Another historical moment fades away

[gridlore]

Man, who raised Soviet Union’s flag over Berlin in 1945, dies

WWII veteran Mikhail Minin, a Hero of the Soviet Union, the man, who raised the USSR flag, the banner of Victory, over Germany’s Reichstag in May of 1945, died.

Minin will be buried on January 12 in his native city of Pskov where he resided until then, Interfax report.

Mikhail Minin was born in the village of Vanino in 1922. In June of 1941 he volunteered to join the army to fight against Nazi Germany. He took part in battles to liberate Leningrad from blockade and made his way across the fronts from Leningrad to Berlin.

When the Soviet army was storming Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945 Minin broke into the building and became the first man to raise the Red Banner on its tower. In May of 1945 Minin was awarded the title of the Soviet Union Hero for his deed and other services in battle. The famous photo does not show Minin but a Georgian soldier. It was not taken at the actual event.

It's amusing to learn that the iconic photo of the Soviet flag flying over the ruins of Berlin is as staged as the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

Comments

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

That's really cool. Although that seems to be about the Georgian who posed for the staged shot.

[pompe.livejournal.com]

No, the letter specifically mentions a later staged shot and I'm not sure if the man my old relative talked to was Georgian at all. There apparently are several versions of the story - the description in Beevor's Berlin differs from both Pravda's and the one in my old letter. But there also were several men involved, at least two.