Accession Number
2015/2.107

Title
The March of the German POWs

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1941-1945, printed 2003

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
16 in x 20 in (40.64 cm x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

Subject matter
In this photograph, a column of German POWs march through a hilly, though seemingly empty, landscape. The diminutive silhouettes of men on horseback stand along the horizon line, evidently overseeing the march of these captured soldiers. The panoramic angle of the photograph allows the viewer to see the files of men winding like a long ribbon through the eastern European steppe near an unidentified town which lay in the distance. No insignia or martial accoutrements remain to identify the ranks or statuses of these men.  This image forms part of Baltermants’s larger project—as an official photographer to the Kremlin—which, spread across numerous portfolios, aimed to document scenes from the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945), known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War.  

Physical Description
Wide-angle photograph of soldiers marching through a hilly landscape. Men on horseback and a spattering of buildings dot the horizon line.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
cultural landscapes
hills
journalistic photography
natural landscapes
prisoners of war
soldiers
towns
war horses
war photography