Victory Flag over Reichstag, Berlin 1945

Yevgeny Khaldei created this gelatin silver print, "Victory Flag over Reichstag, Berlin," capturing a pivotal moment at the close of World War II. Khaldei, a Soviet war photographer, documented the Red Army's advance through Eastern Europe, culminating in the fall of Berlin. The image depicts Soviet soldiers raising their flag atop the Reichstag, the German parliament building. While the photograph suggests an unvarnished, spontaneous moment, it was restaged the day after the event. Here, the photograph becomes a powerful symbol, an example of how the manipulation of images can impact cultural memory. The raised flag embodies not only military triumph but also the ideological victory of communism over fascism. Khaldei, who was Jewish, bore witness to the horrors of the war. For him, this image represented the liberation from Nazi oppression, a moment of profound personal and collective significance. "I wanted to make a photograph that would have an impact on history," he said, and indeed, this photograph continues to shape our understanding of the war's conclusion.