Accession Number
2013/2.323

Title
And Once There Was War...Red Square Parade

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1965; 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, Baltermants poignantly challenges the triumphalist amnesia implicit in a military parade on Red Square in Moscow by placing at front and center a war veteran who has had both of his legs amputated. The man scowls as he balances himself on a dolly and looks back at the viewer/camera. He is surrounded on the one side by children and on the other by copiously decorated Soviet generals—he himself wears a number of medals on his jacket lapels. The officers next to him pay him no heed, though here he is a prominent and visible reminder of the high cost of warfare. That this image comes in a suite of pictures titled “The Great Patriotic War” adds a somewhat sardonic twist to the photograph and to the larger portfolio of which it is a part. This image was made twenty years after the conclusion of World War II.   

Physical Description
A man with amputated legs looks out toward the left amid a crowd that has gathered on the curb of a city street. 

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
journalistic photography
military officers
parades
soldiers
streets
veterans
war photography