The Italian project. Facial reconstruction of the Italian soldiers killed at Stalingrad

Abstract

Introduction. The Center for Physical Anthropology Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Sciences conducts the project «Facial Reconstruction of the World War II Soldiers». The anthropologists are interested in the Great Patriotic War, drawing attention to military topics, and getting new reliable information about its participants, both about the heroes who ensured the victory of our country and about the soldiers of the enemy’s army. The three soldiers of Wehrmacht army of the Italian artillery unit who died at Stalingrad were studied. The work was carried out within the framework of the Russian-Italian project "Forgotten Names", initiated by the Chairman of the "Heritage" Fund for Social Projects (Volgograd) Victor Nikolayevich Vasilevsky.

Materials and methods. The remains of three Italian soldiers were obtained. The reconstruction was carried out according to the method of M.M. Gerasimov with the clarifications of his followers.

Results and discussion. The Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction has been working for many years to refine the method developed by M.M. Gerasimov. The appearance of three Italian soldiers was restored taking into account the new developments in the area; then verbal portraits of their appearance were compiled. The reconstructions were handed over to Italy, where they will be compared with the photographs in personal files in military archives of those who fought in 1942 on the territory of the Volgograd and Rostov regions.

Conclusion. On January 26, 2024, the remains of Italian soldiers were delivered to Venice. On January 30, a burial ceremony was held with military honors in the military pantheon of Cargnacco (province of Udine). © 2025. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

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