Turkish Schoolgirls

 Schoolgirls at a secondary school in Ankara (Angora), Turkey. 1935. 

Vassilis Dimitriou

Greek billboard-artist Vassilis Dimitriou, 80, poses in his small workshop in Athens on April 22, 2015. 

Far from the limelight of Cannes, Greece's last painter of film posters toils away in a little garden studio to deliver his latest commission. Dimitriou works alone and knows his days on the job are numbered -- his left hand trembles from the early onset of Parkinson's disease. But Dimitriou, a survivor of Greece's wartime occupation by the Nazis, remains determined to fight his lonely battle against digital printing for as long as he can. 

For him, it's an art that truly comes from the heart. For more than 65 years, the diminutive, beret-sporting artist has depicted all the big names, but some he pays extra attention to. 

Birger Loevenkrone

Blue Beret veteran, Birger Loevenkrone, who served on Cyprus as a corporal during three UN Peace Keeping missions between 1984 and 1986, attends UN International Peacekeepers Day at Kastellet on May 29, 2016 in Copenhagen.

Eleanor Roosevelt Bidding Farewell to Howard University Students and Faculty

As a Howard University Trustee, Eleanor Roosevelt bids farewell to 21 African American students and three faculty members of Howard University, before they sail off on the SS Stavangerfjord cruise ship. 

They will present a repertory of three plays in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Near Mrs. Roosevelt are James Butcher (second left from Roosevelt), Dr. Anne Cooke (left of Roosevelt), and Owen Dodson (front, far right).

The UK Commemorates The 100th Anniversary Of Armistice

A veteran attends the official opening of the Field of Remembrance at Royal Wootton Bassett, in the grounds of Lydiard House and Park near Swindon on November 9, 2018 in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. 

The armistice ending the First World War between the Allies and Germany was signed at Compiegne, France on eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - 11am on the 11th November 1918. 

70 Year Anniversary of D-Day

Teacher Laetitia Onfroy straightens the beret of student Maxim Ysabel (10) with her classmates in Guiberville, France, 5 June 2014. The students will sing at a ceremony which will be held on 6 June 2014 to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing by Allied Forces in France. D-Day marked the beginning of the advance into Europe which led to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Pierre Brice

Pierre Brice's casket, decorated with the French flag, stands in St. Michael's Church in Munich, Germany, 18 June 2015. 

His beret and the awards he received, including the The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Cross of the Legion of Honour, can be seen on a pillow. 

The actor best-known for his role as 'Winnetou' died of a lung infection on 06 June 2015 at the age of 86. 

Cigars and Berets

Boinero from Bretagne with beret and small cigar - 1982

Spain

An bearded man in a black beret. He is smoking the butt of a cigar.  Location Rudkobing, Langeland, Denmark.

French Workers in Germany

Cover of Cover of a propaganda brochure about French workers in Germany.

"The bad days are over. Papa earns money in Germany".

Edouard Lefevre's departure; the 100,000th French worker in Germany. Paris. Gare du Nord, November 1941. 

Federal State Parliament in Stuttgart

An older beret-wearing couple is sitting on the government front bench. Since the official opening of the new building of the Federal State Parliament in Stuttgart on 6 June 1961, the citizens have the possibility to visit the building.

Even the bravest democratic optimists would never have dreamed of such an interest: During the first two days there were around 30.000 - 40.000 visitors. 

Straw Bale Rolling

A man wearing a beret frowns as he rolls a bale of straw on Neukoelln's Richard Square in Berlin, Germany, on September 08, 2012. Twenty teams competed in the 179th Rixdorf Straw Bale Rolling.

The Beatles In Paris

The Beatles posed with a female model and wearing appropriate Gallic hats in Paris in January 1964. Clockwise from top: John Lennon (1940-1980), George Harrison (1943-2001), Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. 

New Recruits Join The Bundeswehr

New recruit Alina Engel (C) gets help adjusting her Bundeswehr-issued beret from fellow-recruit Alina Claus (R) on the day the two received their uniforms, helmet, boots and other basic equipment at the Julius-Leber Barracks on October 6, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. 

Hundreds of new recruits arrived at barracks across Germany on October 1 in the quarterly recruitment drive by the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces. Germany did away with conscription in 2011 and current Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen recently launched an initiative to make the Bundeswehr a more attractive employer, especially for families and women.  

Racing Card Drivers of the 1930's

 

Italian motor racing personalities: mechanic and Ferrari test driver Siena (left), with racing drivers Nuvolari (centre), and Borzacchini (right) in Berlin, 1933. Borzacchini died in a crash at the Italian Grand Prix the same year.

Racing driver smoking a cigarette, Germany, 1935.

Achille Varzi beside a Bugatti Type 51, Germany, 1931. An Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion, Varzi was killed in a 110-mph crash in 1948.

Frau Steinweg (possibly the wife of racing driver Rudolf Steinweg), beside an Alfa Romeo Monza racing car, Berlin, 1932.

Abortion Law Protest in Poland

Several hundred people march and disrupt traffic at the Swietokrzyska (Holy Cross) Metro in protest of the introduction of a revised anti-abortion law in Warsaw, Poland on March 23, 2018. 

Polish Anti-Abortion Law Protester

The law will further restrict possibilities for abortions, even those concerning severe complications from unhealthy fetuses. De facto leader of Poland Jaroslaw Kaczynski earlier stated that even dead born fetuses deserve to be baptized and have a proper funeral.

