculturally, and widely legitimized. Historically, tattoos have
ancient roots in Western culture. In Greek literature, they are described as having been a
mark of punishment for slaves and criminals, and also an exotic beauty mark in other
populations
2
. Te Roman world used tattoos for similar reasons. In the early Roman Em-
pire, slaves exported to Asia were marked with the words tax paid and other phrases such
as stop me, Im a runaway
3
. Ten, with the beginning of the Christian cultural hegemo-
ny, tattooing seems to have declined as Christianity spread
4
. As the historian A. Mayor has
reported, the declared reason for this was linked to the Christian principle that a human
being is created in the image of God. However the roots of tattooing in Europe stretch
further back than ancient Greece or Rome; an example is given by tzi the Iceman, whose
corpse, found in the Alps, displays several tattoos on diferent parts of the body
5
.
Christian Iconography in Soviet Tattoos: an Identity Factor? 33
Religion and Identity
In pre-Christian Europe, tattoos were used above all as a stigma
6
. In the centuries up
to the encounter between Europeans and South Pacifc culture, there is some evidence
of their use in some Christian traditions, particularly concerning pilgrimages
7
. Moreo-
ver, as the historian Jane Caplan has suggested, it is possible that Europeans cultivated
the practice of tattooing in the context of Mediterranean trade exchanges from places
such as the holy land
8
. Te iconographic background was, of course, religious. Ten,
when Europeans came into contact with cultures of the South Pacifc, where tattooing
was widespread, the encounter appears to have been very important for the subsequent
development of tattooing in the Western world
9
. Nevertheless, although there was a
revival in Europe in the 18th century, Jane Caplan states that the return of tattooing
to European culture and/or the reinvigoration of indigenous European practices can be
pushed back two centuries before the Pacifc expeditions
10
. In fact, European sailors
had encountered tattooing cultures on other occasions, and gave tattoos a European
look. Among the symbols used, Christian ones clearly had a certain signifcance be-
cause of the Christian cultural hegemony in Europe. Another diference with respect to
non-European tattooing cultures is that Europeans used small tattoos instead of mark-
ing large areas of their body
11
.
CHRISTIANITY AND TATTOOING
Christian iconography has been, and still is, widespread in European tattooing practice,
and when Europeans began to (re-)develop their own tattoo culture afer the explora-
tion period, they borrowed a great deal from Christianity.
Christianity has a long and varied iconographic tradition, which has proved useful over
the centuries for educating the masses. However, it has never looked very favourably
upon tattooing. We have seen the principle according to which Gods image is refected
in human beings and can be ofended by tattoos. Moreover, tattooing has long been a
mark of possession in Europe (of animals, slaves, prisoners, etc.), which could clash with
the idea that only God the creator has ownership over man. It could also undermine the
Churchs control over images and words, as well as appearing a pagan practice.
Christianity not only has a signifcant relationship with the iconographic sphere, it
also has a very strong relationship with the idea of body. Te whole of Christianity is
permeated with notions of it: the resurrection of Jesus Christs body is fundamental
tenet of Christian belief and the cross with Christs body its main symbol. Christs body
sufering, wounded, bloody, dead and resurrected is central. Ten there are other
important bodies, such as those of Mary (her virginity), martyrs, and saints, not to
mention relics. Great attention is also placed on the human body in concepts of sin and
sexuality. In brief, it does not seem strange that Christianity has played a signifcant
role in ofering inspiration for tattooing. Moreover, tattooing itself suggests the idea of
sufering body because of the (painful) mark made on the skin.
Giovanni Moretto 34
RUSSIA AND TATTOOING
As mentioned above, tattooing practice in Europe borrowed much from the South Pa-
cifc cultures from the 18th century onwards
12
. As regards Russia, there is evidence of
a similar infuence from the Aleuts, as documented by Feodor Tolstoy (1782-1846)
13
.
However, in Russia, as elsewhere in Europe, tattooing had also its own local develop-
ment. Under the Muscovite system, it was used for marking convicts
14
, and during the
19th century, letters (such as VOR meaning thief or KAT, short for katorzhnik,
meaning convict) were branded onto the bodies and faces of convicts
15
. Tese marks
remained even afer the sentence had been served, so they represented not only a way
of classifying convicts and identifying fugitives, but also a token of shame
16
. Tus, such
tattoos, imposed by the authorities, became a stigma.
