Vargen Karapetyan's Captive Alma
The Legend:
In December 1941, Russian Lt Col Vargen Karapetyan's unit was fighting the Germans in the Caucasus near Buinakst, when a unit of partisans asked him to look at an unusual man they had captured. The prisoner was being kept in a barn, because, as the partisans explained, in a heated room he stank and dripped sweat. The 'man' was naked, hairy, and covered with lice; he obviously didn't understand speech and appeared to be dull, blinking often; he was obviously afraid. He made no attempt to defend himself when Karapetyan pulled hairs from his body. Karapetyan told the partisans to make up their own minds about what to do with the wild man, and left; he heard a few days later that the man escaped.
A report from the Ministry of the Interior in Daghestan later confirmed this story; apparently, the 'wild man' had been court-martialled and executed as a deserter.
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