The second part of unique photos taken by Major Martin Manhoff, who spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s as an assistant to the military attache in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

The first part of the photos.

View of the Kremlin from Moskvoretskaya Embankment.

Moscow in the early 1950s

Tags: Moscow city · Soviet past

Soviet propaganda was diverse and influenced the minds of people all the time. Let’s see how the image of a woman was used and gradually changed on Soviet posters. Source: humus

Woman! Learn to read and write!
Oh, mother! If you were literate, you could help me! (1923)

Soviet propaganda posters

Tags: propaganda · Soviet past

Major Martin Manhoff spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. He worked as an assistant to the military attache in the U.S. Embassy, ​​located near Red Square.

Manhoff, being a gifted photographer, shot hundreds of scenes from everyday Soviet life – both in Moscow and in other regions of the USSR.

Construction of the hotel “Ukraina” from the roof of the U.S. Embassy on Novinsky Boulevard. On the left you can see the Church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus (1954).

Moscow in the early 1950s

Tags: Moscow city · Soviet past

Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1956), a Russian graphic artist, sculptor and photographer, was a true genius of Soviet propaganda, one of the founders of constructivism, the founder of design and advertising in the USSR.

Rodchenko is probably the most famous Russian photographer, almost everybody in Russia has seen at least a couple of his photos. Let’s get acquainted with some of his works. Source: humus.

On the corner of Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow (1920s)

people in the early Soviet Union

Tags: Soviet past

In the late 1970s, after the closure of the Soviet lunar program and work on the super-heavy carrier rocket N1, the development of a new super-heavy rocket called “Energy” began.

The first launch was made in 1987, and, in 1988, the rocket put into orbit the Soviet space shuttle “Buran.” Photos by: Ralph Mirebs.

abandoned rocket

Tags: Abandoned · Soviet past

June 2, 2015, Baikonur Cosmodrome, the cradle of space exploration and the largest Russian spaceport, celebrated its 60th anniversary. Over the years, a lot of different space vehicles were tested on its territory, the apex of which was the system of “Energy-Buran”. But history has chosen its path and the project died in infancy.

More than two decades ago, heavy sliding doors of an assembling and filling complex were closed cutting off two orbiting spacecraft from the sky. How ironic that the birthplace of these spaceships became their burial place.

the remnants of the Soviet shuttles

Tags: Abandoned · Soviet past

In the fifties, Semyon Osipovich Friedland, Soviet photographer and journalist, made a lot of high-quality color photographs in all parts of the Soviet Union.

Thanks to his work, we can now see people’s life in the USSR after World War II. Of course these photos are staged but nevertheless quite interesting from a historical perspective.

Soviet historical photos

Tags: Soviet past

Interesting set of photos of Yuri Gagarin – the first man in space. During his life and after death, Yuri Gagarin was shown as the ideal man, the symbol of communism.

But who was he in real life? These rare photos are from the life of the man by the name of Yuri Gagarin.

Physical exercise. Summer 1963.

more unique photos

Tags: Soviet past

Here is the second part of photos on the state of the Read Army just before the Second World War, in 1936. We can see the Red Army soldiers at study, rest and in combat. Pictures by humus

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Tags: propaganda · Soviet past

May 9 in Russia and some countries of the former Soviet Union is celebrated as the Day of Victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Paying tribute to those who died in the war, we want to share with you a number of unique photos from an album on the state of the Red Army just before the war, in 1936. Pictures by humus

The Red Army in 1936 – Part 2

Soviet young people go with joy to their Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army

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Tags: propaganda · Soviet past