Q 01/05

What was scratched out of the famous photo of a Soviet flag over Berlin because it hinted at looting?

A) A stolen bicycle

B) A sack of silverware

C) A bottle of cognac

D) A second wristwatch

Answer · why

D) A second wristwatch

A second wristwatch on a sergeant's arm was removed with a needle before the picture was published. It was later claimed that the extra one was really...

Q 02/05

Soviet artillery began shelling central Berlin on 20 April 1945, a date that marked which occasion for Adolf Hitler?

A) His wedding day

B) His 56th birthday

C) His final broadcast

D) His rise to power

Answer · why

B) His 56th birthday

His 56th birthday drew Hitler above ground for the last time, to pin Iron Crosses on boy soldiers in a ruined garden. The Soviet guns then fired until...

Q 03/05

The Soviet flag in the famous 1945 Berlin rooftop photograph was brought by the photographer and sewn from what?

A) Three tablecloths

B) Two hotel bedsheets

C) A theater curtain

D) A silk parachute

Answer · why

A) Three tablecloths

Three tablecloths were stitched together by the photographer's uncle for this very purpose, so the best-known image of the fighting was planned before...

Q 04/05

Soviet soldiers raising a red flag in May 1945 were famously photographed on the roof of which Berlin building?

A) The Brandenburg Gate

B) The Berlin Cathedral

C) The Reichstag

D) The Kroll Opera House

Answer · why

C) The Reichstag

The Reichstag had stood gutted since its 1933 fire, yet the Soviets attached huge symbolic value to capturing the old parliament. The picture restaged...

Q 05/05

Gold that Heinrich Schliemann dug from which legendary city was handed to the Soviets at a Berlin flak tower in 1945?

A) Troy

B) Mycenae

C) Babylon

D) Carthage

Answer · why

A) Troy

Troy's gold, known as Priam's Treasure, vanished to Moscow. Officials there denied knowing its fate for decades, until the Pushkin Museum admitted in ...