30 archival photos that are sure to amaze you (30 photos)

History sometimes astonishes with its absurdity and cruelty—you read it and think it's simply unthinkable. And there are things you can't believe until you see them: Gestapo officer Adolf Eichmann smiling as his sentence was read. Or the Indian student who tied his hair to the wall to keep his head from falling over the table and falling asleep!





We invite you to look at the most amazing photographs of the 20th century, taken during wars, crises, and other cataclysms.



1. 1926. Berlin. People brought their dogs to be euthanized because they couldn't afford the increased pet tax.





2. Under the supervision of Turkish army officers, Kurdish children write on a blackboard, "How happy is he who calls himself a Turk."



3. 1953. Nuclear bomb test dummies. Las Vegas.



4. 1995. Redenomination in Poland. One new zloty instead of 10,000 old ones.



5. 1943. A German motorcyclist demonstrates what a muddy road is like.



6. 1945. Berlin residents scavenge for food in the ruins.



7. 1992. Sarajevo residents stockpile firewood for the winter.



8. 1917. Jerusalem.



9. 1961. Adolf Eichmann smiles as his sentence for crimes against humanity is read.



10. 1945. Captured Germans are forced to watch newsreels from concentration camps.



11. 1986. Viewers witness the Challenger disaster.



12. 1940. Christmas on the London Underground.



13. 1921. Georgian anarchists rebel against the Red Army.



14. 1914. British soldiers sleep after landing in France.



15. 1922. Women thank representatives of the American Relief Administration. The village of Vasilyevka, Samara Province.



16. 1945. Mass suicide in Vienna before the arrival of the Red Army.



17. 1900. An Indian student prepares for exams. To stay awake, I tied my hair to the wall.



18. 1943. Soldiers of the 13th SS Mountain Division "Handjar" (1st Croatian) perform namaz. The division was recruited from Bosnian Muslim volunteers.



19. 1916. Submarines "Bars" and "Wolf".



20. King George hunting in India.



21. Khrushchev and Castro.



22. 1922. Girls paint luminous numbers on watch dials with radioactive paints (Radium Girls). Many of them will later die of cancer.



23. 1960. The Los Angeles Police Department uses bait to catch a robber who killed an elderly woman for her purse.



24. 1938. A kindergarten teacher, subpoenaed as a witness, receives five days in jail for contempt of court—she showed up to testify wearing pants. Los Angeles.



25. 1949. Women wash clothes in Central Park during a water shortage. New York City.



26. 1940. Germany. Schoolgirls in a racial purity class.



27. 1945. Germany. A child tries to sell her father's Iron Cross.



28. 1918. One of the first monuments of the Soviet Republic, a concrete monument to Robespierre, stands for three days. According to one version, it was blown up by criminals; according to another, it collapsed due to the poor quality of the concrete.



29. 1935. Stormtroopers pose with violators of the racial purity law. Around the woman's neck is a sign that reads, "I'm a big pig and I only give it to Jews!" Around the man's neck is a sign that reads, "I'm a Jew who just invited a German girl into my room."



30. 1936. Motorized chariot racing.