VIENNA, May 12. /TASS/. An exhibition of works by TASS's legendary World War II frontline photographer Yevgeny Khaldei (1917-1997), who chronicled the Austrian capital's liberation from the Nazis in 1945, is opening at Vienna's Jewish Museum on Wednesday.
The exhibition entitled "Yevgeny Khaldei. The Photographer of the Liberation" features unique snapshots made during the battle of Vienna and in the early postwar years.
The Red Army entered Austria in the spring of 1945. Khaldei, in those days an official photographer for the Soviet news agency TASS, arrived there with advancing Soviet troops to take pictures during the battle of Vienna, which ended on April 13. The audience will be able to see rare photographs from Khaldei's private archive, which the photographer shared with his Austrian counterparts during his lifetime.
In Khaldei's photographs, visitors will be able to see some dramatic moments captured of street fighting, ruined buildings, bodies of soldiers who lost their lives on Vienna’s streets, and the first traces of a return to peaceful living, as well as Vienna's landmarks, the charred building of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the parliament, Heldenplatz Square, Soviet soldiers and the ordinary residents of the city.
One of Khaldei's most famous photographs taken during the liberation of Austria shows a group of Red Army soldiers against the backdrop of Austria's state flag, hoisted on the roof of Vienna's town hall while street fighting in the city was still in progress. On display at the exhibition are works by another Soviet photographer, Olga Lander, posters dating back to the period when the Red Army was stationed in Vienna, and genre scenes.
War horrors depicted
"In his work, Khaldei knew that he should focus on moments symbolizing liberation and the assistance given to the civilian population. Many photographers preferred to shun the horrors of war and the bodies of soldiers killed on both sides. Khaldei was a good reporter and he photographed such things, too," says Austrian publicist Erich Klein, the exhibition's curator, who was personally acquainted with Khaldei and shared some snapshots from the photographer's personal archive.
Klein said every single photo that Khaldei took in Vienna was valuable, but the works that remained unpublished in the Soviet era were of special interest to him. "As we look at these photos from 1945, we cannot escape the impression that we are strolling about Vienna and see very familiar places, but still everything around looks like a lunar or Martian landscape [war-ravaged beyond recognition]," Klein said.
Importance of photographs for Vienna
Historian Marcus Patka, another curator of the exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Vienna, stressed the special importance of the photos on display for the city.
"Khaldei's photographs are important to us because they show the other side of historical events. Many TV documentaries and films about World War II today contain mostly Nazi documentary footage. Generally speaking, not very many photographs from those years have come down to us. Those were days of poverty, hardship and war. Many people did not care about being photographed. And this is precisely what makes these pictures so important for Vienna's history," Patka said.
In particular, it is crucial to let the modern generation know what was happening during the liberation of Vienna, Patka said.
"The exhibition demonstrates a great moment in Austrian history - the liberation from the Nazi regime. It is also very important for us that we display works by professional photographers of Jewish descent - Yevgeny Khaldei, Olga Lander and others," Patka concluded.
Message of greeting from Russian ambassador
Russia's ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky said in his message of greetings the exhibition also showed the early days of independent Austria's revival.
"I am certain that the exhibition will evoke great interest from the Austrian audience and our compatriots who reside here. It is very important for the younger generation above all," Lyubinsky said.
"This exhibition of works by Yevgeny Khaldei is a bright chronicle of heroic accomplishments and tragic events of those years. It is also a call for preventing such horrors from ever happening again," Lyubinsky said.
The exhibition at Vienna's Jewish Museum will be open from May 12 to November 1.