Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume III

by Danzig Baldaev
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Editorial Reviews

This final volume of previously unpublished drawings and photographs completes the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia trilogy. Danzig Baldaev's unparallelled ethnographic achievement, documenting more than 3,000 tattoo drawings, was made during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB, who unexpectedly supported him, realizing the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. A medieval knight is surrounded by the severed heads of his enemies, a naked woman simultaneously services a man and two dwarfs, a crying President Gorbachev grips a human bone between sabre-like fangs, a group of angels drink vodka with God on a cloud--the meanings of these arresting images are explained to the uninitiated eye. Sergei Vasiliev's graphic photographs show the grim reality of the Russian prison system and some of the alarming characters that inhabit it, while the illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society. This last volume in the trilogy includes an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov exploring the origins of the Russian criminal tattoo and their various meanings today.

Customer Reviews

Truly an inside look at an exclusive society, 2007-03-13
by Seth Santill (Connecticut, USA)
When I bought this book, I flipped through the pages and looked at all the tattoos before reading anything. The tattoos were interesting enough, but I had to read the introduction to understand the culture that was molded wholly around the artwork itself. This encyclopedia gives a detailed account of what having a tattoo means in the culture of Russian prisoners. In many societies, tattoos mean very little. Many people get them on a whim, or go into a parlor knowing they want one, but not knowing what they want (probably a butterfly on her back, or a tribal band around his arm). This book explains how tattoos among Russian inmates serve as their resumes--who they are, what they've done, where they rank in the society, who they serve, how they feel about the state... the culture made possible by the tattoos is extremely fascinating, but you have to either be an inmate or read a book written by a credible source (read: this book) to find out about all the facets of it.
good book, 2006-03-28
by hombre pollo (Chatsworth, CA USA)
this is an excellent book for those interested in tattoo art from other countries. this book has a lot of sketches describing each tattoo and its meaning. it also has actual pictures of russian inmates with their facinating prison tattoos. i would not recomend this book for anyone under 18 since some of the tattoos/sketches of tattoos are extremely violent and pornograhic. But facinating at the same time.
This book is not for the faint of heart, 2005-08-23
by ish carb (San Diego, CA)
well, first of all, the book is shocking and distrubing. the book is mainly made up of drawings. These drawings are actual tattoos and many of them are accompanied by a brief story about the persons lifestyle or conviction. There are about, lets say 30 photos at the most, there is some nudity in the photos, male and female. Some of tattoo drawings are extremely XXX in context.Yeah its hard to beleive that someone would tattoo a graphic image of some sex acts on their skin. this book does have a lengthly introduction about the meanings of the whole Thieves World tattoos, there are pages also showing the meanings of the Finger ring tattoos which was quite interesting.The book mainly states that behind the meaning of alot of the tattoos its a personal expression against the soviet system, plain and simple.
The book gives you a feel about how it was to be caught up in the soviet system. I bought the book because i have been around the whole mexican gang scene and i have seen the tattoos that many of them get, and i just wanted to see the similarites of the criminal underworlds. Its all the same around the world.this
book will offend you no matter what, If you really want to still
learn more about the about the tattoos, get both of the books that amazon has here.
surreal stuff, 2004-06-14
by John H. Haskell (New York)
I lived in Moscow for five years and had heard about criminal tattoos but had never seen any. This book was a fascinating, but depressing view of a completely different world and world-view from that of the Russians I knew. If you understand Russian and something of Russian culture the book is extremely interesting, but interesting even if you don't. My only complaint is that the tattoos are fascinating but the book is relatively light on text.
A View into a Bizarre World, 2004-05-15
by R. Hardy (Columbus, Mississippi USA)
Every now and then a book comes out that illuminates a part of the world that was not only previously hidden but which could not even be imagined. Such a work is the _Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia_ (Steidl / Fuel), featuring mostly the drawings of tattoos by Danzig Baldaev, with photos by Sergei Vasiliev, and an explanatory essay by Alexei Plutser-Sarno. In these photos and tattoos, which I guarantee you are like nothing you have ever seen before, are reflected the horrors of Russia written on the skins of criminals. As strange as the pictures are, they are not so foreign as to eliminate sadness and tragedy; this is a book of devastation on many levels, and anyone flipping through the images will be enlightened about a very distant world, but also will be distressed and mystified.

The majority of pages are Danzig Baldaev's drawings of tattoos he has collected during a lifetime as a prison attendant. The book could not be published before, but Baldaev has brought it out now as a protest of the "long time all of us lived under the leadership of villains, tricksters, and bandits." There are what are called "legitimate thieves" in Russia. They represent a robber caste, criminals who have their own code of laws and obey it. It is in some part hereditary; there are tattoos here that proclaim proudly "My father was a thief." The legitimate thieves have a strict hierarchy that extends inside and out of prison, and are reputed to have representatives in all levels of the government and police. They have special control of life in "the zone", the prison camps, where most of the tattoos are applied. The tattoos are a type of uniform and a service record. In prison slang, someone's tattoos are known as his (or her) "tail coat with medals." The initiated may read on the criminal's body his crimes, his duration of imprisonment within the zone, his sexual proclivities, and much more. It might seem that bearing the initials of the Unified State Political Administration would attest the bearer's interest in keeping to the party line, but they actually stand for "Oh, God, help me to escape!" A tattoo may testify to "God," but only because the letters of that name are the initials for "I shall rob again." The anti-communist nature of many of these tattoos is obvious. From Lenin to Yeltsin, leaders are depicted as wolves, pigs, or rapists. These convicts are not dissidents, just outcasts who reject any sort of authority except that of their own brotherhood. Grotesquely anti-Semitic pictures of devils have a strange twist; they demonize the Jewish leaders who started the communist state. A swastika means not Nazism but anarchism.

The tattoos show a horrifying eagerness for violence against women, Jews, and politicians. They are funny sometimes, but also bitterly cruel. The photographs of the bearers, however, show tired or shy faces, or even angelic ones with eyes looking heavenward. This is a disturbing and astonishing book of a subculture and a way of life still playing a role in current affairs.