In May 2021, news channels and social networks bypassed a photograph in which school -age children in the form of the time of the Great Patriotic War were inclined above the stage, forming something resembling a tombstone. We checked how reliably the photograph described the media.

The message about the unusual representation held in the city of Likhoslavl, the Tver region, from May 6, was mainly distributed by Russian and Ukrainian media, including Radio "Freedom", "Leprosy", "Rosinform", "Rupor", "Channel 24", "UNIAN", Online.ua And many others. There was one general mood in the news and comments: the next marginal manifestation of “victory”. On red trapezoid pieces of fabric over the head of each of the children, one could distinguish the surname with the initials, years of life and category (private, nurse, etc.) - such a grave plate of a living child.

Most of the media refer to publication The famous Russian -speaking blogger Rustem Adagamov. In it, the photograph was signed by the following text:

“In Likhoslavl, the parade of the Malovyk troops, and here the baby cemetery - children depict the graves of the fallen (!). Someone must stop this madness. ”

If you read the message carefully, it becomes clear that it is about two different events: the parade of the baby troops and the stage performance captured in the photograph. A kind of parade, the main role in which should have played more than 100 pupils of kindergartens with their "military equipment", was indeed announced the administration of the Likhoslavl district and caused a lot of angry Racks, however, later Transferred On an indefinite date in connection with an unfavorable epidemiological situation. As for the scandalous photograph, the administration Dated From her, referring to the division of cases in the original publication and into the street format of their event: “We would definitely not force five or six-year-old children to force our nose to asphalt.”

Thus, many media incorrectly interpreted the publication of Rustem Adagamov, having adopted the action of the presentation to Likhoslavl. Nevertheless, I would like to know where and when the production actually took place and what symbolism it carried. A short study shows that Adagamov’s message was the first of all indexed in the main search engines. Where did the blogger get this photo?

We contacted Adagamov, and he said that a friend sent a photograph to him, who met her in one of the comments on the Telegram network. According to the blogger, the signature of the graves accompanied the photo already there. However, the acquaintance subsequently failed to find the above commentary.

The search for similar events that took place before May 6, 2021 turned out to be unsuccessful. The quality of the photograph is quite low, so it is not possible to distinguish most of the names and initials on the "tombstones". The only exception is that with a high degree of probability it can be argued that the element fourth on the right says: “Nurse Pushina F.A.”. The fact is that a woman with such a surname and initials not only existed, but became Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously), and units were distinguished in this way in the Great Patriotic War. Fedor Andreevna Pushina was from Udmurtia, so we can assume that the performance took place somewhere in those parts-in memory of heroic fellow countrymen.

Nevertheless, the last hypothetical find does not give us an answer to the question of what the children portrayed with their figures on stage. These could be grave plates, memorial boards or simply peculiar earthly bows in gratitude for the perfect feat. And any peremptory statement here - in the absence of additional and reliable information from the original source - looks like a manipulation, an attempt to pass the desired for the real one. And it is advisable to at least distinguish manipulations in the information field.