Yevgeny Khaldei

Yevgeny Khaldei was a Soviet photographer famous for one of the iconic images of the Second World War. Born in what is now Ukraine in 1917, he worked as a photographer for a Soviet news agency and followed the Red Army across Europe. In 1945 he staged and captured the photograph of a Soviet soldier raising the red flag over the ruined Reichstag in Berlin, a triumphant symbol of victory over Nazi Germany.

The image was carefully arranged and later adjusted, and it became one of the most reproduced war photographs in the world. Khaldei documented many key moments of the war and its aftermath. His most famous picture endures as a powerful emblem of the enormous Soviet effort and sacrifice in the conflict.