Russia and Germany Exchange War Photography Exhibitions

Russians and visitors to Moscow will soon be able to see the Great Patriotic War through the eyes of German frontline war photographs at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow. A later German exhibition will likewise feature legendary Russian war photography. 

Two exhibitions, first in Russia, and then a like exhibit in Germany, will feature gripping works by famous German war photographer Benno Wundshammer, and later in Berlin by Russia’s own Yevgeny Khaldei. According to the head of the Department of Culture of Russia’s Defense Ministry, Anton Gubankov, “An all new window inside the history of this war will be revealed.”

Gubankov went on to explain the exhibitions are in honor of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of victory in WWII, and lend themselves to a greater understanding in between the peoples of the two nations.

In other Russia-Germany collaborative news, the museum also hosted a presentation of the joint project of the German Historical Institute in Moscow of the federal archival agency and the Russian Historical Society effort to digitize and place online the German military documents kept in Russian archives. During this event, the Chairman of the State Duma and Chairman of the Russian Historical Society Sergey Naryshkin made a presentation to President of the Max Weber Foundation Hans van Ess, among several other foreign dignitaries.

For those who have never visited, the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow is the world’s largest and most complete archive for subjects and exhibitions cataloguing both world wars. Founded in 1919, the museum boasts of 24 halls and outdoor areas containing a vast treasure trove of some 800,000 exhibits with millions of historically precious artifacts.

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