World War Two was the most destructive war in human history. Over seventy million people died because of one man’s ambition. This photo is taken in the German capital, Berlin, in the last few weeks of the war in Europe. Yevgeny Khaldei’s photo encapsulated the horror of war in his photo “Soviet Soldier over Reichstag.” He shows how destructive humanity is through the use of contrast, foreground versus background, and symbols.

Contrast is used to show the destructive nature of humans. The building that these two men are standing on has beautiful architecture and statues. This shows that humans are capable of doing great things during peace. In contrast, the city is in ruins and there are debris everywhere. This shows that we are capable of a great amount of destruction too. The soldier in the bottom right has two wristwatches on, indicating that he was looting. This shows that war not only destroys cities, but it also destroys our humanity. I think these two wristwatches are used to contrast the desires of people too. On the right arm, which is normally considered the dominant one, is a wristwatch that represents the will to persevere through hardship just as the soldiers here did. The wristwatch on the left arm, which is considered the inferior arm, represents the feelings of superiority that people have over one another. This is on the left arm because this feeling of superiority is normally suppressed, and looked down upon by society as a whole. It can only thrive in extreme circumstances such as war. Khaldei uses this picture of his to show how all of us can change to prevent further destruction, like in World War Two, from happening again. 

The destructiveness of humanity is shown using the foreground and the background of the picture. In the foreground, there are lots of debris. This represents the destruction of World War 2 and prior wars. The foreground takes up much less of the photo than the background, this is used to show that all those past wars combined are less than the total destruction that can potentially happen if another large war were to break out. The background shows the city of Berlin being destroyed and it takes up much more of the photograph. This represents the destruction that can happen if humans were to have another huge war like World War Two. The millions dead of World War Two will look like nothing because life, as we know it, can be wiped out with a single push of a button. Khaldei uses his picture to bring awareness to this fact.

The symbols in Khaldei’s are used to show the horrible and destructive nature of humanity as a species. The Soviet flag being raised by the soldier is probably seen, first, as a symbol of victory over the Germans, but the second thought that comes to mind is that it represents the complete and total destruction of anyone that opposes it. The soldier who is setting the flag up is a symbol that represents how people are the ones who uphold this destruction against others. The two statues that are still standing, are used to symbolize hope. They are still standing even after the continuous bombing from the allies. If these statues can still stand throughout the destruction, then humans can too.

World War Two, with all of its destruction, had one use, and that was to show people that war is and awful thing and should be avoided as much as possible. If people do not learn this, humankind could be wiped out with all of our nuclear weapons that we have developed since the end of World War Two. Yevgeny Khaldei’s picture serves as his way of showing the world what we are all capable of and that there is still hope that we can change. He does this through the use of contrast, foreground versus background, and the use of symbols.
