Both sides of this photographer’s work are equally beautiful: scenes of simple Soviet life and shots straight from the battlefield.
Born in Tashkent, Georgy Zelma made many work trips to Central Asia as a photographer and became famous throughout the USSR for his photographic evidence of life not only in his native Uzbek SSR, but also in other republics.
He advocated women’s rights, supported the emancipation of women in the East and actively reported on women’s rallies in Asia.
During World War II, Zelma was at the front and took pictures for the ‘Izvestia’ newspaper. Many of his shots have become classics of war photography.
After the war, he continued to collaborate with a variety of Soviet magazines and traveled all over the Union, shooting a wide range of life, from agriculture to fishing and manufacturing.
International Women’s Day, March 8. Tashkent, 1924
In the marriage registry office. Tashkent, 1925
Get rid of the burka! 1925
“At the call of the Komsomol – to the mine!” Female workers at the Gorlovka mine, 1930
Reading an announcement. Uzbek SSR, 1930s
Holiday demonstration on the Red Square, 1931
Stalin speaking at the V8th III All-Union Congress of Soviets, 1936 (photo in collaboration with Mikhail Prechner)
First propeller glider on the Moscow-Volga canal, 1937
Komsomol girl Ganna Pashkova, 1930s
Writer Konstantin Simonov on the Northern Front, 1941
“Stand to the death!” 1942
“Let the soldiers sleep for a while”, 1942
Spring POWs, 1942
Street battles in Stalingrad, Fall 1942
Brothers in arms. Stalingrad, December 1942
German prisoners of war in Stalingrad, 1942
Victory flag over Stalingrad, 1943
An Award to the patriot, 1943
Striking worker Pasha Angelina with members of her brigade in the fields before harvesting, 1945
Spring in the Karakum desert, 1950s
Komsomol lake. Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, 1954
Fisherman. Estonian SSR, 1970s
Factory conveyor belt. Estonian SSR, 1970s
Schoolchildren-pioneers. Kyrgyz SSR, 1970s
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