Dmitri Baltermants
Overview
Dmitri Baltermants (May 13, 1912 – 1990) was a prominent Soviet photojournalist. He was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father served in the Imperial Russian Army and was killed in the First World War. Baltermants graduated from the Moscow State University to become a math teacher in a Military Academy, but fell in love with photography and began a career in the field of photojournalism in 1939. He was an official Kremlin photographer, worked for the daily Izvestia and was picture editor of the popular magazine Ogonyok. During World War II, Baltermants covered the battle of Stalingrad, and the battles on of the Red Army in Russia and Ukraine. He was twice wounded. Just like his fellow photographers covering the Red Army during the war, Baltermants’ images were always censored by Soviet authorities in order to select only the ones that reflected on the positive sides of service in order to help boost morale. Some of his most captivating photos were suppressed, and became public much later, in the 1960s. One of the more famous images, called “Grief”, depicts a 1942 Nazi massacre of Jews in the Crimean city of Kerch. It shows the grief of village women as they search for the bodies of their loved ones. A powerful oversaturated sky above, burnt in during the printing of the photo, makes the image even more dramatic. This Image was used on the cover of the Dir En Grey album, The Marrow of a Bone.
Featured Exhibitions
Katyushas firing a Volley, 1943
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
9 x 22.8 in. (23 x 58 cm)
German Prisoners of War marching through Moscow, 1944
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
7.9 x 11 in. (20 x 28 cm)
Refugees, 1942
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
10.2 x 15 in. (26 x 38 cm)
War Prisoners, 1943
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
7.9 x 11.4 in. (20 x 29 cm)
War-time road, 1941
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
11 x 15.7 in. (28 x 40 cm)
Romanian War Prisoners, 1942
Gelatin silver print, unique print
7.9 x 11.4 in. (20 x 29 cm)
Halt during the March, 1945
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
10.2 x 15.4 in. (26 x 39 cm)
Night Battle, 1942
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
16 x 23.2 in. (41 x 59 cm)
War Prisoners after Stalingrad’s Battle, 1942
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
7.5 x 22.4 in. (19 x 57 cm)
Protecting the harvest, 1941
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
10.2 x 15 in. (26 x 38 cm)
Parade on Red Square, 1941
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
9.8 x 15.7 in. (25 x 40 cm)
Following the Tank Attack
Gelatin silver print, unique print
7.5 x 11.4 in. (19 x 29 cm)
Soviet Troops on the way to Stalingrad, 1942
Gelatin silver print, printed 1950s
5.9 x 20.5 in. (15 x 52 cm)
Close Combat, 1943
Gelatin silver print, unique print
10.2 x 14.6 in. (26 x 37 cm)
Forward!, 1943
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
10.2 x 14.2 in. (26 x 36 cm)
On the Roads of Germany, 1945
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, unique print
5 x 11.4 in. (13 x 29 cm)
Battle for a Village, 1941
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
11.4 x 15.7 in. (29 x 40 cm)
Commander of Artillery, 1942
Gelatin silver print, unique print
9 x 10.6 in. (23 x 27 cm)
Soldiers with binoculars
Gelatin silver print, unique print
12.6 x 19.3 in. (32 x 49 cm)
Attack, 1941
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
Request print details
Grief, Ukraine, 1942
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
11.4 x 15.4 in. (29 x 39 cm)
Playing Tchaikovski, 1945
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
11.4 x 15.4 in. (29 x 39 cm)
Barbed Wire
Gelatin silver print, unique print
11 x 11.4 in. (28 x 29 cm)
Red Square, 1947
Gelatin silver print, printed 1960s
10.2 x 11 in. (26 x 28 cm)
Near Stalingrad, 1941
Gelatin silver print
6.3 x 11 in. (16 x 28 cm)