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'{{Short description|1945 photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei}} {{pp-dispute|small=yes}} {{italic title}} [[File:Raising a flag over the Reichstag 2.jpg|thumb|300px|''Raising a Flag over the Reichstag'', by [[Yevgeny Khaldei]]]] '''''Raising a Flag over the Reichstag''''' ({{lang-ru|Знамя Победы над Рейхстагом|Znamya Pobedy nad Reykhstagom|lit=Victory Banner over the Reichstag|link=no}}) is an iconic [[World War II]] photograph, taken during the [[Battle of Berlin]] on 2 May 1945. The photograph was reprinted in thousands of publications and came to be regarded around the world as one of the most significant and recognizable images of World War II. Owing to the secrecy of Soviet media, the identities of the men in the picture were often disputed, as was that of the photographer, [[Yevgeny Khaldei]]. It became a symbol of the [[Soviet]] victory over [[Nazi Germany]]. ==Background== {{Main|Battle of Berlin}} The [[Battle of Berlin]] was the final major [[offensive (military)|offensive]] of the [[European theatre of World War II]] and was designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="LastOffensive" group="A"/> Starting on 16 April 1945, the [[Red Army]] breached the [[Nazi Germany|German]] front as a result of the [[Vistula–Oder offensive]] and rapidly advanced westward through Germany, as fast as 30–40 kilometres a day. The offensive culminated in the [[battle in Berlin]], which lasted from late 20 April 1945 until 2 May and was one of the [[List of battles by casualties#Sieges and urban combat|bloodiest battles in history]]. Erected in 1894, the [[Reichstag building]], the historic seat of the German national legislature, was among the most recognizable buildings in Germany, with architecture considered magnificent for its time. The building contributed much to [[German history]] and was considered by the Red Army to be the symbol of their fascist enemy. To the Nazis, however, the Reichstag was instead a symbol of the weaknesses of democracy and representative government. It was severely damaged in the [[Reichstag fire]] of 1933, and by 1945 had been closed for 12 years, essentially the entirety of the Nazi reign; all subsequent meetings of the Reichstag legislature (which grew increasingly infrequent in the years following the fire as Nazi decision-making was centralized with [[Adolf Hitler]]) had been convened at the nearby [[Kroll Opera House]] instead. After fierce combat within its walls, the Soviets finally captured the Reichstag on 2 May 1945. ==Taking the photograph== The Reichstag was seen as symbolic of, and at the heart of, Nazi Germany. It was arguably the most symbolic target in Berlin. The events surrounding the flag-raising are murky due to the confusion of the fight at the building. On 30 April there was great pressure from Stalin to take the building, in time for the [[International Workers' Day]], 1 May.{{sfn|Dallas|2006|p=3}}{{Dubious |reason=The book does not mention anything similar to "Stalin's pressure"|date=May 2017}} Initially, two planes dropped several large red banners on the roof that appeared to have caught on the bombed-out dome. Additionally, a number of reports had reached headquarters that two parties, M. M. Bondar from the 380th Rifle Regiment and Captain V. N. Makov of the 756th might have been able to hoist a flag during the day of 30 April.{{sfn|Tissier|1999|p=168}} These reports were received by [[Georgy Zhukov|Marshal G. K. Zhukov]], who issued an announcement stating that his troops had captured the Reichstag and hoisted a flag. However, when correspondents arrived, they found no Soviets in the building, but rather they were pinned down outside by German fire. After fierce fighting both outside and inside the building, a flag was raised at 22:40 on 30 April 1945, when 23-year-old [[Rakhimzhan Qoshqarbaev]] climbed the building and inserted a flag into the crown of the mounted female statue of "[[Germania (personification)|Germania]]", symbolizing Germany. As this happened at night, it was too dark to take a photograph.{{sfn|Lucas|2010|p=}} The next day the flag was taken down by the Germans.{{sfn|Lucas|2010|p=}} The Red Army finally gained control of the entire building on 2 May.{{sfn|Beevor|2003|pp=390–397}} {{Multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 200 | image1 =Raising a flag over the Reichstag 2.jpg | caption1 = | image2 = Red army soldiers raising the soviet flag on the roof of the reichstag with no Watch.jpg | caption2 = The original photo (top) was altered (bottom) by editing the watch on Ismailov's right wrist{{sfn|Sontheimer|2008|p=}} }} On 2 May 1945, Khaldei scaled the now pacified Reichstag to take his picture. He was carrying with him a large flag, sewn from three tablecloths for this very purpose, by his uncle.