Estonian Photos - Part 3

 Estonian Photos

We continue our look at the Estonian photos.

I'm guessing these are military recruits from between World War I and World War II.

However, the only definite information I have about these photos is that they come from a museum of anthropology in Estonia.

  We don't know who these men were, or when the photos were taken.

The men were photographed from the front, rear, and side, similar to photos of recruits taken by the U.S. Army and Navy during World War II.

But are these Estonian military recruits?  We don't know.

When were these photos taken?  We don't know.  I'm guessing between World War I and World War II, when Estonia was an independent country.

Before World War I, Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, and after World War II it was part of the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

If the photos had been taken before World War I or after World War II, the recruits would have been in the Russian or Soviet military, and any photographs would most likely be in some Russian archive, not an Estonian archive.

But that is assuming that these are military recruits, like the U.S. Army and Navy photos, and we don't know if that's true.

It's possible that the source could be something entirely different, perhaps a university, like the Yale University posture photos.

However, in some of the photos, the men's hands and faces are either dirty, like coal miners, or deeply tanned, like farm workers or other outdoor laborers.  That tells me that these men are probably not university students.

That's why I think they are military recruits,  But we just don't know.

So, all I can say is, it's a mystery, and your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, here are some of the photos, with more to come.  Enjoy!