Anyway, at a certain point in the 19th century, the practice of body-marking was ap-
propriated by criminals themselves. Tattoos were used by them as self-created identity
markers to address their own world, thereby re-appropriating their bodies and trans-
forming marks of shame into an individual calling card
17
. So, tattooing shifed from
being a mark of power to being an identity marker for groups opposing that power.
Hence, the body emerged as a site of contestation
18
.
TATTOOING IN THE SOVIET UNION
Afer the Revolution, the legal and detention systems were reorganised. Power changed
and its symbols changed too. Tattooing, which had already caught on in the country,
developed in new forms, mainly refecting the relationship between power and criminal
world with its own hierarchy and internal distinctions. As time passed, tattooed lettering
and images acquired more articulated meanings in the criminal world
19
. Tattooing be-
came a tradition, a language used by outlaws and learned by the authorities to get infor-
mation about them. Branding began to have the characteristics of a rite, which as has
been attested with regards to the mid 1920s took place, signifcantly, at the moment of
imprisonment, when the criminals identity was efectively re-written
20
.
Te Soviet penal system contained not only normal criminals, but also a wide range of
dissidents and political prisoners; thus, the jails were very active, starting in the early
post-revolutionary phase when the new power was establishing itself in the country.
But the situation culminated with Stalin, when the prison network expanded with the
spread of the Gulag system. In this context, political dissidence encountered the crimi-
nal underworld and its tattoos in the jails and prison camps. Even though the prison
population decreased afer Stalin, repression continued to be important for the Soviet
system itself, at least until Brezhnev. Hence, the tattooing tradition continued
21
.
While prison and crime are linked with tattooing, the role that repression played in the
Soviet Union through the penal system needs to be emphasised, allowing the practice
Christian Iconography in Soviet Tattoos: an Identity Factor? 35
Religion and Identity
of tattooing to spread
22
. Moreover, in an ofcial culture where rigid canons were estab-
lished (with socialist realism), tattooing assumed a particular (and visual) importance.
Indeed it also represented a reaction against the pre-arranged Soviet aesthetic, based
on a standardized uniformity, with its own iconography, a wide range of symbols, slo-
gans, decorations and so on. Tattooing was a way of escaping this visual culture. As the
scholar of Russian folklore Alexei Plutser-Sarno has noted, both prison and civilian
society were bombarded with the visual propaganda of the state, against which anti-
slogans were created
23
.
Te party-state had a monopoly over identity and communication. Tattooing ofered
an alternative to this, and consequently was not accepted by the power. It ofered resist-
ance, both through the images reproduced and because it escaped ofcial communica-
tion by using diferent symbols or the same symbols in a diferent way. Even images of
Lenin and Stalin were used: not with an apologetic purpose but instead as talismans
24
.
Authorities felt the need to learn the meanings of tattoo. Tis is what Danzig Baldaev
documented by visiting labour camps and colonies during his life. His vast collection
of photographs and images now help us to understand the Soviet criminal world, life in
the camps and above all the Soviet tattoo
25
.
RELIGION ON THE SKIN
Te symbols conveyed by tattoos vary in style and theme, but religious images are very
widespread. Tis is partly because of the hope and consolation that religion can bring in
jail and outlaw environments (themselves widespread in the USSR), and also because of
the intense signifcance religion acquired in a strongly secularist and even atheist state.
Religion has a particular history in Russia, which ultimately determined the relation-
ship between Soviet tattooing and religious iconography. In Imperial Russia, Ortho-
dox Christianity had enjoyed a high-ranking position. Everything changed afer the
October Revolution and with the birth of the USSR, when religion lost its secular
and institutional power and came under attack from the ideological and philosophical
point of view. Tus, when religion became an enemy of their enemy, religious tattooing
acquired a new signifcance and appeal for outlaws
26
. As has already been pointed out,
outlaw circles had their own spontaneous hierarchies forming a world apart from the
rest of society. In the USSR, the passage into that sphere acquired ritualistic features
and was perceived as a kind of baptism where tattooing played a role of initiation
27
.
