Accession Number
2013/2.327

Title
Digging Anti-Tank Trenches Near Moscow

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1941; printed 2003

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
16 in x 240 in (40.64 cm x 609.6 cm)

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

Subject matter
This photograph provides a view downward onto a group of women digging trenches in a barren landscape. In the background, a winding ribbon of workers can be seen engaged in a similar activity. This image evokes the notion of total war, where a nation’s entire resources, including its civilian population, are involved in the war effort. This image forms part of Baltermants’ 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
A large group of women with pickaxes and shovels dig a trench in a barren landscape.

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
battles
journalistic photography
labor
shovels
trenches
war photography
wars
women (female humans)