Man, who raised USSR's flag over Berlin in 1945, dies

Man, who raised Soviet Union’s flag over Berlin in 1945, dies

WWII veteran Mikhail Minin, a Hero of the Soviet Union, the man, who raised the USSR flag, the banner of Victory, over Germany’s Reichstag in May of 1945, died.

Minin will be buried on January 12 in his native city of Pskov where he resided until then, Interfax report.

Mikhail Minin was born in the village of Vanino in 1922. In June of 1941 he volunteered to join the army to fight against Nazi Germany. He took part in battles to liberate Leningrad from blockade and made his way across the fronts from Leningrad to Berlin.

When the Soviet army was storming Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945 Minin broke into the building and became the first man to raise the Red Banner on its tower. In May of 1945 Minin was awarded the title of the Soviet Union Hero for his deed and other services in battle. The famous photo does not show Minin but a Georgian soldier. It was not taken at the actual event.

Josef Stalin had urged his troops to mount the flag on the Reichstag building no later than May 1, 1945. Minin's superiors had told the soldiers that any piece of red cloth fixed to the building would symbolize that the battle was won.

Minin was part of a team of five soldiers who brought a red flag and tried to enter the building. They found most doors to be replaced by concrete and one door that was locked. The members of the group recalled seeing a tree limb nearby. Using the limb they managed to break the locked door by force. As they entered there was sporadic fire from German soldiers. They responded with their machine guns and managed to go up the stairs and reach the roof. Once there they decided to attach the flag to the large statue Germania over the entrance. At first they did not manage to fix the flag at a good place. Someone noticed that the person sitting on the statue was wearing a crown. They climbed the statue and managed to insert a metal pole with the flag inside the crown. They then used belts from their trousers to fix the flag at its location.

Minin was recognized for his feat, but was not really rewarded. As there were no photos taken when the flag was put on the roof on 10 p.m., other photos were taken on other occasions of which the one above has become most famous.

When the Great Patriotic War ended, Minin continued his army service. In 1959 he graduated from the Military Academy and joined special strategic purpose troops. Minin moved to Pskov in 1977 and decided to stay in the city afterwards.

Aw that sucks. I kinda suspected the photo wasn't the real deal but still, the real story is cool too.

It's like the communist version of Iwo Jima. The few Nazi's left lurking in the abandoned buildings of Berlin must've seen that and fainted!

Red Team has captured the flag!

Shit, and the background on my pc is not the real defenitive Fall of Berlin .

Praise to Mikhail Minin, Hero of the Soviet Union!
May he be happy in Heaven.

Pour a 40 out for a homie, playaz.

This thread is worthless without pics.

RIP Minin.

Quote:

First, they are called Germans,

False, they were Nazis.

Quote:

False, they were Nazis.

Military service was mandatory in Nazi Germany. Most citizens had a sense of national pride and were willing to fight for their country. Barring a small minority, they weren't any more eager to slaughter Jews, gypsies and homosexuals than the average soldier of any other nation.

I agree, but at this stage in the battle some of the largest contingents left were SS.

Possibly, but even the SS would've been pretty few and far between. Most of the sources I've read suggest that Germany had lost so much of its adult male population over the course of the war, that during the actual defence of Berlin the government had to resort to drafting old men and young boys to do most of the fighting.

Ok guys, please stick to the topic. This should not be another 'nazis should be called germans' topic or whatever. This should be about one of the strongest symbols in human history, so please, once again, stick to the topic.

While deleting off-topic posts I've overseen one of carius contributions, which I will trash now. The 'flow' of discussion will as a result be interrupted; I hope noone has a problem with that.

Well, it is sorry to see a true working class hero like that go, along with many of his comrades in the past decade.

I wonder what kind of life he lived post-1991. I know the soldier in the photograph spent his last days as a refugee from Georgian-controlled Abkhazia.

Always sad to see a real hero pass.

Long live the positive aspects of the USSR.

Its absolutely sad that he died.

However, one must not be worried about particulars. His planting the red flag was an accomplishment which was earned by millions of Soviets perishing.

The cult of personality which is rearing its head as a theme to this post is a bourgeois fetish.

Which if Comrade Minin were alive and a good Marxist he would denounce.

No silly one-liners! sp

No silly one-liners! sp

It's sad to see a man who was responsible for that iconic flag-raising photo over the Reichstag go and there should be more history lessons on this important event and others of significance. I wonder where I could find the picture of the Soviet flag raised over Capitol Hill? I would appreciate it if somebody found it for me.

Tails: The guy who posed with the flag in the iconic photo we all know (and shown in this thread) was actually Meliton Kantaria who died in 1993. The first Soviet to reportedly raise the Soviet flag over the Reichstag was Mikhail Minin mentioned in this topic. He was not photographed doing so. Just wanted you to be clear on that.