As the Russian historian Alexander Sidorov has noted, in the 1930s the criminal un-
derworld began to feel particularly close to Orthodox Christianity and ritualized the
initiation of its members in a quasi-religious way
28
. Te new member was given a new
name, and the cross (worn around the neck or tattooed on the chest) became an impor-
tant symbol. Tis cross would be personalized and was diferent from the crosses used
by other categories of citizens, such as rich peasants
29
.
Giovanni Moretto 36
But the cross was not the only symbol borrowed from Orthodox Christianity. Te
criminal tradition also acquired the Virgin Mary, angels, crucifxions, churches and
more. Religious scenes were ofen reproduced in accordance with the Orthodox style,
while the meanings attributed to the images became increasingly complex. Sometimes
the religious meaning was overlaid with new criminal meanings
30
.
On the tattooed body, diferent symbols would be mixed together, blending both the
sacred and the profane. It is not unusual to fnd religious images and words coexisting
alongside erotic or even pornographic features, but this was not perceived as blasphe-
mous or vulgar, because of the cultural distance from the values belonging to the main-
stream culture
31
. In short, criminal tattooing is an esoteric allegorical language that
could only be interpreted by those in possession of a key
32
.
Religious images or texts in general might contain personal informations or slogans,
or convey a diferent meaning to that usually associated with the sign. Many religious
texts, moreover, do not have a precise religious meaning but simply a general apotropaic
value, operating as a kind of talisman. In such cases, when the text is used in a personal
way not linked with the creed produced by the religious institution, the religious aspect
is less important. Besides, religious texts are by nature opposed to the ofcial Soviet ide-
ology, which brings it closer to other forms of outlawed behaviour, such as crime
33
. Te
images used are very suggestive and ofen associated with words, which has the efect
of infating the impact of the whole. In many cases, the words are prayers addressed to
God or religious fgures. Some scholars have even used terms like magic inscriptions
to refer to them, stressing this characteristic of some tattoos
34
. Ten, in the case of tat-
toos made in jail, the spread of religious texts is furthered above all by their suggestions
of pain, familiar to convicts. Death, too, is also widely represented in Christian iconog-
raphy, which is rich in macabre images
35
.
Temes that frequently recur in Soviet tattooing are listed by Danzig Baldaev and may
also be found on the internet
36
. As has already been pointed out, religious (Christian)
subjects are prominent. At the top of the list is undoubtedly the cross. It appears in
many shapes, sometimes even as swastika associated with slogans in Gothic lettering,
such as in the Nazi motto gott mit uns (God be with us). Tis is an example of opposi-
tion to the Soviet system going to the extreme, following paths of intense reaction to
power. Crosses may have many diferent meanings, as symbols of devotion, vengeance
and others
37
. Crucifxion is another typical tattoo. Because of its iconographic com-
plexity, this tattoo takes up a large expanse of the body, such as the chest or the back.
Tis is a symbol that emphasizes the theme of pain and tension towards redemption in
cathartic dynamics. Besides, crucifxion is a base-symbol of the Christian religion: the
embodied god sacrifces himself to redeem human sins and then rises from the dead. Je-
sus Christ is also a typical topic. Ten there are many Madonnas, with or without child.
Te female fgure of Christianity assumes features of protection, of safety, conveyed by
her religious role as mother and because of the religious tenet of her purity (virgin-
Christian Iconography in Soviet Tattoos: an Identity Factor? 37
Religion and Identity
ity). Another fgure popular in tattoos is that of the angel, also understandable in a
place like prison, which conveys a strong talismanic force
38
. Images of kremlins (not just
the Moscow one) are widespread too, usually indicating through the number of cupolas
the criminals history of convictions
39
.
Hell scenes are another common subject. Tese ofen show devils, represented in the
classic Christian way, though also the Soviet leaders are sometimes depicted as devils,
complete with horns, tail and hoofs, and ofen sharp teeth. Both kinds of devils are in
many cases shown engaged in very explicit sexual acts with women or exhibiting their
member. Tese clearly express the association between the Soviet leadership and evil
(represented in a Christian way), as well as a perception of politics as vulgar and dirty.
It is common to fnd Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev and even Karl Marx depicted in this way.
Reference to imprisonment as hell is evident. A separation is established between the
world of criminals, which appropriates religious iconography through tattooing, and the
opposed world of Soviet authority. Te whole struggle is represented through tattoos
40
.
Nevertheless, the Soviet leaders are not always depicted as devils; Lenin, for example,
sometimes appears with a crown of thorns and halo. But Lenins image is tricky because
it may mean Leader of the October Revolution (Voditel Oktiabrskoi Revoliutsii), the
initials of which form the acronym VOR, which in Russian means thief
41
.
Other kinds of symbols may also be used in tattoos. As Alexei Plutser-Sarno has point-
ed out, all Soviet symbols (such as the red banner, red star, hammer and sickle, etc.) are
considered as symbols of evil, like the explicit symbol 666 the number of Satan
42
.
Tere is also a wide range of religious lettering, including not only phrases written in
Russian, of course, but also in other languages. Extracts from the bible are particularly
widespread
43
.
Religious images are ofen mixed together or may appear alongside non-religious ones,
such as naked women, skulls, skeletons, playing cards, sex scenes and many others. Reli-
gious tattoos may be marked on many diferent parts of the body, such as the hands, legs,
chest, back, knuckles, etc., depending on the size of the tattoo and on the meaning given
to the particular body part. Female prisoners also have tattoos, but less than men.
Christian iconography in Soviet tattooing has an anti-Soviet range of subtexts, which
underscore the wearers opposition or hatred towards authority, its repressive attitude,
and so on. Among these, mistrust in Soviet rhetoric is evident, as is the denunciation of
the violence characterizing the methods used by the party-state. However, this position
is more spontaneous than organized
44
.
CONCLUSION
In the USSR, the development of tattooing did not follow the same path as in other
countries. Te partys predominance and its attempt to create a cultural standard for
citizens played an important role in the history of Soviet tattooing. It mainly remained
Giovanni Moretto 38
restricted within the criminal sphere and its most important developments took place
in that context. In Soviet history, tattooing did not usually go beyond this sphere, which
therefore identifed the wearer as a criminal or member of the para-criminal world. So-
viet tattoos made abundant use of Christian iconography and came to identify groups
that opposed the authority and its laws. Nevertheless, in Soviet history there were mo-
ments of contact between tattoo wearers and the rest of the society.
Afer the death of Stalin, there were many releases from prisons and labour camps, and
since the late 1950s the Soviet intelligentsiia has known and partially appropriated fea-
tures from the subcultures present in Soviet society, such as slang and even tattooing
45
.
During the fnal period of Soviet history, there was an increased cultural penetration
of Western values, and this was refected in tattoo subjects, which became more simi-
lar to Western ones. In spite of this trend, religious subjects remained very common,
though they lost their oppositionist implications afer religion was rehabilitated with
perestroika
46
.
In the cases considered here, Christian iconography did not signify membership of the
Christian Orthodox community, but rather distance from the authority of the party-
state. Moreover, typical Christian concepts of victimhood, sin, punishment, sufering
and redemption helped spread Christian iconography in (criminal) tattooing, as did
the strong link that this religion has with physicality and corporal pain. Indeed, the tat-
tooing procedure itself, involving a painful mark on the body, is related to all this. Te
criminalisation of religion by the Soviet authorities also encouraged the use of these
kinds of images in tattoos; that is to say, religion was represented as something opposed
by the Soviet system, an important feature for the tattoo wearers. Finally, the Soviet
tattooing illustrates the way that a Soviet subculture used religious imagery to create
its own identity.
NOTES
1
A. Mayor, People Illustrated: Tattooing in Antiquity, in Archaeology, 1999, 2, pp. 54-57.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
J. Caplan, Introduction, in Id. (ed.), Written on the Body: Te Tattoo in European and American History,
London 2000, pp. xi-xxiii, at p. xv.
5
Mayor, People Illustrated: Tattooing in Antiquity cit.
6
C.P. Jones, Stigma and Tattoo, in Caplan (ed.), Written on the Body cit., pp. 1-16; M. Gustafson, Te
Tattoo in the Later Roman Empire and Beyond, in Caplan (ed.), Written on the Body cit., pp. 17-31.
