WWII Gallery:Iconic Image:Decapitation of the Third Reich

Jewgeni Chaldej Exhibition ^ | May 9, 2008

[freerepublic_or_die]

Jewgeni Chaldej Exhibition

[freerepublic_or_die]

This picture was taken by a Russian photographer called Jewgeni Chaldej (or Yevgeny Khaldei for the English-speaking world) on May 5 1945 before the Reichstag in Berlin.

You probably all know another photo taken by him on the same day: It's the one of a soldier placing the Red flag of the Soviet Union's atop the Reichstag building in Berlin, signifying the fall of Germany. It is one of the world's most famous war photos. (although it was a reconstruction of what happened a few days before. Chaldej was not only a great photographer, but also a Pre-Photoshop expert in "optimizing" reality as seen in the exhibition. http://www.chaldej.de/).

[investigateworld]

My favorite photo of that era is the Red Army looting the Reichsbank on Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin.

Fifty years later, I got to investigate a case where the "bad guys" were selling the Treaty of Versailles Gold Reparation Bonds.

[antiRepublicrat]

The Red Army was horrible, raping and murdering its way to Berlin. Germans constantly sought out British or American troops to surrender to because they knew their treatment under the Soviets would be barbaric.

[freerepublic_or_die]

Treaty of Versailles Gold Reparation Bonds. How profoundly ironic is that?

[wtc911]

The Red Army was horrible, raping and murdering its way to Berlin. Germans constantly sought out British or American troops to surrender to because they knew their treatment under the Soviets would be barbaric.

__________________________________________

Poor widdle nazis...musta been tough.

[investigateworld]

Correct. Hans Studel (sp?) Germany's top tank buster told his family to make their way to the British sector as the war wound down.

I think he had a clue what was coming?

[Resolute Conservative]

Maybe the Germans should have thought about that from 1939-1943 when they were brutalizing Russians.

[CarrotAndStick]

Yes.

They were repeating what the Nazis did during their Soviet invasion.

Most of the women were Soviet doctors and nurses.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Somedays you get the bear, somedays the bear gets you.

[freerepublic_or_die]

Hitler in his last hours of madness promised Goebbels that when Germany wins the war his first order of business would be the renouncing of all Geneva war conventions so that German soldiers would never be tempted to go AWOL ever again.

[investigateworld]

The Versallie Treaty was merely a breathing space between the Wars, IMHO.

If one reads the actual Treaty, they can see how it put Germany against the wall, thus brought in the National Socialists.

The Allies passed a law saying the "Bonds" that the Red Army stole couldn't be redeemed by West Germany - See London Debt Accord of 1951.

All the bonds they stole had the redemption coupons removed right thru Dec. 1944, thus were worthless on the Market. But that don't stop greedy fools from buying them from the Red's and looking for a 'greater fool' so to speak.

[tumblindice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Lstkiexhc&eurl=http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/

Downfall.

[freerepublic_or_die]

It has been said that WW 2 was merely continuation of the first with a suspension of hostilities in between.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Paypack is a dog’s mother.

[skeeter]

Somewhere in Russia there’s an accountant with a really cool paperweight.

[Dead Dog]

The Red Army did the same thing in Poland. They pretty much raped everything between 8 and eighty...allie or not.

[skeeter]

I'm not sure who I would rather have had my home invaded by - the nazi's, the imperial japanese or the russians (even if they were allies!).

Then again, I'm not jewish.

[PzLdr]

Hans Ulrich Rudel. A Stuka pilot. Only German awarded the Knight’s Cross in gold with swords, diamonds, oakleaves and diamonds.

[Dead Dog]

Shitesandwich. Standard European fare.

[naturalized]

Kinda like the war on terror.

[libstripper]

Hans-Ulrich Rudel, author of Stuka Pilot, and Germany's most decorated pilot of WWII. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rudel

[wolf78]

The Red Army did the same thing in Poland. They pretty much raped everything between 8 and eighty...allie or not.

In 1939, two nations jointly invaded Poland. One got away with it.

[Dead Dog]

If Iraq invaded a Communist country, we would have a united effort. Go figure. The left dug Hitler until Barbarossa.

[MediaMole]

Poor widdle nazis...musta been tough.

The young girls raped by the soviets didn't have any power to change the nazi regime. The red army gang raped every woman and girl they encountered from young children to elderly women.

I'm not rationalizing anything the nazis did, but the soviets brutalized every German they encountered.

[investigateworld]

Thanks, that's the second time I screwed up his name... confusing him with excellent German pastry.

I did read his book, and loved his comment when he was captured and threatened with being sent back to Russia. He merely stated, "I am credited with destroying 550 Soviet tanks. The Russians will force me to train their pilots too. Do you really want me to go to Russia?"

Should we both end up in the same place in the after life, definitely going to look him up for a chat.