Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked

[v2]

A Soviet soldier heroically waves the red flag, the hammer and sickle billow above the Reichstag. Yevgeny Khaldei photographed one of the iconic images of the 20th century. But the legendary image was manipulated to conceal the fact that the Soviet soldiers on the roof had been looting. An exhibition of Khaldei's work opens in Berlin this week.

It was early on the morning of May 2, 1945 and Yevgeny Khaldei had gone to the Reichstag, the German parliament building in the center of Berlin. Three hours earlier the last German commander left in the capital had capitulated, but there was still sporadic fighting going on. Khaldei had his Leica camera with him -- and a Soviet flag......

more: The Art of Soviet Propaganda: Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

[m kenny]

Manipulated is not 'faked'. The flag raising itself was done whilst there were Germans still fighting in the building. The Iwo Jima image by contrast, was staged AFTER the event.

[evangilder]

BULL! The Iwo Jima flag raising photo was NOT staged. It was taken at the time of the second flag raising, and Joe Rosenthal was standing right next to Bill Genaust, who shot the moving pictures of the flag raising.

To say that the Iwo flag shot was staged is doing history, and the USMC a big disservice. Read the following to find out the real truth about the Iwo flag shot, that it was indeed real and this rumor of staging will not die.

[RabidAlien]

I have to kinda agree with both Evan and Kenny here...."manipulated" is not necessarily "faked", and no, the "Iwo Jima Photo" was NOT staged. Many times I've managed to pull off a photo by simply moving a step or two in one direction, mabye crouch or stand on something as small as a paint can, which allowed me to take a picture and completely miss having nearby power lines, buildings, cars, people, or other assorted "civilized" interference in the frame, giving the pic a "middle of nowhere" look, all while standing in a parkinglot or along a crowded boardwalk. That is manipulation.

The flag raising on Iwo Jima, yes, there were two....Mt. Suribachi hadn't quite been cleared at the time, and someone sent a patrol to the top to plant a flag. The commander (I'm bad with names) saw the flag, and wanted it for the Marine Corps Headquarters, and ordered a LARGER flag to be carried up. Joe Rosenthal happened to be on the beach when the order came to carry it up. He met the photographer who captured the first flag raising as the guy was coming down, and almost turned back to the beach after hearing that this would not be the original flag, until the guy happened to mention "there was a good shot of the beach from up there". So he continued on, and almost by accident got the shot of a lifetime. He was looking back at the videographer to see if he would be in the camera's way when the guy (Genaust) said "oh, there it goes". Rosenthal turned and snapped the pic, and later commented "I hope I got something." There was then a staged shot with all of the Marines present on top of Suribachi at the time, the "gung-ho" shot. THAT was the staged pic. The flag-raising was not staged.

Interesting note....Rosenthal had either stumbed or been hit by a wave coming off the landing craft that morning, and his camera doused in sea-water (never a good thing for cameras....been there, done that). He gave the film to the developer, and it was wired back to Washington before he ever got a chance to see the pictures. Most of the film was ruined by the saltwater. I believe there were only three or four useable frames in the whole roll. Later on, when he got back to Washington, someone asked him if the photo with the Marines and the flag was staged. He knew he'd taken the "gung-ho" shot, but didn't know that the flag-raising picture had actually come out, so he replied "yes, it was." Afterwards, when he found out that The Photo was his, he had a heck of a time trying to convince people that it was NOT the one that was staged. In the book "Flags of Our Fathers", James Bradley devotes a chapter to the flack that Rosenthal got for the rest of his life over that.