The Face of Captivity

 

Evgeny Stepanovich Kobitev grew up in the village of Altai, a good student. In 1927, he graduated from school at age 16 and began working as a teacher in a rural school. Later on, he taught painting in the Krasnoyarsk art school. His dream of gaining higher education came true in 1936 when he entered the Kiev State Art Institute, graduating with honors in 1941.

 

On June 22, 1941, however, Hitler's planes bombed Georgia, and Kobitev enlisted as a soldier assigned to an artillery regiment of the Red Army. Because his regiment had not received guns, the members had to fight as infantrymen to protect the town of Pripyat, between Kiev and Kharkov. On September 18, Kobitev was wounded in the leg, but a day later took part in the fighting. Unfortunately, he ended up in a notorious German concentration camp in Khorol, which was called “Khorol pit” (Dulag #160). Approximately 90,000 prisoners of war and civilians died there.

 

Built on the grounds of what had been a brick factory, the camp had only one barracks, which was half rotten and rested on posts that leaned askew, the only shelter from the rain. Only some of the prisoners could fit inside, standing tightly pressed against each other. They gasped from the stench and and dripped with sweat. The remaining prisoners had no barracks.

In 1943, Kobitev escaped from captivity and rejoined the Red Army. He participated in military operations throughout Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, and Germany. After the war, he received the Hero of the Soviet Union medal for his military service during the battles for the liberation of Smila and Korsun in Ukraine. The High Command refused, however, to award him the Victory over Germany medal because his military career was “spoiled” for being a prisoner of war.

 

After the war Kobitev taught at the Krasnoyarsk art school. In 1959, he created a series of works called “To the Last Breath” about the camaraderie, courage, and firmness of the Soviet people in captivity. A second series, named “People, Be Vigilant!” captured the images of Nazi war criminals who committed atrocities in the camp. The work was based on drawings Kobitev had made there. Along with artist, K. F. Waldman, Kobitev painted the ceiling of the Krasnoyarsk river station. With his wife, artist T.A. Miroshkina, he produced several paintings based on natural themes and those of Russian folk tales. He also produced other work, the subject of regional and national exhibitions in Russia.

 

After his death in 1973, his wife donated some of his works to the Kiev Museum of the Great Patriotic War, along with his military awards. But perhaps the Andrei Pozdeev Museum houses the most important creations of Kobitev: two photos of the artist before the war and after four years as a POW. The two pictures are displayed side by side with the caption: “(Left) The artist Evgeny Stepanovich Kobitev the day he went to the front in 1941. (Right) In 1945, when he returned.”  No words or graphic representation could make a stronger statement.