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Raising a Flag over the Reichstag

Raising a Flag over the Reichstag (Russian: Знамя Победы над Рейхстагом, romanized: Znamya Pobedy nad Reykhstagom, lit.'Victory Banner over the Reichstag') is an iconic World War II photograph, taken during the Battle of Berlin on 2 May 1945 by Yevgeny Khaldei. The photograph was reprinted in thousands of publications and came to be regarded around the world as one of the most significant and recognizable images of World War II, but, owing to the secrecy of Soviet media, both the identity of photographer and the identities of the men in the picture were often disputed.

The Reichstag was seen as symbolic of, and at the heart of, Nazi Germany. It was arguably the most symbolic target in Berlin. After its capture on 2 May 1945, Khaldei scaled the now pacified Reichstag to take a picture. He was carrying with him a large flag, sewn from three tablecloths for this very purpose, by his uncle. The official story would later be that two hand-picked soldiers, Meliton Kantaria (Georgian) and Mikhail Yegorov (Russian), raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag, However, according to Khaldei himself, when he arrived at the Reichstag, he simply asked the soldiers who happened to be passing by to help with the staging of the photoshoot; the one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from Burlin, Kazakhstan, the two others were Abdulkhakim Ismailov from Dagestan and Leonid Gorychev (also mentioned as Aleksei Goryachev) from Minsk.

Photograph credit: Yevgeny Khaldei for TASS; restored by Adam Cuerden

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I am about to remove Yom HaShoah (2008). I am mentioning it here however because the Israeli government has moved it to the previous day so that the observance does not lead directly into Shabbat. Israel is doing all observances Wednesday Night through Thursday Afternoon. [1]. So I remove this in expectation that an admin will put it on May 1 (the Selected Anniversaries is locked because it is tomorrow's date. Thanks! Valley2city 16:35, 30 April 2008 (UTC)Reply

The image had been nominated for deletion at Commons since January. The nomination was valid and I've had to delete it. DurovaCharge! 05:54, 5 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

2012 notes

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howcheng {chat} 05:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

Addendum: Henri Toivonen (5th appearance, last in 2010) added later for balance. howcheng {chat} 16:03, 2 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

2013 notes

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howcheng {chat} 20:04, 1 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

2014 notes

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howcheng {chat} 07:10, 1 May 2014 (UTC)Reply

2015 notes

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howcheng {chat} 11:00, 30 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Comment-2016

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2016 notes

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howcheng {chat} 06:33, 30 April 2016 (UTC)Reply

2017 notes

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howcheng {chat} 15:45, 30 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

2018 notes

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howcheng {chat} 07:05, 2 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

"National Day of Prayer"

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I dispute that the "National Day of Prayer" in the United States should be called out as an On This Day. This is not a national holiday. I don't believe it is something "celebrated" (as its article claims) or even noticed by the majority of Americans. I believe it's religious agenda-pushing. I acknowledge my social circle doesn't represent all Americans, but in my social circle, this would only be known if someone were to see it mentioned on "On This Day" or in a 10 second news blurb.

(Sorry if this is the wrong place for this comment, and I didn't want to be bold and remove it) - On Sober Reflection (talk) 09:08, 1 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

@On Sober Reflection: We include lots of observances that aren't national holidays, major (Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day), minor (International Surfing Day), and jokey (Star Wars Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day). As for your claim of "agenda-pushing", I believe that's the same objection that conservatives would make to our inclusion of Transgender Day of Remembrance, so if we are adhering to NPOV, it seems to me that we should include it if possible. howcheng {chat} 16:10, 2 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

2019 notes

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howcheng {chat} 16:02, 2 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

2020 notes

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howcheng {chat} 17:55, 4 May 2020 (UTC)Reply

2021 notes

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howcheng {chat} 07:19, 4 May 2021 (UTC)Reply

2022 notes

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howcheng {chat} 06:53, 3 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

It should be "royal charter", not "Royal Charter"

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In fact, all that should be done is to remove the pipe [[royal charter|Royal Charter]] :) Surtsicna (talk) 16:06, 2 May 2023 (UTC)Reply

Done. Thanks, Prolog (talk) 12:19, 3 May 2023 (UTC)Reply