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Adapted from Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for audio. This HearLore entry is also licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Raising a Flag over the Reichstag

On the 2nd of May 1945, a Soviet flag made from three tablecloths was hoisted atop the Reichstag, yet the image that would define the end of World War II was not a spontaneous moment of triumph but a carefully staged reconstruction. The photograph known as Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was taken by Yevgeny Khaldei, a photojournalist who had survived the siege of Leningrad and the brutal fighting in Berlin, but the scene he captured was far from the chaotic reality of the battle. The Reichstag, a building that had been closed for twelve years and served as a symbol of Nazi weakness rather than strength, was the target of a Soviet offensive that had advanced as fast as 40 kilometres a day. The Red Army had breached the German front on the 16th of April 1945, and by the 2nd of May, they had captured the building, but the flag-raising that would become an icon of victory was not the first attempt. Earlier that day, other soldiers had tried to plant flags, but they were either too low or destroyed by shelling. The flag in Khaldei's photograph was the only one to survive the subsequent shelling, and it was raised at about 3 am, hours after the building had been secured. The photograph was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens, and it was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. The image was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II, but the story behind it was far more complex than the official narrative suggested.

The Tablecloth Banner

The flag that appeared in the photograph was not a standard military banner but a makeshift creation sewn from three tablecloths by Khaldei's uncle. The Red Army had gained control of the entire building on the 2nd of May 1945, and Khaldei scaled the now pacified Reichstag to take his picture. He was carrying with him a large flag, which he had prepared specifically for this purpose. The official story would later be told that two hand-picked soldiers, the Georgian Meliton Kantaria and the Russian Mikhail Yegorov, were the first to raise the official Soviet flag known as the Victory Banner over the Reichstag, and this photograph was 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 Kovalev. 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. The one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from Burlin, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, and the two others were Abdulkhakim Ismailov from the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Leonid Gorychev (also mentioned as Aleksei Goryachev) from Minsk. The photograph was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens, and it was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. The image was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II, but the story behind it was far more complex than the official narrative suggested.

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1945 in art1945 photographsBattle of BerlinBlack-and-white photographsFlags in artFlags of the Soviet UnionMay 1945 in EuropeReichstag buildingSpecial events flagsWorks originally published in Russian magazinesWorld War II photographs

Common questions

When was the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag taken?

The photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was taken on the 2nd of May 1945 at about 3 am. This date marks the time when the Red Army had captured the building and the flag was raised during the staged reconstruction.

Who took the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag?

The photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was taken by the photojournalist Yevgeny Khaldei. He used a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens to capture the image.

What camera was used to take the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag?

The photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera equipped with a 35mm f3.5 lens. This specific equipment was used by Yevgeny Khaldei to document the event.

When was the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag published?

The photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. This publication date followed the editing process where Khaldei removed a watch from one of the soldiers.

Who raised the flag in the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag?

The official story states that Meliton Kantaria and Mikhail Yegorov raised the flag, but the actual man attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Aleksei Kovalev. Other soldiers present included Abdulkhakim Ismailov and Leonid Gorychev.

Who owns the copyright of the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag?

The copyright of the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag belongs to TASS because Khaldei took the photo as part of his work for the agency. The Russian copyright expired on the 1st of January 2016 since the image was published in 1945.

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The Staged Reality

The photograph was not a spontaneous moment of triumph but a carefully staged reconstruction. Khaldei quickly returned to Moscow and 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. Using a needle, Khaldei removed the watch from the right wrist. Later, it was claimed that the extra watch was actually an Adrianov compass and that Khaldei, in order to avoid controversy, doctored the photo to remove the watch from Ismailov's right wrist. He also increased contrast in the overall print, and added smoke in the background, montaging it from another negative from the entire roll of film he shot, to make the scene more dramatic, and with the result that the image, with extra sky added, becomes more square in format. The photograph was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine, and it was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II. The image was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens, and it was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. The image was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II, but the story behind it was far more complex than the official narrative suggested.

The Disputed Heroes

The identities of the men in the photograph were often disputed, as was that of the photographer Yevgeny Khaldei. The official story would later be told that two hand-picked soldiers, the Georgian Meliton Kantaria and the Russian Mikhail Yegorov, were the first to raise the official Soviet flag known as the Victory Banner over the Reichstag, and this photograph was 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 Kovalev. 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. The one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from Burlin, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, and the two others were Abdulkhakim Ismailov from the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Leonid Gorychev (also mentioned as Aleksei Goryachev) from Minsk. The photograph was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens, and it was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. The image was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II, but the story behind it was far more complex than the official narrative suggested.

The Copyright War

Because Khaldei took the photo as part of his work for TASS, the copyright of the photo belongs to TASS, not Khaldei. According to Russian copyright law, works created by legal entities have a copyright term of 70 years after publication (or creation, if the work was not published before the 3rd of August 1993). Since Raising a Flag over the Reichstag was published in 1945, its Russian copyright expired on the 1st of January 2016. This 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 in the book (Behind the Threshold of the Victory) by Arsen Benikovich Martirosyan, where ITAR-TASS was included as a third party without a separate interest. The photograph was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine, and it was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II. The image was taken with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens, and it was published on the 13th of May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. The image was so powerful that it became one of the most recognizable images of World War II, but the story behind it was far more complex than the official narrative suggested.