Mehr über Yevgeny Khaldei
J. Chaldej is one of the most important war photographers of the Second World War. His American counterpart is the famous Robert Capa. The two met at the Nuremberg Trials and became friends. Robert Capa even gave J. Chaldej his large-format camera, a Speed Graphics, so that J. Chaldej could work more efficiently. Later, J. Chaldej reciprocated by developing R. Capa's film when the latter, along with John Steinbeck, became one of the first Western journalists to travel to the Soviet Union after the war. They also shared an important personal connection that runs like a thread through both their lives. R. Capa came from a Jewish family of tailors. J. Chaldej was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, and is also of Jewish descent. More on this can be found in his biography. J. Chaldej had a far more difficult time than R. Capa and his other American colleagues. He worked under one of the most horrific dictatorships in history. J. Khaldei's freedom and scope for action under Stalinism were very limited. Today we know that he used them to the fullest extent possible and didn't shy away from risking his life. Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer found a war diary among his belongings. Writing such a diary was punishable by death for Soviet soldiers during World War II. There was no exception for journalists. And there was another crucial difference. Soviet soldiers didn't have to pull out all the stops to be deployed directly to the front. They were assigned there because they were soldiers first and foremost, and photographers secondarily. The death list of Soviet war photographers is long. That J. Khaldei survived the entire war is nothing short of a miracle. And there was another major problem: the lack of equipment. When J. Khaldei was first sent to the front near Murmansk, he received a mere 100 meters of film, enough for many months. Considering the task at hand, this was a laughable amount. J. Chaldej made the best of it. Biography: March 10, 1917 Chaldej is born in Yusovka, later Stalino, now Donetsk (Ukraine) as the son of a Jewish family. 1918 His mother is murdered during a pogrom; Chaldej is seriously injured. J. Chaldej on the incident: "Pogroms still happen today, even though Stalin is no longer around. There were also pogroms under Brezhnev and Khrushchev, again and again. Your passport bears the mark of Cain, that you are a Jew—that's it." 1925–1929 School years. The twelve-year-old builds his first camera. "I took my first photos with a homemade camera. There were no specific subjects; I photographed the church, the streets—all inanimate objects. I was neither a professional photographer nor did I have a good camera; I was twelve years old." 1930-1936: Worker in a steel plant in Donetsk. At 15, he published his first photograph (portrait of a top worker). "I photographed Soviet heroes, workers who achieved production records, peasants, all this propaganda material. At the time, nobody considered it propaganda." During a trip through the Stalino region in 1932, he accompanied an agitation brigade as a photographer and was confronted with the mass starvation resulting from forced collectivization. 1936: After working for regional newspapers, Khaldei was sent to Moscow in 1936 for a course at the Soyuz Photo Agency. He moved from Yusovka to Moscow. "I lived in a communal apartment with eight families, and in seven of these cases, people disappeared without a trace; it could have happened to me too. We grew up in an atmosphere where everyone was everyone else's enemy, and we didn't know what had been done to them, only that they had vanished." 1936-1948 Photo correspondent for the TASS news agency. 1941-1945 Official war photographer in the Red Army. "I felt it was necessary. After all, I was a soldier myself. I was in Murmansk, on the Black Sea, in Novorossiysk, with the troops in Kerch on the Crimea, and later near Sevastopol. Sevastopol was liberated on May 9, 1944, a year before the victory. But we didn't know then that the victory would be celebrated on May 9, 1945." Presumably in 1943, Khaldei received the rank of lieutenant (Navy) for his service. From 1944 onwards, he accompanied the advance of the 3rd Ukrainian Front as a photographer and was present at the capture of Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest, Belgrade, and Vienna. "I always worked alone; nothing could distract me. All I had was my black leather coat, a uniform cap, a few clothes, and chemicals for developing film in my rucksack. I always found something to eat and always a place to sleep, usually in cellars or destroyed houses." At the end of April 1945, he was seconded to Berlin to document the victory over fascism. In 1941 or 1942, Khaldei's father and his sisters Etia, Zilia, and Riwa were among the two million Soviet Jews murdered by German Einsatzgruppen. "They weren't shot, but thrown alive into coal mines, along with 75,000 other people! That was in 1941/42. I hated the Germans very much then. Unfortunately, I later learned that many Russians actively participated." In 1945, he was an official Soviet photographer during the Potsdam Conference (TASS). In 1945, he married Svetlana. In 1946, he was an official Soviet photographer during the Nuremberg Trials (TASS). In 1947, his daughter Anna was born. In 1948, Chaldej was dismissed by TASS for alleged unprofessionalism. "Immediately after the Potsdam Conference, I went to the Far East, to China, then to Nuremberg in August, and afterwards to Paris. When I returned to civilian life, the photojournalist TASS dismissed me, claiming there was no more work for me. The real reason was that I was Jewish." From 1948 to 1951, he eked out a living with odd jobs. From 1951 to 1956, he photographed for various smaller newspapers and magazines. In 1956, his son Leonid was born. 1956-1971 Photographer at Pravda. "Then I started at the Friendship Society Abroad and in 1956 at Pravda. I stayed there for fifteen years. On assignment for Pravda, I traveled throughout the Soviet Union." From 1971 Photographer at Sovetskaya Kultura. "I continued to take photographs until the Gorbachev era. Gorbachev was the last person I photographed. I still have an interest in photography, but not in the events themselves. I used to photograph all the interesting events; I was interested in people and events." 1994 First exhibition in the West at the Neukölln Art Office, Berlin, Körnerpark Gallery, Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer Collection. Also the first book in the West: “From Moscow to Berlin”, edited by Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer. 1997. On October 6, Khaldei dies in Moscow. Quotes from: “From Moscow to Berlin”, edited by Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer, pp. 121-125 and Brian Moynahan, “Witness of History”, The Time Magazine, September 17, 1994, p. 2881.