40 Photos That Give Us Better Insight Into That Mystery Called Soviet Union

What was life in the USSR like?

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• February 11, 2022

The Soviet Union was a giant in every sense. It was a military superpower with thousands of ICBMs and millions of tanks and soldiers all ready to attack the western world.

Well, that's how most of us saw it. But what about the people who lived there? What were they like?

It was a vast country, and it was a closed country. And that adds to its mysteriousness.

At least for us westerners. For residents there, it was business as usual.

There's nothing like a little historical perspective and contrast to make you reconsider what's going on in the world right now. Many people, particularly those in the West, still have little idea of what life was like behind the Iron Curtain.

That's where the social media project "Soviet Visuals" comes in. It collects and distributes historical photographs, propaganda posters, graphics, and architectural pictures from the Soviet Union in order to help people understand the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.

And it is eye-opening. Too bad they didn't have the Internet back then.

Then the people on both sides could see that the "enemy" is just a regular Joe or Jane, just trying to get by and raise their families. We've chosen 40 of the most interesting photos from the group.

Take a look:

1. "Baby Yoda Is Just Capitalist Cheburashka. May The 4th Be With You!"

2. "Soviet Postcard, 1955"

3. "Soviet Postcard, 1956"

4. "Young Pioneers In Defense Drill. Photo By Viktor Bulla, Leningrad, USSR, 1937"

5. "Post-Soviet Visual. Photo By Tatyana Rodionova"

6. "Leonid Brezhnev And Erich Honecker. Photo By Helmuth Lohmann, Berlin, GDR, 1979"

7. Soviet Punks During The August 1991 Coup In Moscow

8. "Self-Made New Year Robot Costume, USSR, 1964"

9. “We Are Not Raising Our Sons For War!" Soviet Poster, 1957

10. "Pictures Of A Russian Meteorologist Who Spent 30 Years At An Arctic Meteorology Base. By Evgenia Arbugaeva"

11. "Dutch Fashion Models Sonja Bakker And Femke Van De Bosch In Moscow. Photo By Paul Huf, USSR 1965"

12. "Soviet Cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin And Gherman Titov In Their Flight Suits And Helmets, In A Bus Heading Toward The Vostok 1 Launch Site In Baykonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, USSR, On 12 April 1961. Gagarin Was Soon To Become Famous As The First Man In Space"

13. .8. "Children In Sleeping Bags Are Being Taken To Have Their Mid-Day Nap, 1930s, Ussr"

14. "Belka And Strelka, Soviet Space Dogs. Photo By Yuri Krivonosov, 1960"

15. "Post-Soviet Visual. Fish Sellers In The Market Of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, March 1993"

16. "My Grandma With Her Classmates. Lori Region, Armenia, 1966-1967"

17. "Architect" Soviet Construction Kit For Children, 1980s"

18. "The Face Of Imperialism" Soviet Belarusian Poster, 1967"

19. "Spring In Yakutsk, 1967"

20. "Soviet Swimmer Maria Havrish Congratulates Her Rival Elena Kovalenko, Who Defeated Her In The Breaststroke Competition At The Spartakiad Of The Peoples Of The USSR In Moscow, 1956"

21. Azerbaijani Wedding, USSR, 1965

22. "Post-Soviet Visual"

23. "Soviet Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev Was In Space When The Soviet Union Fell Apart In 1991. Unable To Return Home, He Had To Stay In Space Until Further Notice. The Cosmonaut Eventually Returned Back To Earth After 10 Months In Orbit - To A Very Different Nation. Photo By Volkov/Tass"

24. "Kievskaya Metro Station. Photo By Dean Conger, Moscow, USSR, 1964"

25. "World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov (Right) Holds Demo Game At The Sports Festival Dedicated To The XVIII Komsomol Congress. Photo By Vladimir Rodionov, USSR, 24 April 1978"

26. "Snow Drifts In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Photo By Yuri Sadovnikov, USSR, 1968"

27. "Belka The Space Dog Upon Returning From Her Cosmic Voyage. USSR, August 1960"

28. "Ice Swimmers In Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, 1960s"

29. "Amanauz Hotel Abandoned During Construction, Dombay, USSR, 1985"

30. "The Remains Of A Concrete Apartment Building In Kirovsky, A Former Fisherman Village In Kamchatka Which Was Abandoned In 1964"

31. "Post-Soviet Visual. "The Return" Painting By Georgy Kurasov, Russia, 2005"

32. "Vacationers Sunbathing On The Coast Of The Gulf Of Riga In Jurmala. Photo By Yakov Berliner, Latvian SSR, 1975"

33. "May Day Celebration. Photo By Ilya Pavlyuk, Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, 1968"

34. School Pencil Case, USSR, 1970s"

35. "Bread On Sale In A Supermarket. Photo By Chris Niedenthal, Sofia, People's Republic Of Bulgaria, 1985"

36. "Post-Soviet Visual. Meanwhile In The Moscow Metro"

37. "Soviet Linguist, Epigrapher And Ethnographer Yuri Knorozov, Who Is Particularly Renowned For The Pivotal Role His Research Played In The Decipherment Of The Maya Script, The Writing System Used By The Pre-Columbian Maya Civilization Of Mesoamerica, 1971"

38. "Boy Standing In Front Of Fallen Statue Of Lenin. Photo By Dario Mitidieri, Ethiopia, 1991"

39. "Babies Sleep Well In The Air In A Light Frost. Nursery №155. Dzerzhinsky District Of Moscow. Photographer Dmitry Baltermantz. 1958"

40. "8 March-International Women's Day" Soviet Postcard, 1961

Something huge and mysterious as the Soviet Union is bound to attract attention. It was an important factor in the world for more than 70 years, and it shaped the lives of many people (and this is not limited to its citizens only).

Fortunately, the cold war is over, and the Iron Curtain is no more. But what’s sad is that divisions in the world still persist, 30 years after the fall of the Berlin wall.

Isn’t it time to change that?

Damjan