In the Trenches

Accession Number
2012/2.72

Title
In the Trenches

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1941-1945

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
16 in (40.64 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Agah, Class of 1989 (BBA)

Subject matter
In this photograph, a group of seven Soviet soldiers file through a shallow trench dug into an undulating field. The grassy terrain fills the foreground and tilts upward until it is cut off abruptly by the clear sky in the distance. While the soldiers all attempt to conceal themselves in the trench, the viewer remains conspicuously exposed. 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, known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War. 

Physical Description
Seven soldiers form a single-file line as they crouch in a shallow trench dug into a field.

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
battlefields
battles
journalistic photography
soldiers
trenches
war photography

6 Related Resources

Death and Dying
(Part of 8 Learning Collections)
Dmitri Baltermants photographs from WWII
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Nature in Photography
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Combat, Battle, Warfare
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Lesson Plan: Photographic “Truth”
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
World War II Images 
(Part of: Examples of Student Research in the Exchange)

& Author Notes

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