Tricks of light

It was early on the morning of May 2, 1945 and Yevgeny Khaldei had gone to the Reichstag, the German parliament building in the centre of Berlin. The 28-year-old photojournalist, a lieutenant in the Soviet navy, met a young comrade in the burnt-out parliament building and persuaded him to pose on the roof with the flag. Two other Red Army soldiers joined them.

Khaldei used up an entire roll of film8230; various versions of one of them became an icon of the 20th century8230; symbolising the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Red Army8217;s victory in both the German and Russian collective memories. When the image appeared in the magazine Ogonjok on May 13, 1945 one detail had already been changed. In reality the soldier who is supporting his comrade with the flag had a watch on each wrist. The Soviet soldiers had looted their way through Berlin8230; Khaldei admitted later that he had scratched out the watch in one of the negatives using a needle. Dark clouds of smoke were added to the sky in another version of the photograph. In the final version there was a new flag, billowing dramatically in the wind.

Although at least three other photographers took pictures of soldiers with flags on the Reichstag8230; it was Khaldei8217;s image that stuck. Later, when asked about the manipulation, he answered: 8220;It is a good photograph and historically significant. Next question please.8221;

Excerpted from an article by Michael Sontheimer in Der Spiegel