Klippel–Feil Syndrome: The Curious Case of the Skeleton of a Young Slavic Soldier Who Died in 1946

This paper describes the curious case history of the famous and rare Klippel Feil syndrome type II, identified in the skeleton of a young Slavic soldier who died in 1946. It is a very interesting case given the fusion of the C1 and C2 cervical vertebrae, which prevented the young soldier from rotating his skull while alive. Klippel–Feil syndrome is a rare osteopathology and involves fusion of the vertebrae of the spine and is linked to other pathologies that indicate the presence of this pathological condition. In the present study, several basic investigations were carried out: a macroscopic observation to document the abnormalities throughout the rest of the skeleton, a morphological one to determine the identifying anthropological analysis, a pathological one to determine the pathologies present and a radiographic one to diagnose and confirm the pathology. Studying the pathologies of the past is fundamental in order to know the evolution and behaviour of the disease today, and the investigations carried out in this case study determined what the limitations of the young soldier were, how this disease may have influenced his activities as a soldier during World War II and through which therapies the syndrome may have been treated in such an important historical period.