Belgrade
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia
Latvia
Łódź
Moravská Ostrava
Poland
Prague
Prague II
Rizhovskaya Banya
Rumania
Sofia I
Sofia II
Yugoslavia
…
Thank you to English Russia, victory.rusarchives.ru, and usinfo.ru
Welcoming the Soviet Liberating Army
If you like this, check out:
“The Collapsing Wall”, 1940s / 2010
Ghosts of WWII
Construction of the Titanic
General Motors Insurgency Pistol, 1942
Miniature Hell in 3D, 1860s
Pigalle Nightclub London in 3-D, 1950s
BMW R7 Prototype, 1937
Cafe Lehmitz, 1967-1970, by Anders Petersen
Invitation to an Assassination
HMV, Oxford Street, London, 1960s
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, WWII
Hitler's Fake Passport,April 1941
Anti Nazi Photomontages, 1930s, by John Heartfield
Barack Obama on 'Black History Minute', 1991
NASA's Model Spacecraft, 1960s
London Transport Infographics, 1912-1969
Retro Life by Jena Ardell
Movies from an Alternate Universe, by Peter Stults
U.S. Navy Food Posters, 1939-1945
Calculator / Abacus, 1979
Posters for Acrobatics shows, 1892-1903
But of course you are aware those are Soviet propaganda pictures and what those tanks and soldiers brought was another oppression and brutal occupation?
Would you be so happy to present pictures of Czechoslovakian Germans cheering Wehrmacht?
Make sure to apply correct comment…
It had nothing to do with liberating. It was the begining of another, very bloody occupation. As Marcin wrote – just propaganda pictures.
I hope you are aware that this is a pure communist propaganda. Soviet Army started to occupy Eastern Europe as soon as the Germany was defeated. They did not bring peace, they brought terror of a different kind.
One picture says more than thousand words. It is true, but in this case all this thousand words would be a lie. Soviets brought a lot of pain, suffering with them and people in Eastern Europe were aware of that. These are soviet propaganda photos, with the same value as photos showing people in North Korea praising Kim Ir Sen.
Do you remember those Coreans (from North) victimized because of “not enough” sorrow after Kim’s death?
Do you remember “Potemkin villages”, Soviet falshood about Katyn massacre and all that Russian “lie industry”?
The Soviets AREN’T any liberators! They were occupants conquering the world for communism!
You shouldn’t publish propaganda photographs without a proper commentary. Most of the photos shown above say nothing about the actual reaction of “liberated” nations, as they were staged for propaganda purposes.
At the time, it was hoped that the Soviets would be better than what they had experienced at the hands of the Nazis.
We cannot know the future, but we always want to change the present.
WELCOMING NATURAL BORN KILLERS THE SOVIET LIBERATING ARMY
Uh,if you don’t get the irony, don’t blame the Chris. When he posts pictures of advertisements for “miracle cures” and such, do you honestly believe that he is trying to sell you the products? Does anyone reading this blog with an IQ above room temperature actually believe that Chris thinks that Russian occupation after the war was a Good Thing? Get a grip, people. Seriously.
I like you, David.
Why not showing also the pictures of people cheerfully welcoming Wehrmaht soldiers in eastern Europe after 2-years soviet occupation (Operation Barbarossa, 1941)?
Soviet falshood about Katyn massacre and all that Russian “lie industry”?
——
you are thinking about past and are soviets bad or not, but western propaganda brainwashed you and you are thinking now that USA are liberating Afghanistan, Iraq and others. For christ sake… They are the same!
Americans have their powerful lie industry as all nations have.
About Katyn massacre – do you know something about polish soldiers occupation of ukrainian territory in 1920s? They were like animals. And how about polish soldiers in WW2? Soviets slaughtered Katyn – it’s not trully right, cause none of historicians right now haven’t big clues on that case – some are saying those were germans with soviet uniforms. Others are saying those are soviets.
