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Kyiv during World War II and today: photocollage

Kyiv 1943/2012. Red Army soldiers walking by the university building. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

Seventy-four years ago, on 6 November 1943, the Soviet army expelled the Nazi occupiers from Kyiv. Stalin ordered to seize the capital of Ukraine by the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik coup, 7 November. As the result, the losses of the Red Army in the Kyiv Offensive are estimated as 417,000 people, more than 3 times the German fatalities.

Soldiers of so-called “penal battalions” and mobilized residents of formerly occupied Ukrainian territories were first forced to swim across the Dnipro river. They drowned under the enemy fire in great numbers making the water read and salty from the blood.

In total, almost 4 million soldiers and officers from both sides were involved in the Battle of the Dnipro, and more servicemen died in it than in the Stalingrad Battle. Only one-fifth of Kyiv’s prewar population survived the two years of Nazi terror.

Russian Livejournal user Sergei Larenkov, who combines archive military photos with the modern appearance of the locations, created a series of photos dedicated to Kyiv during World War II. The modern photos of Kyiv were made in June 2012, just before the European football cup.

Kyiv 1941/2012. European Square. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. European Square. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. A Soviet traffic controller on Volodymyrska Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. A Soviet traffic controller on Volodymyrska Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. Tanks of Soviet General Rybalko units on Khreschatyk. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Tanks of Soviet General Rybalko units on Khreschatyk. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012 Deutsche Stadion - (Dynamo) - Lobanovsky Stadium. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012 Deutsche Stadion – (Dynamo) – Lobanovsky Stadium. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. German traffic controller on Brest-Litovsk Highway (Now Prospekt Peremohy Avenue). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. German traffic controller on Brest-Litovsk Highway (Now Prospekt Peremohy Avenue). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. Soviet soldiers near the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Soviet soldiers near the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1942/2012. The central street, Khreschatyk destroyed by the Soviets. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1942/2012. The central street, Khreschatyk destroyed by the Soviets. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1942/2012 May Day rally staged by the Nazis. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1942/2012 May Day rally staged by the Nazis. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. Red Army soldiers walking by the university building. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Red Army soldiers walking by the university building. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012 German units moving along Kirova Street (now Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012 German units moving along Kirova Street (now Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. The Red building of the university. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. The Red building of the university. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012 Melnykova Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012 Melnykova Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Zenit Stadium. Ukrainian collaborators near filtration camp for prisoners of war. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Zenit Stadium. Ukrainian collaborators near filtration camp for prisoners of war. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Zenit Stadium. Women searching for their relatives in the filtration camp for prisoners of war. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Zenit Stadium. Women searching for their relatives in the filtration camp for prisoners of war. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1942/2012 Tram in the occupied city. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1942/2012 Tram in the occupied city. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. A downed German armor vehicle on Brest-Lytovsk Highway (now Prospekt Peremohy Avenue). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Downed German armor vehicles on Brest-Lytovsk Highway (now Prospekt Peremohy Avenue). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. Writing on the wall "Inspected, mines not found." Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Writing on the wall “Inspected, mines not found.” Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. Sofiiska Square. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. Sofiiska Square. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. German gun on Stalin Square (now European Square). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. German gun on Stalin Square (now European Square). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012 German burial at Askoldova Mohyla Hill. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012 German cemetery on Askoldova Mohyla Hill. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1942/2012. #40, Velyka Zhytomyrska. Shop only for Germans. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1942/2012. #40, Velyka Zhytomyrska. Shop only for Germans. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012 German infantrymen entering the city near the blown-up building of the Arsenal. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012 German infantrymen entering the city near the blown-up building of the Arsenal. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Ivan Kushchnik Tower and Arsenal. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Ivan Kushchnik Tower and Arsenal. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Nazis on Askoldova Mohyla Hill. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Nazis on Askoldova Mohyla Hill. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Barricade on Kominterna Street (nowadays Symon Petliura Street). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Barricade on Kominterna Street (nowadays Symon Petliura Street). Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1944/2012. The Big Passage destroyed. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1944/2012. The Big Passage destroyed. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1941/2012. Building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1941/2012. Building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012 Khreschatyk Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012 Khreschatyk Street. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)

 

Kyiv 1943/2012. The building of the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine. Inscription on the wall made by the first Soviet units who entered Kyiv. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
Kyiv 1943/2012. The building of the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine. Inscription on the wall made by the first Soviet units who entered Kyiv. Collage: Sergey Larenkov (Livejournal)
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