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.
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 film, shooting 36 photographs. Various versions of one of them became an icon of the 20th century. It was an image that came to symbolize the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Red Army's victory in both the German and Russian collective memories.
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