The iconic image of Soviet victory in Berlin was a carefully staged propaganda re-enactment

Art · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The photograph of a Red Army soldier hoisting a flag over the Reichstag is a defining symbol of World War II. Yet, the image captured by Yevgeny Khaldei on 2 May 1945 was not a spontaneous moment of triumph, but a deliberate, orchestrated production designed to project Soviet power.

By the spring of 1945, the Soviet command was obsessed with capturing the Reichstag, viewing the building as the ultimate symbol of their fascist enemy. Stalin, eager to secure a victory before the Western Allies could reach Berlin, pushed his commanders into a race to seize the capital. While Soviet soldiers had engaged in fierce, bloody combat to reach the building, the specific act of raising the flag was mired in confusion and competing claims. Various groups of soldiers had reportedly placed banners on the roof as early as 30 April, but these were often obscured or temporary.

Yevgeny Khaldei, a Soviet war photographer, arrived at the Reichstag on 2 May 1945, after the building had been pacified. He brought with him a flag sewn from three tablecloths by his uncle. Rather than documenting a historical event in progress, Khaldei asked soldiers who happened to be passing by to help him stage the scene. The men in the famous shot were Private Aleksei Kovalev, Abdulkhakim Ismailov, and Leonid Gorychev. Khaldei’s image was published in Ogonyok magazine on 13 May 1945, and it quickly eclipsed earlier, less polished photographs of flags on the roof.

The official Soviet narrative later identified the men as Meliton Kantaria and Mikhail Yegorov, a political choice that obscured the actual participants. This staging was part of a broader effort to frame the fall of Berlin as a decisive, singular triumph. For Stalin, the capture of the Reichstag was not just about military victory; it was a means to secure reparations and atomic research materials from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. The photograph served as a powerful tool to solidify this narrative of total victory, masking the chaotic reality of the battle and the complex geopolitical motivations behind the race to Berlin.

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