Smart History of Russia blog explores the rich heritage of Russian visual history.
Every week we highlight one picture from Russian history and tell the story behind it.
The first image is one of the most recognizable war photos ever.
Let’s have a closer look.
“Raising the Flag Over Reichstag” by Yevgeny Khaldei (1945)
Yevgeny Khaldei was the official Red Army photographer and arrived in Berlin with the troops. He had a special mission to accomplish: Stalin had expressed his desire to see victory photographs with Red Army soldiers hoisting the Soviet flag on top of the symbolic Reichstag building. Yevgeny Khaldei had then asked a tailor named Israil Solomovich to make him three hammer and sickle flags out of the three table cloths that he had stolen from the government office. He took the flags along with his Leica camera.
The first photo was taken on top of the captured Templehof Airport, the second flag was hoisted over the Brandenburg Gate.
Only Kantaria and Yegorov were honoured medals and treated as heroes afterwards, because Stalin wanted Georgian and Russian to have done it. So the Ukrainian was left out. He was quiet about it until 1995. He then said that the NKVD had asked him to keep his mouth shut.
Note the two wristwatches on Yegorov’s hands that proves the man had been looting his way to Berlin. The watches were later scratched out by the author and some dramatic smoke was added to the background.
Today’s featured photo was taken in 1959 by Elliott Erwitt, an advertising photographer and great American master of the “decisive moment”. He depicted “Nick and Dick” in the middle of the famous “Kitchen debate” – hot verbal confrontation between capitalism and communism. Or was it really so? Well, no. Actually they were discussing something rather surprising.
“The Kitchen Debate” by Elliott Erwitt (1959)
Fusce ligula risus, facilisis vitae suscipit nec, commodo eget lorem. Nulla id enim interdum, aliquam sem vitae, ultricies tortor. Duis porttitor in tortor non fermentum. Fusce sit amet ultrices turpis. Mauris in erat orci. Duis turpis quam, egestas viverra ligula ac, euismod imperdiet nisi. Nam lacinia, quam a porttitor suscipit, arcu risus auctor sapien, sed aliquet ipsum libero id nibh. Maecenas porta sodales ultrices.
Fusce ligula risus, facilisis vitae suscipit nec, commodo eget lorem. Nulla id enim interdum, aliquam sem vitae, ultricies tortor. Duis porttitor in tortor non fermentum. Fusce sit amet ultrices turpis. Mauris in erat orci. Duis turpis quam, egestas viverra ligula ac, euismod imperdiet nisi. Nam lacinia, quam a porttitor suscipit, arcu risus auctor sapien, sed aliquet ipsum libero id nibh. Maecenas porta sodales ultrices.
Sometimes we also invite special guests to share their favourite Russian history pics with us and reveal their stories. Today’s guest is Kristaps Andrejsons, a host of the Eastern Border podcast and a big history enthusiast.
“August Putsch” by an unknown author (1991)
Today’s featured photo is also picked by me by someone, an advertising photographer and great American master of the “decisive moment”. He depicted “Nick and Dick” in the middle of the famous “Kitchen debate” – hot verbal confrontation between capitalism and communism. Or was it really so? Well, no. Actually they were discussing something rather surprising.
“Maxim Gorky and Shalyapin” by unknown photographer (1905)
Fusce ligula risus, facilisis vitae suscipit nec, commodo eget lorem. Nulla id enim interdum, aliquam sem vitae, ultricies tortor. Duis porttitor in tortor non fermentum. Fusce sit amet ultrices turpis. Mauris in erat orci. Duis turpis quam, egestas viverra ligula ac, euismod imperdiet nisi. Nam lacinia, quam a porttitor suscipit, arcu risus auctor sapien, sed aliquet ipsum libero id nibh. Maecenas porta sodales ultrices.
Fusce ligula risus, facilisis vitae suscipit nec, commodo eget lorem. Nulla id enim interdum, aliquam sem vitae, ultricies tortor. Duis porttitor in tortor non fermentum. Fusce sit amet ultrices turpis. Mauris in erat orci. Duis turpis quam, egestas viverra ligula ac, euismod imperdiet nisi. Nam lacinia, quam a porttitor suscipit, arcu risus auctor sapien, sed aliquet ipsum libero id nibh. Maecenas porta sodales ultrices.
Today’s very special guests is one of our subscribers, Yekaterina Tedin. Here comes a short introduction that says who Yekaterina is and what she wants to say about herself. About no more than three sentences in all.
“Preparations For Christmas” by Sergey Dosekin (1896)
