Skip to main content
  1. Art
  2. The Collection

Digging Anti-Tank Trenches Near Moscow

Dmitri Baltermants

Artwork Details

Digging Anti-Tank Trenches Near Moscow
1941; printed 2003
Dmitri Baltermants
gelatin silver print on paper
16 in x 240 in (40.64 cm x 609.6 cm)
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80
2013/2.327

On Display

Not currently on display

Tags

Description

Subject Matter:

This photograph provides a view downward onto a group of women digging trenches in a barren landscape. In the background, a winding ribbon of workers can be seen engaged in a similar activity. This image evokes the notion of total war, where a nation’s entire resources, including its civilian population, are involved in the war effort. This image forms part of Baltermants’ larger project—as an official photographer to the Kremlin—which, spread across numerous portfolios, aimed to document scenes from the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945), known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War.  

Physical Description:

A large group of women with pickaxes and shovels dig a trench in a barren landscape.

Usage Rights:

If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.