On May 7, 2021, the exhibition On Opposite Sides of the Front Line, created to mark the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, opened in the Recess of the Eastern Gallery, the State Hermitage Museum, Russia. The exhibition was originally scheduled to be held in May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum had to be closed to visitors, the opening of the exhibition thus postponed to 2021.
The exhibition presents books, pictorial and documentary materials created by Soviet and German print shops that tell about the life-and-death confrontation that took place on the approaches to Leningrad during the war. One side of the display presents Soviet and Russian publications, graphic art and illustrative material of the war and post-war years recording the ruined architectural monuments in Leningrad, its suburbs and elsewhere. The exhibition also includes Soviet armistice leaflets designed for German troops and military posters printed in Sverdlovsk. The other side of the display presents German publications. They include the gift album 12 BILDER AUS RUSSLAND ("12 Pictures from Russia") that was produced for Christmas 1943 and intended to be sent home to Germany, to the families of the men besieging Leningrad. The album is made up of photographs with the scenery of Leningrad under occupation, taken by a German military photographer.
The exhibition will be on display till June 27.
Source: The State Hermitage Museum, Russia (abridged)