This is the best comment of all written. Most have written under the influence of the same propaganda. All of you honestly believe in the Soviet evil, though they did not know it. If the Soviets were not included in Europe, the war would have lasted.
Speaking about pictures, my grandparents are latvians and they said that people really were happy when soviets came. Because they started their brutal actions later. At first time people really were happy, because germans done lot of bad things before. So these pictures are true, people are smiling really, it’s not a lie because in first time soviets were only liberators. After that Stalin started terror on those liberated nations.
First days of liberation are kind of like a first date, apparently.
Reality is often different a couple of years after the marriage.
Spytko”s comment is apt:
“Why not showing also the pictures of people cheerfully welcoming Wehrmaht soldiers in eastern Europe after 2-years soviet occupation (Operation Barbarossa, 1941)? ”
Were the folks that welcomed the Wehrmacht probably also glad to see them go?
The of some posters above seem to be unaware that the Nazis planned to “ethnically cleanse” the neighboring countries after the war. At some level the people “liberated”
by the Soviets may have realized or at least suspected what horrors would have followed a
Nazi victory. At least Poland, Romania etc etc survived the Soviet occupation as intact nations and peoples. And not as provinces of a greater Reich, repopulated by “Aryans.”
First days of liberation are kind of like a first date, apparently.
Reality is often different a couple of years after the marriage.
Spytko”s comment is apt:
“Why not showing also the pictures of people cheerfully welcoming Wehrmaht soldiers in eastern Europe after 2-years soviet occupation (Operation Barbarossa, 1941)? ”
Were the folks that welcomed the Wehrmacht probably also glad to see them go?
The posters above seem to be unaware that the Nazis planned to “ethnically cleanse” the neighboring countries after the war. At some level the people “liberated”by the Soviets may have realized or at least suspected what horrors would have followed a Nazi victory. At least Poland, Romania etc etc survived the Soviet occupation as intact nations and peoples. And not as provinces of a greater Reich, repopulated by “Aryans.”
Hey, David,
do you see the “irony” in the comments of “viesturs”? By the way, denying the Soviet responsibility for Katyn massacre is in Poland a crime equal to denying the Holocaust.
My point is, if you show the pictures coming from the distant past to the people who know little about the history and might have been influenced by the “Uncle Joe” propaganda, you should expect them to think this is for real.
Yes, Churchill and Roosevelt needed Soviets as their allies. And yes, they traded Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Czechoslovakia for that. Austria luckily got away.
We paid the bitter price for that trade. So, at least, give an honest comment on what you are exposing to general public.
My family are Latvians who emigrated to the United States in the years after WWII. They vouch for the accuracy of the photos. These were NOT staged propaganda pics. The smiling faces and cheering crowds are authentic. The population in Riga genuinely looked upon the Soviets as liberators. And they were…they liberated Latvia from the Germans. It was only later that the reality sank in that the liberators had become occupiers and that desperate times had not ended.
Also, this site is not run by morons. Chris is undoubtedly aware of history (he is the head Retronaut after all!) and the title of the article is therefore somewhat ironic in nature. Anyone who thinks that the site should offer different captions or some sort of disclaimer is asking the ridiculous. As with all of the photo essays on this site I think these photos stand on their own; they are pictures of “liberated” people celebrating their liberators. It is the responsibility of the viewer to use their own brainpower to add additional context (and context is usually both a matter of historic record AND open to some subjective interpretation).
Thanks for a great photo array and I love the “English Russia” stuff you put up. Keep it coming!
The first caption is incorrect, the Soviets never liberated Belgrade, Tito’s partisans did. In fact Yugoslavia were the only country during WW2 that rid itself of German rule entirely independently
Here, truly an example of not knowing the history of World War II. If not for Soviet aid, Tito would not have freed Yugoslavia. Read the true story, please.
@Jordan
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Belgrade was liberated on October 20, 1944 by combined forces of the Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans. It does say though that the Partisans played the major role, by far. (Wikipedia has basically this same information.)
