Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
Photographer: Yevgeny Khaldei
Date: May 2, 1945
Location: Reichstag, Berlin, Germany
Yevgeny Khaldei photographed Soviet soldiers raising the flag of the USSR atop the Reichstag building in Berlin on May 2, 1945, during the final days of World War II in Europe — a calculated recreation of the American flag-raising at Iwo Jima two months earlier. Khaldei brought a flag sewn by his uncle — made from red tablecloths — specifically for the occasion. The photograph was widely distributed as a symbol of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. After publication, Soviet photo editors noticed that one soldier appeared to be wearing multiple watches (a sign of looting) and airbrushed one out. Khaldei himself made additional retouching to add dramatic smoke to the background. The photograph's staged nature was not publicly acknowledged for decades. It remains one of the defining images of the Second World War.
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