Fwd: [SEELANGS] Help for a student.

[Stanford CREEES]

> 
> I have consulted with my husband who served 2 years in the Soviet Army (not in Afghanistan). He is pretty sure that the number - 51560 -  refers to the military unit. The letters cannot refer to it because it was a general rule to name military units with numbers only. So he suggests that the letters can refer either to initials of a person who sent the poster or to the city (a place) in Afghanistan. I also found this link http://www.rsva-ural.ru/gbook/?year=2009 (in Russian) to the website where those who served in Afghan or their relatives ask for and share information. By the way, the number 51560 is mentioned their by a woman who says that it is a military unit where her brother served. 
> I hope it may help in your search for the answer.
> Natalia Koulinka,<nkulinka at gmail.com>, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, Stanford University
> 
> 
> On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Stanford CREEES <creeesinfo at stanford.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Marc Robinson <robinso at STOLAF.EDU>
>> Date: November 3, 2011 11:37:22 AM PDT
>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>> Subject: [SEELANGS] Help for a student.
>> Reply-To: "SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list" <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
>> 
>> Dear Colleagues.
>> 
>> I have a student who is researching political posters for another class
>> from the time of the Soviet War in Afghanistan and she came across a
>> Byelorussian poster from 1989 that has a picture of a mountain/boulder.
>> Attached to that are back-pack straps and a label that says. "ГЖ-51560".
>> In the corner of the poster is written in handwriting: Афган.  Does anyone
>> have a suggestion as to what the ГЖ-51560 refers?  The only possibility I
>> can come up with is Горючие жидкости.  It's hard to imagine what the 51560
>> is and also why this would be immediately recognizable to people viewing
>> the poster.  Can anyone offer insights as to the meaning?
>> 
>> Thank you in advance for any help.
>> 
>> Marc Robinson
>> St. Olaf College
>> 
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