No doubt that the Communist-led Partisans were bad-ass. According to Wikipedia, they “developed into the largest resistance army in occupied Western and Central Europe.” And they did drive the Axis powers out of Yugoslavia.
It is plausible though that the first photo is from the liberation of Belgrade. It would be just like the Soviets to play a minor role but still throw themselves a parade, wouldn’t it?
soviet „Liberating“ Army signs in Lithuania
http://www.bernardinai.lt/file/b78c8b51ed6dbf5f89f248396952ce8abe4a2ad5.jpg
Very “reliable” information. I’ll publish a photo from a bush near the Capitol and say that I planted this bush.
I don’t mean to touch the content of the Soviet occupation after World War II.
But I see a lot of people claiming these pictures are even staged. Are you telling me people in those cities already knew what was going to happen and so they did not cheer when the Soviet Red Army expelled the Nazis? One thing is to say that the people were wrong to cheer and did not know what expected them afterwards. The other is to say that the pictures are staged. Which can also be truth as I heard the celebrations in Bahgdad with the shoe throwing on Saddam’s statue was also staged.
Furthermore, a lot of people here are really bitter with the soviets and I can understand they suffocated national self-determination of Eastern Europe and implemented paranoid dictatorships. But in any way do you guys think a Nazi victory would have been better for the Eastern Europe occupied by the Nazis?
To clear up some misconceptions:
1. Jordan is right; Tito liberated Yugoslavia. If any Soviets were on hand, they were just for show.
2. Of course, Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians were well aware of Soviet brutality because their countries had been occupied by the Russians in 1939. Despite comments here, the Red Army’s return hardly would have been welcomed except by fellow communists.
3. In rely to Dan and viesturs, who say their parents or grandparents hailed the Soviet “liberation,” here’s what Wikipedia tells about Latvia under the first Soviet yoke (before the German invasion of 1941):
“Accurate numbers for the losses the Soviets inflicted on Latvia are not available. They can, however, be conservatively estimated at 290,000 dead from military action, executions, or deportation. Many more found refuge abroad. These losses all began during the first Soviet occupation. This has also been referred to, in Latvian, as “Baigais Gads” (Year of Terror). …
“Approximately 35 000 total (1.8% of Latvia’s population) were deported during the first Soviet occupation. … (The mass deportation totaled 131 500 across the Baltics.)
“With memories of the mass deportations of a week before still fresh, the German troops (in 1941)were widely greeted at their arrival by the Latvians as liberators. The Latvian national anthem played on the radio, and, as Chris Bellamy wrote: “the [anti-Soviet] rebellion broke out immediately after the news of Barbarossa”.[42] The majority of ethnic Latvians who had been forced to serve in the Red Army deserted from their units, and soon afterwards attacked the NKVD.”
The truth — not the Red Army — shall set you free.
I read all the comments here, and here’s what I mean.
Many of you refer to Wikipedia. Remember – Wikipedia will never be a true source, and this fact has been proved in many countries. Any opinions expressed here about the brutality of the Soviet regime, based on sources hostile to the USSR. Independent sources in most cases almost contradict what was said here. People read the story right!
Those outside Baltics and Poland _might_ have been genuine because they had not experienced soviet occupation before. But that was sure to change in coming years. Soviets did not stay in Yugoslavia for long anyway, they did most of their own liberation. American victory would have been much preferred to either of two terrible regimes in Europe.
So go away, you soviet apologists.
Also, oh lol: “Independent sources in most cases almost contradict what was said here.”
If by independent you mean pro-USSR.
Well, at least not exactly your pro-American)))))))))))) “soviet apologists” – I’ve never laughed so much, because in the Russian context (surprise!!!I’m Russian))))))) it sounds very funny.
Так что, Hello, ваша правда про предпочтение американского ига в Европе после Второй Мировой Войны это пиздобольство высшей степени. И чё бы вы там ни пиздели про это – всё это полная хуйня)))))))))