<ref name="Griffin 1999, 144">Griffin, Michael (199). "The Great War Photographs: Constructing Myths of History and Photojournalism". In Bonnie Brennen & Hanno Hardt eds., ''Picturing the Past: Media, History & Photography''. (pp. 122–157). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 144. {{ISBN|0-252-06769-X}}.</ref> The official story would later be that two hand-picked soldiers, [[Meliton Kantaria]]<ref name="altKantaria" group="A"/> (Georgian) and [[Mikhail Yegorov]]<ref name="altYegorov" group="A"/> (Russian), raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag,{{sfn|Dallas|2006|p=3}}{{sfn|Tissier|1999|p=124}}{{sfn|Antill|Dennis|2005|p=76}}{{sfn|Adams|2008|p=48}} and the photograph would often be used as depicting the event. Some authors state that for political reasons the subjects of the photograph were changed and the actual man to hoist the flag was [[Aleksei Leontievich Kovalev|Aleksei Kovalev]].{{sfn|Broekmeyer|2004|p=130}}{{sfn|Walkowitz|Knauer|2004|p=83}} However, according to Khaldei himself, when he arrived at the Reichstag, he simply asked the soldiers who happened to be passing by to help with the staging of the photoshoot;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,551663,00.html|title=Legendäre Foto-Manipulation Fahne gefälscht, Uhr versteckt, Wolken erfunden - SPIEGEL ONLINE|publisher=[[Der Spiegel|Spiegel]]|date=2008-05-06|access-date=2012-05-20|language=de}}</ref><ref name="time20080523">{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1809018,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528171454/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1809018,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 28, 2008|title=Remembering a Red Flag Day|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=2008-05-23|access-date=2012-05-20}}</ref> there were only four of them, including Khaldei, on the roof:<ref name="epochtimes">{{cite web|date=2006-05-08|script-title=ru:B0Знамя Победы над Рейхстагом". Сенсационная история фото|url=http://www.epochtimes.ru/content/view/5101/34/|access-date=2012-05-20|publisher=[[The Epoch Times]]|language=ru}}</ref> the one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from [[Kiev]], the two others were [[Abdulkhakim Ismailov]] from [[Dagestan]] and [[Leonid Gorychev]] (also mentioned as Aleksei Goryachev) from [[Minsk]].<ref name="time20080523"/> The photograph was taken with a [[Leica III]] [[rangefinder camera]] with a 35mm f3.5 lens.<ref>{{cite web|title=An historically important Leica III|url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22252/lot/723/|publisher=Bonham's}}</ref> ==Aftermath== The photo was published 13 May 1945 in the ''[[Ogonyok]]'' magazine.{{sfn|Sontheimer|2008|p=}} While many photographers took pictures of flags on the roof, it was Khaldei's image that stuck.{{sfn|Sontheimer|2008|p=}} ===Editing=== [[File:Soviet flag on the Reichstag roof Khaldei.jpg|thumb|''Raising a flag over the Reichstag'' by [[Yevgeny Khaldei]], but with smoke added{{sfn|Baumann|2010|p=}}]] [[File:Berlin Reichstag2.jpg|thumb|300px]] After taking the symbolic photo, Khaldei quickly returned to Moscow. He further edited the image at the request of the editor-in-chief of the ''[[Ogonyok]]'', who noticed that [[Senior Sergeant]] [[Abdulkhakim Ismailov]], who is supporting the flag-bearer, was wearing two watches, which could imply he had looted one of them, an action punishable by execution.{{sfn|Sontheimer|2008|p=}} Using a needle, Khaldei removed the watch from the right wrist.{{sfn|Baumann|2010|p=}}{{sfn|Sontheimer|2008|p=}} Later, it was claimed that the extra watch was actually an [[Adrianov compass]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The Soviet flag over the Reichstag, 1945 |date=14 November 2013 |url=https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/soviet-flag-reichstag-berlin-1945/ |access-date=20 May 2020}}</ref><ref>Citation error. See inline comment how to fix. {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/897429755 by a bug in VisualEditor and later identified by a bot. The original cite can be found at Special:Permalink/896465555 (or in a rev close to it) in either cite #12 or cite #11 - find and verify the cite and replace this template with it (1). [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref> and that Khaldei, in order to avoid controversy, doctored the photo to remove the watch from Ismailov's right wrist.