Evgenij Chaldej

Soviet photojournalist for TASS, best known for iconic World War II images including Raising a flag over the Reichstag and the reindeer portrait 'Jasha'.

Worked as a TASS photographer and Red Army photojournalist during World War II; took the famous photograph of Soviet soldiers raising a red banner over the Reichstag (1945), a shot later acknowledged to have been staged and retouched; used cameras such as a Leica and a Zorkij (mentioned in reviews); the reviews note that Chaldej lost family members to the Nazis (father and four sisters) and that he fashioned a flag from a tablecloth for the Reichstag photograph.

Two reviews (both by enbar77) focus on Chaldej's wartime reportage: the Reichstag flag image and the reindeer 'Jasha'. Reviews emphasize the drama of combat, the emotional human moments, and acknowledge staging and propaganda in wartime imagery. Both reviews rate the works highly.

For:history readers, photography enthusiasts, students of propaganda and war reportage