Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag is a World War II photograph, taken during the Battle of Berlin on 2 May 1945. It depicts a Soviet soldier raising the flag of the Soviet Union over the Reichstag. 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.
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, by Yevgeny Khaldei
The original photo (top) was altered (bottom) by editing the watch on Ismailov's right wrist
Raising a flag over the Reichstag by Yevgeny Khaldei, but with smoke added
An Azerbaijani stamp commemorating the 65th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or simply the Soviet flag, was a red banner with two communist symbols displayed in the canton: a gold hammer and sickle topped off by a red five-point star bordered in gold. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources, but emerged during the Russian Revolution. It has also come to serve as the standard symbol representing communism as a whole, recognized as such in international circles, even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
The Soviet flag along with an assortment of Russian and Soviet military flags
Flags of the Soviet Republics flown during a parade in Chișinău, the capital of the Moldavian SSR
One of the last Soviet flags flown on the Kremlin, displayed at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin