Children at a kindergarten, young pioneers, games outside, civil defense lessons – these are scenes of regular Soviet children, but you may have seen them many times before. They’ve either become iconic illustrations of a happy Soviet childhood or simply stood out for their expressiveness. We gathered the best in one charming collection!
Village children’s doctor conducts an examination. Dmitry Baltermants, 1970s
Children sleeping outside in the winter – a popular practice for the prevention of respiratory diseases in the Soviet Union. Dmitry Baltermants
Goalkeeper. Vladimir Lagrange, 1961
A solfeggio lesson. Vladimir Lagrange, 1969
Young Chukotka inhabitant. Gennady Koposov, 1966
Blind pioneer. Antanas Sutkus, 1962
At a civil defense lesson. Rustam Mukhametzyanov, 1977
A short snack break and school news. The construction of the ‘Rossiya’ hotel. Yuri Abramochkin, 1965
The birth of a ballerina. Yuri Abramochkin, 1965
A boy collects apples in the north of Kazakhstan. Yuri Abramochkin, 1965
A girl and her mom go to redeem bottles at a glass processing site. Alexander Lapin, 1981
A phone conversation between kids at a kindergarten. Arkady Shaikhet, 1954
Young father in Moscow going for a walk. Viktor Akhlomov, 1965
Baltic Fleet sailors talk to a girl named Lyusya. She and other children are being evacuated from a besieged city. Boris Kudoyarov
Babies go potty at a nursery. Vitaly Karpov
Kindergartners in the city Zhodino cross a road. Evgeny Koktysh
Children games in a sandbox. Yuri Abramochkin
A girl at the shopfront of a Moscow department store ‘Detsky mir’ (‘Children’s World’). Galina Kiseleva
Soviet pioneers – the participants of the Red Square parade in Moscow in honor of the 50th anniversary of Soviet rule. Lev Polikashin
Spring in Moscow. Vadim Kruglikov, 1959
The kindergarten of the Ust-Ilimsk timber industry complex. The inhabitants of the north don’t have enough vitamin D in winter, so the little ones sunbathe under an artificial sun. Boris Babanov
Children in a phone booth. Oleg Neelov
Exciting festive fuss – getting a Christmas tree. Boris Kavashkin
A schoolgirl hauling a heavy school bag along a prospekt (avenue). Nikolay Malyshev
A boy and his friend in the Olenegorsky sovkhoz. Anatoly Kuzyarin
A Soviet schoolgirl. Vasily Titov
On the “Gas!” command, every pioneer put on a gas mask, that’s what it looked like in 1937. Viktor Bulla
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