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Originally Posted by joyarjun1
A most enlightening discussion, Kameraden!
Am intrigued though that the wristwatch in the Reichstag-capture snap was either missing, or added. WHY? What difference would the presence or absence of a wristwatch on the hand of a Soviet trooper make???!
joyarjun1
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Hi,
The original, incidentally was airbrushed by top Soviet photographer, Yevgeny Khaldei. The significance is that the Soviets raped and looted their way from the Soviet/Polish border through to Berlin. They demanded three things according to eyewitnesses like my parents: "Wine, women, watches." They had a fascination with watches, which many of them couldn't tell the time from. Once, a Soviet soldier approached my dad (in Budapest, Hungary) and asked him to wind his watch. When my dad obliged, the soldier offered to give him a number of watches, which were all the way up his arm under his coat.
The watches are evidence of looting, and of course, the Soviets later tried to remove evidence of this. There are still large art collections in Russia which were looted from the eastern countries as well.
A good article on the airbrushing of the photo:
How iconic photo of Russians raising flag over burning Berlin was airbrushed to save soldier from Stalin's rage | Mail Online
Cheers,
Chris