Intriguing glimpse of Soviet-era Kyiv: Photos targeted for destruction by security agency
"What was Kyiv like during the times of the Soviet Union (Collage: RBC-Ukraine)
The prolonged existence within the Soviet Union could not help but influence the cultural and everyday life of Kyiv residents. Since the Soviet authorities had a tendency to conceal unfavorable information, the same happened with photographs of the everyday life of that time.
RBC-Ukraine presents authentic photos from the life of the capital that the Committee for State Security (CSS) employees wanted to destroy.
Prohibited photos of Kyiv
The author of these photographs is Oleksandr Ranchukov. After graduating from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, he worked at the Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and also captured the life of that time as it was.
In an old interview, he said, "If you pick up the newspapers of that time, you'll see how unrealistically Soviet reality was portrayed in them."
A woman in a Kyiv alley passes by a poster with the inscription: "Glory to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union" (Photo: facebook.com/spraga.info)
According to him, everyone was depicted as happy, smiling, and hardworking, and only photos of the youth were published.
"Censorship was particularly strict when it came to photographs. In general, everything was embellished and distorted beyond recognition. But, surprisingly, most people got used to it. They got used to the fact that in newspapers, it was one thing, and in real life, it was completely different: total shortages, queues for food, a lack of many necessary goods, medicines, and more..." Oleksander explained.
People and Kyiv cakes (Photo: facebook.com/spraga.info)
Looking at the stark reality, he decided to capture the everyday life of Soviet Ukrainians. However, there was no question of publishing these shots.
People surrounded a foreign car (Photo: facebook.com/spraga.info)
Throughout most of his career, Ranchukov did not showcase his street work anywhere.
Only during the period of perestroika were he and other like-minded photographers allowed to participate in exhibitions. However, even then, the artists' perspective on Soviet life did not satisfy the authorities.
.jpg)
Kyiv residents during their life in the USSR (Photo: facebook.com/spraga.info)
One of the first exhibitions in Kyiv was closed just a day later by CSS employees and members of the Communist Party. The images did not please Soviet bureaucrats, but they clearly resonated with ordinary Kyiv residents.
Crowds lined up to see the photographs, as the exhibition reopened in a different location just an hour after its closure.
