Cloth-bound booklet, approx. 6 cm x 8.5 cm. The cover shows the embossed Soviet national emblem and impressed writing "USSR" and "Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!" Issued by the Odessa Regional Department of the NKVD, the ID has the appropriate stamps and shows that Zamkovoy served as a guard in the Odessa NKVD Jail #1. Beside the issue date, the photograph page shows that the ID is valid through 31 December 1941. The opposite page is hand-signed by the jail warden.

The issue date of the document is very interesting. Located close to the Romanian border, Odessa with its st

Cloth-bound booklet, approx. 6 cm x 8.5 cm. The cover shows the embossed Soviet national emblem and impressed writing "USSR" and "Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!" Issued by the Odessa Regional Department of the NKVD, the ID has the appropriate stamps and shows that Zamkovoy served as a guard in the Odessa NKVD Jail #1. Beside the issue date, the photograph page shows that the ID is valid through 31 December 1941. The opposite page is hand-signed by the jail warden.

The issue date of the document is very interesting. Located close to the Romanian border, Odessa with its strategically important seaport had come under siege just a few days earlier, soon after the start of the Barbarossa offensive in which Romanian took part on the southern flank alongside the Wehrmacht. The city however was fiercely defended by the combined forces of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, regular RKKA land forces, and NKVD troops. The initial attempts to capture it were repulsed resulting in heavy losses on the Romanian and German troops, and the battle turned into a prolonged siege. Eventually, a significant part of the city's garrison would be successfully evacuated by sea to take part in the defense of Sevastopol and Caucasus. Of course, any IDs issued in the city during the siege are very rare, especially those to NKVD personnel.

The ID is in very good to excellent condition. The cloth cover shows moderate amount of wear, mostly at the corners and light stains at the edges, but the binding is still tight and its color is bright. The interior is perfectly clean, and the writing is completely legible. The left edge has a remnant of the paper tape which at some point in time attached the document to the personnel file.
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