<ref>Citation error. See inline comment how to fix. {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/897429755 by a bug in VisualEditor and later identified by a bot. The original cite can be found at Special:Permalink/896465555 (or in a rev close to it) in either cite #13 or cite #12 - find and verify the cite and replace this template with it (1). [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref><ref>Citation error. See inline comment how to fix. {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/897429755 by a bug in VisualEditor and later identified by a bot. The original cite can be found at Special:Permalink/896465555 (or in a rev close to it) in either cite #14 or cite #13 - find and verify the cite and replace this template with it (1). [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref><ref>Citation error. See inline comment how to fix. {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/897429755 by a bug in VisualEditor and later identified by a bot. The original cite can be found at Special:Permalink/896465555 (or in a rev close to it) in either cite #15 or cite #14 - find and verify the cite and replace this template with it (1). [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref> He also added smoke in the background, copying it from another picture to make the scene more dramatic.{{sfn|Baumann|2010|p=}} === Copyrights === Because Khaldei worked in [[TASS]] from October 25, 1936 to October 7, 1948, his TASS photoworks, including "Raising a Flag over the Reichstag", are in public domain in Russia no later than January 1, 2019, because they were copyrighted by TASS, and such copyrights of a legal entity expire no later than 70 years after publication (or creation, if work was not published in proper time). It was confirmed in 2015 in the court session between the heiress of the photographer, his daughter Anna Khaldei and the publishing house «Veche» about the use of the photograph "Raising a Flag over the Reichstag" in the book "Za porogom Pobedy" ({{lang-ru|За порогом Победы}}, Behind the Threshold of the Victory) by Arsen Benikovich Martirosyan, where ITAR-TASS was attracted as a third person.<ref>Appellate decision of the Moscow City Court on September 14, 2015 N 33-31768/2015</ref> == Gallery == <gallery> File:Stamps of Azerbaijan, 2010-903.jpg|An Azerbaijani stamp commemorating the 65th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. File:Victory (silver) rv.gif|Commemorative Silver coin from Belarus depicting iconic imagery. File:RR5111-0289R.jpg|Commemorative coin issued by the [[Central Bank of Russia|Bank of Russia]] for the 70th anniversary of Victory day. File:Flag of the Soviet Union (Raising a Flag over the Reichstag).svg|Computer recreation of the Soviet flag depicted in the photo. </gallery> ==See also== *[[List of photographs considered the most important]] *[[Victory Banner]] (1 May 1945) *''[[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]]'' (1945) *''[[Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn]]'' (1945) *''[[Ink Flag|The Ink Flag]]'' (1948) *''[[Raising the Flag at Ground Zero]]'' (2001) ==Annotations== {{Reflist | group = "A" | refs = <ref name="LastOffensive" group="A">The last offensive of the European war was actually the [[Prague Offensive]] on 6–11 May 1945, when the Red Army, with the help of [[Poland|Polish]], [[Romania]]n, and [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] forces defeated the parts of [[Army Group Center]] which continued to resist in Czechoslovakia. There were a number of minor battles and skirmishes involving small bodies of men, but no other large scale fighting that resulted in the death of thousands of people. (See [[The end of World War II in Europe]] for details on these final days of the war.)</ref> <ref name="altKantaria" group="A">Alternately spelled: Kantariya, M.&nbsp;V. Kantaria, Meliton Kantaria</ref> <ref name="altYegorov" group="A">Alternately spelled: M.&nbsp;V. Yegorov, M.&nbsp;A. Yegorov, Mikhail Iegorev</ref> }} ==Bibliography== ;Notes {{Reflist | colwidth = 30em | refs = }} ;References {{Refbegin | colwidth = 30em }} *{{cite book | last = Adams | first = Simon | year = 2008 | title = The Eastern Front | edition = 2008 | publisher = The Rosen Publishing Group | isbn = 978-1-4042-1862-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/easternfront0000adam }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 48</small> *{{cite book | last1 = Antill | first1 = Peter | last2 = Dennis | first2 = Peter | year = 2005 | title = Berlin 1945: End of the Thousand Year Reich | edition = when | publisher = [[Osprey Publishing]] | isbn = 1-84176-915-0 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 96</small> *{{cite web | last = Baumann | first = Von Doc | date = 2010-01-03 | title = Dramatische Rauchwolcken | language = de | publisher = [[Der Spiegel]] | url = http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/0,1518,667710,00.html | access-date = 2011-06-03 }} *{{cite book | last = Beevor | first = Antony | author-link = Antony Beevor | year = 2003 | title = [[Berlin: The Downfall 1945]] | location = London | publisher = [[Penguin Books]] | isbn = 978-0-14-028696-0 }} *{{cite book | last = Broekmeyer | first = M. J. | year = 2004 | title = Stalin, the Russians, and their war: 1941-1945 | edition = 2004 | publisher = University of Wisconsin Press | isbn = 0-299-19594-5 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 315</small> *{{cite book | last = Conquest | first = Robert | year = 1991 | title = The Great Terror: A Reassessment | edition = 1991 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] US | isbn = 0-19-507132-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/greatterror00robe }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 584</small> *{{cite book | last = Dallas | first = Gregor | year = 2006 | title = 1945: The War That Never Ended | edition = 2006 | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | isbn = 0-300-11988-7 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 792</small> *{{cite book | last = Lenin | first = Vladimir | author-link = Vladimir Lenin | year = 1929 | title = Collected Works, Volume XX | edition = 1929 | publisher = International Publishers | isbn = 1-4179-1577-3 }} *{{cite book | last = Lindemann | first = Albert S. | year = 2000 | title = Esau's Tears: Modern anti-semitism and the rise of the Jews | edition = 2000 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | isbn = 0-521-79538-9 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 568</small> *{{cite web | last = Lucas | first = Dean | date = 2010-02-28 | title = Flag on the Reichstag | publisher = FamousPictures.org | url = http://www.famouspictures.org/flag-on-the-reichstag/ | access-date = 2013-05-03 }} *{{cite web | last = Sontheimer | first = Michael | date = 2008-07-05 | title = The Art of Soviet Propaganda: Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked | publisher = [[Der Spiegel]] | url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,551972,00.html | access-date = 2011-06-03 }} *{{cite book | last = Tissier | first = Tony Le | year = 1999 | title = Race for the Reichstag: the 1945 Battle for Berlin | edition = 1999 | publisher = [[Routledge]] | isbn = 0-7146-4929-5 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 265</small> *{{cite book | last1 = Walkowitz | first1 = Daniel J. | last2 = Knauer | first2 = Lisa Maya | year = 2004 | title = Memory and the impact of political transformation in public space Radical perspectives | edition = when | publisher = Duke University Press | isbn = 0-8223-3364-3 }}&nbsp;<small>– Total pages: 326</small> *{{cite web |title = За него Геринг получил по шее |trans-title = "Göring received a neckslap because of that man". Interview with Anna Haldey |date = 2010-05-12 |work = Interview |publisher = [[Moskovskij Komsomolets]] |location = Nizhny Novgorod |language = ru |url = http://www.mk.ru/regions/nijniy-novgorod/article/2010/05/12/486114-za-nego-gering-poluchil-po-shee.html |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130113171241/http://www.mk.ru/regions/nijniy-novgorod/article/2010/05/12/486114-za-nego-gering-poluchil-po-shee.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2013-01-13 |access-date = 2011-06-03 |ref = {{SfnRef|www.mk.ru}} }} *{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-15-2109452_x.htm|title=Iconic WWII photo honored at Berlin exhibit|publisher=[[USA Today]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=2008-06-15|access-date=2012-05-20}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-16-WWII-photo_N.htm|title=Iconic WWII photo staged|agency=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[USA Today]]|date=2008-06-16|access-date=2012-05-20}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,551972,00.html|title=The Art of Soviet Propaganda Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked - SPIEGEL ONLINE|publisher=[[Der Spiegel|Spiegel]]|date=2008-05-07|access-date=2012-05-20}} *{{cite web|url=http://diario.latercera.com/2010/02/18/01/contenido/8_24322_9.html|title=Muere el último sobreviviente de la foto más famosa del fin de la II Guerra|publisher=[[La Tercera]]|date=2010-02-18|access-date=2012-05-20|language=es|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083328/http://diario.latercera.com/2010/02/18/01/contenido/8_24322_9.html|url-status=dead}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/17/soldier-reichstag-photo-dies|title=Soviet soldier pictured in iconic 1945 Reichstag photo dies|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2010-02-17|access-date=2012-05-20}} {{Refend}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Battle of Berlin]] [[Category:Black-and-white photographs]] [[Category:Flags in art]] [[Category:Flags of the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Reichstag building]] [[Category:Special events flags]] [[Category:Works originally published in Russian magazines]] [[Category:World War II photographs]] [[Category:1945 photographs]] [[Category:1945 in art]] [[Category:May 1945 events in Europe]]'