Russia: Maria Limanskaya, Veteran of Brandenburg Madonna Photo, Dies
A female symbol of the USSR's victory over Nazi fascism has died at the age of 100
Maria Limanskaya, one of the most famous Soviet veterans of the Great Patriotic War, passed away on Tuesday, November 26, at the age of 100. Limanskaya became world famous after Soviet photographer Evgeny Khaldey captured her in a May 2, 1945 photo in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as she directed traffic a week before the Third Reich surrender.
The woman died in the Russia’s Saratov region, where she lived, according to Governor Roman Busargin.
Limanskaya, who joined the Red Army as a volunteer at age 18, first sewed soldiers’ uniforms and later became a military regulator of troop movements.
Her baptism of fire took place in Bataysk, Rostov region, where under enemy fire she led the ferrying of soldiers across the Don.
Maria Limanskaya also took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, then in Simferopol, Crimea. She was later transferred to Belorussia and took part in the liberation of Poland from Hitler’s Nazis, before reaching Berlin. At the time of the famous photo, Limanskaya was 21 years old.
After the Great Patriotic War, Maria Limanskaya (75 years old in the photo) worked first as a nurse and then as a librarian.
In 2020, a bronze monument, “Brandenburg Madonna” (photo below), was unveiled in Limanskaya’s honor in the Russian city of Marks (Saratov region).
