theatlantic:

World War II: Women at War

For the nations who were deeply involved in World War II, the war effort was total, with women volunteering in huge numbers alongside men and filling traditionally male positions at home, in industry, and the military. Women took both active and supporting positions in factories, government organizations, military auxiliaries, resistance groups and more. While relatively few women were at the front lines as combatants, many found themselves the victims of bombing campaigns and invading armies. By the end of the war, more than 2 million women worked in war industries, hundreds of thousands volunteered as nurses or members of home defense units, or became full-time members of the military. In the Soviet Union alone, some 800,000 women served alongside men in army units during the war. Collected here are images of women involved directly in the events of World War II, and some of what they experienced and endured

Above: Symbolic of the defense of Sevastopol, Crimea, is this Russian girl sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who, by the end of the war, had killed a confrimed 309 Germans — the most successful female sniper in history. (AP Photo)

See more incredible photos at In Focus

minusmanhattan:

City of Shadows by Alexey Titarenko.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, photographer Alexey Titarenko observed how St. Petersburg streets that used to be lively and filled with joyful people had suddenly turned dark and gloomy, with people confused, malnourished, and worn out. He decided to capture this change by shooting the streets at slow shutter speeds, turning the downtrodden crowds into shadowy figures.

(via bigmouthedwoman)

liquidnight:

Wolf Suschitzky

St Paul’s Cathedral

London, 1942

From Wolf Suschitzky: Photos

nevver:

Third Avenue El, 1955

liquidnight:

Carl Mydans

“Novelist Vladimir Nabokov looking out of a car window. He likes to work in the car, writing on index cards.”

Ithaca, New York, September 1958

[From the LIFE magazine Photo Archive]

liquidnight:

Bill Brandt

A. J. P. Taylor, 1957

From The Photography of Bill Brandt

liquidnight:

A Female Mason Perched High above Berlin, circa 1910

“With the rise of industrialization, the number of German women who worked outside the home also increased. This usually meant factory work. But in some families with their own businesses, daughters also learned a trade so that they could help out: here, we see a master-mason’s daughter during the renovation work on the old city hall tower in Berlin.”

[via Vintage Spirit]

nihilnoetia:

Monochrome Turner’s sigh - Sylvain Lagarde