Soviet photographer and renowned photojournalist Yevgeny Khaldei covered the events of World War II in a series of compelling photos that were not widely exhibited until the mid-1990s.
Khaldei was born to a Jewish family living in Ukraine in 1917. He developed an early interest in photography and became a photojournalist at a young age. In the first year of World War II, he covered the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland. In October 1941, while Khaldei was deployed with the Red Army, the Germans overran his hometown. Some of the town’s Jewish population—including most of Khaldei’s family—were murdered. Moving with Soviet forces through Europe, Khaldei documented the Soviet experience of war in photographs. Some of his better known images include pictures of the Soviets conquering Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin in 1945.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.