7
Caplan, Introduction cit., p. xvii.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid., p. xv. Cf. H. Guest, Curiously Marked: Tattooing and Gender Diference in Eighteenth-century
British Perceptions of the South Pacifc, in Capan (ed.), Written on the Body cit., pp. 83-101.
10
Caplan, Introduction cit., p. xvii. Cf. p. xx.
Christian Iconography in Soviet Tattoos: an Identity Factor? 39
Religion and Identity
11
Ibid.
12
Cf. A. Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present, in D. Baldaev, A. Sidorov (eds.), Russian
Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia, vol. III, London 2008, pp. 17-43, at p. 17.
13
Ibid.
14
A.M. Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: Bodily Inscription among Convicts in Russia and
the Soviet Union, in Caplan (ed.), Written on the Body cit., pp. 174-192, at p. 174.
15
Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., p. 21. As regards in general the practice of
tattoo in the pre-revolutionary penal system: Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., pp.
180-182.
16
Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., p. 174.
17
Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., p. 23; Schrader, Branding the Other/Tat-
tooing the Self: cit., p. 174. Regarding the development of the Russian criminal world: A. Appelbaum,
Introduction, in D. Baldaev, A. Applebaum, A. Plutser-Sarno (eds.), Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclo-
paedia, vol. II, London 2006, pp. 17-25, at p. 17.
18
Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., p. 175.
19
See, for instance, Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., p. 27: the word VOR
("thief " in Russian) as Vozhd Oktiabr'skoi Revoliutsii [Chief of the October Revolution]; or p. 25, BOG
("God" in Russian) as Byl Osuzhden Gosudrstvennom [Sentenced by the state].
20
Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., p. 187. As for the 20s see also Appelbaum, Intro-
duction cit., p. 19, reporting on thieves wearing a cross around the neck.
21
Appelbaum, Introduction cit., p. 17.
22
D. Baldaev, Foreword, in D. Baldaev, A. Plutser-Sarno (eds.), Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia,
vol. I, London 2009, pp. 16-25, at p. 19.
23
A. Plutser-Sarno, All power to the Godfathers!, in Baldaev, Appelbaum, Plutser-Sarno (eds.), Russian
Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia cit., vol. II, pp. 32-57, at pp. 35-37.
24
Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., pp. 23-27. Cf. Appelbaum, Introduction cit.,
p. 19.
25
Cf. A. Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics: Te Symbolism of Tieves' Tat-
toos, in Baldaev, Plutser-Sarno (eds.), Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia cit., vol. I, pp. 26-53, at p.
35; Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., p. 189.
26
Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., pp. 35, 37.
27
Ibid., p. 35.
28
Ibid., p. 37.
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
Cf. Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics cit., pp. 45-49.
32
Plutser-Sarno, All power to the Godfathers! cit., p. 33; Id., Introduction. Te Language of the Body and
Politics: cit., p. 27. Regarding meanings of acronyms Ibid., p. 29: NKVD (People's Commissariat of
Internal Afairs) as "Nothing is stronger than thieves' friendship"; OGPU (Unifed State Political Ad-
ministration) as "O God, help me to escape!"; or BOG "I shall rob again". Concerning another meaning
of BOG, see footnote no. 19 of this chapter.
33
Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics cit., p. 29.
34
Ibid., p. 37.
Giovanni Moretto 40
35
Plutser-Sarno, All power to the Godfathers! cit., p. 45. Tis also emphasises that in the world of thieves,
prison is clearly interpreted as the grave....
36
See for instance http://deadword.com/site/place/russian_tattoos/index.htm
37
Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics: cit., p. 35.
38
Ibid., p. 37.
39
Cf. Schrader, Branding the Other/Tattooing the Self: cit., p. 190.
40
Cf. Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics: cit., p. 41.
41
Ibid., p. 39.
42
Ibid., p. 41.
43
Plutser-Sarno, All power to the Godfathers! cit., p. 43.
44
Cf. Plutser-Sarno, Introduction. Te Language of the Body and Politics: cit., pp. 39, 41.
45
Sidorov, Te Russian Criminal Tattoo: Past and Present cit., pp. 37, 39.
46
Ibid., p. 43.
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http://deadword.com/site/place/russian_tattoos/index.htm