Los 4153

Chaldej, Jewgeni
(1916-1997)Atop the Berlin Reichstag, May 2, 1945

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 6.6.2026

Atop the Berlin Reichstag, May 2, 1945. Gelatin silver print, printed later. 22,8 x 30,3 cm. Signed by the photographer and annotated by another hand in pencil on the verso.

A compelling document of this historic moment, later recounted by the photographer himself: "Early in the morning on May 2, 1945, I entered it (the Reichstag). I was surrounded by horrendous noise, Russians and Germans were all shouting in horrible confusion ... A pleasant young soldier came up to me. I had a red flag in my hand. He said, 'Lieutenant, davai, let's hurry up and climb onto the roof with the flag' ... We started out, but all the stairs were badly damaged. When we finally got up the Reichstag was on fire. ...We found a long pole. I spent lots of time trying out different compositions. I took one picture from the left, but that wasn't any good. I wanted Berlin to be clearly visible in the picture. Then I said, 'Boys, go and stand over there and raise the flag ... then try over there'. There were three of them. One was from the Ukraine, the other from Machatshkala in Dagestan and the third was a Russian. ... I shot a whole roll of film, 36 shots." (cited in Volland/Krimmer, p. 151).

Literatur: Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer, eds. Von Moskau nach Berlin: Bilder des russischen Fotografen Jewgeni Chaldej. Berlin: Parthas 1999, ill. pp. 65-67 (images from the same series).