Authors: Anne Applebaum
1.
The Red Army in Western Poland, March 1945 (PAP/DPA).
2.
The Reichstag, April 1945 (PAP/DPA).
3.
Soviet soldiers distributing food to German civilians, May 1945 (PAP/DPA).
4.
Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest, summer 1945 (Terror Háza).
5.
Family meal in the ruins of Warsaw (PAP).
6.
A woman selling bread on a street corner in Warsaw, summer 1945 (PAP).
7.
Germans expelled from the Sudetenland, awaiting deportation (CTK).
8.
German peasants on their way out of Hungary (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum).
9.
Polish partisans from the underground National Armed Forces, south-central Poland, spring 1944 (PAP/DPA).
10.
A Polish partisan accepts amnesty and turns in his weapons (PAP).
11.
Mátyás Rákosi addresses Budapest crowds, 1946 (MTI).
12.
Demonstration by the communist party in Łódź, Poland, 1946 (PAP).
13.
Election graffiti in Budapest, 1945 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum).
14.
Voting in the Polish countryside, 1947 (PAP).
15.
The communist party triumphant, 1949 (MTI).
16.
István Dobi, Mátyas Rákosi, Ernő Gerő, Mihály Farkas, József Révai (MTI).
17.
Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, Otto Grotewohl (PAP/DPA).
18.
Bierut receiving congratulations on his sixtieth birthday (PAP).
19.
A Corpus Christi procession, Poland, 1947 (PAP).
20.
Cardinal Jószef Mindszenty with an army escort in Budapest, 1947 (MTI).
21.
Soviet soldiers distributing newspapers in the eastern zone of Germany, 1945 (PAP/DPA).
22.
Hungarian peasants gathered around their village radio, 1951 (MTI).
23.
The Free German Youth helps to form young minds (PAP/DPA).
24.
The Free German Youth makes good use of its summer vacation (PAP/DPA).
25.
The Union of Polish Youth rebuilds Warsaw (PAP).
26.
The Union of Polish Youth puts on a gymnastic display (PAP).
27.
Polish shock workers in Gdańsk register their daily output (PAP).
28.
Zsófia Teván and Júlia Kollár, posing for the camera on a building site in Sztálinváros.
29.
Adolf Hennecke, a German coal miner (PAP/DPA).
30.
Ignác Pióker, a Hungarian factory worker (MTI).
31.
The Palace of Culture in Warsaw (Photographer: Lisa Larsen/Time & Life Pictures/Getty).
32.
A 1952 Warsaw May Day parade (PAP).
33.
A 1949 Budapest May Day parade (MTI).
34.
A detail from Max Lingner’s mural
Aufbau der Republik
, 1952 (PAP/DPA).
35.
András Kocsis at work on his sculpture
Agricultural Brigade
, 1954 (MTI).
36.
The Women’s Construction Brigade, Sztálinváros (MTI).
37.
Young workers on a break, Stalinstadt (PAP/DPA).
38.
Delegates march into the Walter Ulbricht Stadium (PAP/DPA).
39.
A Free German Youth fanfare corps performs (PAP/DPA).
40.
Spontaneous dancers, Warsaw Youth Festival, 1955 (PAP).
41.
Carefully planned displays, Warsaw Youth Festival, 1955 (PAP).
42.
Demonstrators throwing stones at Soviet tanks, Berlin, June 17, 1953 (PAP/DPA).
43.
Carrying away the wounded, Berlin, June 17, 1953 (PAP/DPA).
44.
Hungarian rebels on a tank, Budapest, October 1956 (Terror Háza).
45.
Shots fired at Bierut’s portrait, Poznań, October 1956 (PAP).
46.
Soviet tanks return, Budapest, November 4, 1956 (Bentley Archive/Popperfoto/Getty).