Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

02:24:03
14/12/2016

cameralabs.org

Photographer Arthur Bondar learned from an advertisement that the family of a Soviet military photographer was selling old negatives. This photographer was Valery Faminsky, who was filming everything during the Second World War: from the liberation of Sevastopol to the complete surrender of fascist Germany. In 2011, he died and his heirs decided to sell the negatives, which were carefully preserved for decades.

Bondar contacted the family of the photographer, looked at the material and realized that he had stumbled on a unique historical images. The requested price for the freelance photographer was very high, but nevertheless Bondar still got the archive. He used the money he received from the sale of previously issued photo books about the Chernobyl exclusion zone “Shadows of the Wormwood Star”.

“I looked through the negatives and realized I held in my hands a huge piece of history that was mostly unknown to ordinary people, even citizens of the former U.S.S.R.,” he said. “We had so much propaganda from the World War II period, but here I saw an intimate look by Faminsky. He was purely interested in the people from both sides of the World War II barricades,” said Arthur Bondar to the New York Times.

Often the military photographs were staged for propaganda purposes. But the value of the images of Faminsky is in the fact that he filmed real life of ordinary soldiers and civilians.

Arthur Bondar shared already scanned negatives of Faminsky, which were taken in Germany in 1945.

“Through the Fire” on the streets of the city Bunzlau. Germany. April 1945.
Evacuation of wounded soldiers using the dogs. Seelow Heights, Germany. April 1945.
Germany. April-May 1945.
Last salvo in memory of tankers killed during the battle. East Germany. April 1945.
The last word in the memory of soldiers of tank crews, who were killed in battle. East Germany.
Transportation of wounded soldiers to the clinic on a horse carriage. Berlin, April 1945.
Germany. April-May 1945.
Waiting for the medical car to get to the hospital. East Germany. April 1945.
Soldiers clean their guns. Berlin, May 1945.
At first – bandaging, and then to the front line. Seelow heights, Germany. April, 1945.
On the bridge across the Spree river in Berlin. May 1945.
Distribution of leaflets with announcements of the German army’s surrender. Berlin, May 8, 1945.
Germany. April-May 1945.
Blood transfusion in the infirmary. Berlin. May 1945.
An artist from the Grekov studio draws a sketch. Berlin. May 1945.
Berlin. May 1945.
Berlin. May 1945.
Berlin. May 1945.
At the Reichstag in Berlin a solemn ceremony was held of sending the Banner of Victory in Moscow. May 20, 1945.
Germany. April-May 1945.
Wounded soldiers are given first aid. Berlin. April 1945.
Germany. April-May 1945.
Cleaning up the streets of Berlin. May 1945.