Laszlo Hartmann

Photograph by Zoltan Glass of Hungarian racing driver Laszlo Hartmann at the wheel of a Bugatti Type 51 racing car, Berlin, 1932.

Laszlo Hartmann was killed in a crash in 1938.

Louis Chiron

Louis Chiron with his Bugatti Type 51, near Molsheim, Alsace, France, 1931

After having worked as chauffeur for Marshals Foch and Petain during WWI, Louis Chiron purchased a Bugatti in 1923 and began his motor racing career. He was very successful, winning five French Grands Prix as well as three Spanish and Czech, and the German, Belgian and Italian events as well. He also triumphed in the 1933 Spa 24 Hours race with Luigi Chinetti. As a celebrated native of Monaco, the corner heading into the swimming pool complex on the Grand Prix circuit is named after him. Chiron won the Monaco and French Grands Prix driving a Type 51 in 1931. 

Fête Nationale Française

The Bastille Day military parade commemorates the storming of the Bastile prison in 1798 which heralded the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a French Republic.

French paratroopers march on the Champs Elysees during the Bastille Day military parade July 14, 2002 in Paris, France. 

Chasseur Alpin exchanged his beret with a soldier of the German Jaeger Bataillon after the Parade of July 14, 2012.

(Many bereted) Communist demonstrators break fences apart to obtain material for clubs and other weapons useful in their attempt to disrupt France's traditional Bastille Day celebration in 1953. At least seven persons were killed and 130 injured in the clashes that arose in Paris.

Children Dressed Up on Bastille Day, 1946.

Netherlands Women's Swimming And Diving Teams - 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games

Some of the members of the Netherlands women's swimming and diving teams, left to right, standing: Truus Klapwijk, Marie Baron and Jeanne Grendel; seated: Truus Baumeister, unidentified and Marie Braun, during the Summer Olympic Games at Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 1928.

Dutch Pike

An angler stands in a small wooden boat holding a 23 pound northern pike caught in Vlaardingen, Netherlands circa 1950.

Cain DeVore

Actors Cain DeVore (L) and Kyle T. Heffner attend the LA Premiere of "Shrink Rap" at Laemmle's Monica 4 Plex on July 30, 2003 in Santa Monica, California. 

The film was screened as part of the week-long DancesWithFilms Festival. 

Pierre Veyron

Pierre Veyron (right) talking to his mechanic Robert Aumaitre. 

French Grand Prix motor racing driver Veyron won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1939. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 was named after him. 

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; 1920 –2014) was an American actor, producer, radio entertainer and vaudevillian. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until his death, he appeared in more than 300 films, and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era.

He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized mainstream America's self-image.

The Mickey Rooney Show, also known as Hey, Mulligan, was created by Blake Edwards with Rooney as his own producer, and appeared on NBC television for 32 episodes from August 1954 to June 1955.

1930 World Cup Finals in Uruguay

The Uruguay team gather around the radio to listen to a report on a first stage match at their training ground at Club River Plate, during the inaugural World Cup Finals, 

This picture shows, 2nd right at the back, Jose Leandro Andrade and his team-mates, with the winning XI that beat Argentina in the Final 4-2 in Montevideo, being, captain Jose Nasazzi, Gestido, Mascheroni, Andrade, Fernandez,Dorado, Scarone, Castro, Cea, Iriarte and Ballesteros, The goalscorers for Uruguay in the all South American Final were, Dorado, Scarone, Cea and Iriarte 

The Sky-Blue Berets of the Russian VDV

The Russian Airborne Forces (ВДВ, or, VDV) is a military branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was formed in 1992 from units of the Soviet Airborne Forces that came under Russian control following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Troops of the Russian Airborne Forces have traditionally worn a sky-blue beret and blue-striped telnyashka undershirt and are called desant from the French Descente.

The Russian Airborne Forces utilizes a range of specialist airborne warfare vehicles and are fully mechanized. They traditionally have a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.

The VDV is not only known as one of Russia’s prime fighting forces, but also for their violence, alcohol abuse and harassment of women, homosexuals, darker skinned people and everyone else not fitting the paratroopers’ image of a true Russian.

The 2^nd of August is a good day to stay inside the house, in Russia.

The VDV participated heavily in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the opening hours of the invasion, the VDV attempted to secure key airports and support assaults around Ukraine. These paratroopers were recognizable by the orange-and-black Saint George ribbons decorating their helmets and arms.

In late April, Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev reported that Russia had lost "almost 90% of its best paratroopers". Many helicopters were shot down by Ukrainian defences and the paratroopers were stranded without armoured vehicles or air support.

In early May, the UK MoD stated that the VDV units and other elite forces had suffered high losses and that it would "probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces."

On June 18, ISW reported that Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, was fired due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

These photos are not a celebration of the VDV, but acknowledge the great photographic eye of photographer Aleksander Petrosyan.

Petrosyan, Alexander Sergeevich

Some positive photos from Russia…

Alexander Sergeevich Petrosyan (1965) is a Russian photographer and photo artist.

Alexander Petrosyan was born in Lvov (Ukraine) in 1965 in a creative family; his father is Armenian, a musician and composer from Georgia and his mother is a Ukrainian singer.

His interest in photography manifested itself at the age of 14 after receiving a Smena-8 camera for his birthday and he took up photography seriously in 2000.

In 2003-2008 he worked as a photojournalist in the Saint Petersburg city weekly "My District".

Since 2010, he has been working as a staff photographer at Kommersant.

Petrosyan worked for magazines such as Newsweek, National Geographic, GEO, as well as in the newspapers Kommersant, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda and others.