--- title: "Sowjetunion" date: 2022-12-06 last_modified: 2022-12-06T17:27:12+01:00 generated_at: 2026-05-13T05:40:45Z url: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/story/sowjetunion" description: "Photo articles of Bernd-Horst Sefzik: Part 2" image: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sefzik-06-kapustin-jar-1988.jpg" language: "en-US" --- # Sowjetunion Soviet officers on the steppes of Kazakhstan. In the background intermediate-range missiles type SS-20, Kapustin-Yar 1988 © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Bernd-Horst Sefzik ![Drei sowjetische Offiziere](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/06._kapustin_jar_28-8-88_sefzik-300x206.jpg) ## Photo articles of Bernd-Horst Sefzik ## Part 2 The Soviet Union - as “Big Brother” - received particular attention in the NBI. Be it student programmes with Freiberg FDJ members and Soviet “Komsomols” in Kyrgyzstan, natural disasters and destroyed villages in Georgia or the annihilation of intermediate-range missiles on the steppes of Kazakhstan following disarmament agreements: Bernd-Horst Sefzik was there. ## RUSSIA ## BACKGROUND Unfortunately, we have no information about the context in which the pictures arose. The report was never published in the NBI: *Report 467, not published.* ## GEORGIA ![Das Auto steht in einer Schneewehe. Die Leute stehen herum.](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/02._georgien_13-4-87_sefzik_0-227x300.jpg) “Two to three times more snow than usual had fallen during this winter.”, Ushguli 1987 © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Bernd-Horst Sefzik ## BACKGROUND Snow, ice and avalanches destroyed countless villages in the mountains of Western Georgia. In Ushguli and the surrounding area alone, one hundred people were killed beneath the snow. Ten thousand people lost their homeland and were relocated: *Departure from Ushguli, NBI 19/87.* ![Ein Mann steht vor einem Haus, das von einer Lawine zerstört wurde.](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04._georgien_13-4-87_sefzik-300x219.jpg) “Waleri Tschelidse, born and raised in the mountain village of Ushguli in Svaneti. On the last night of January of this year he lost his family in an avalanche disaster. Only his eight-year-old daughter Maro survived.”, Ushguli 1987 © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Bernd-Horst Sefzik ## KYRGYZSTAN ## BACKGROUND 14 students from Freiberg spent the summer in Kyrgyzstan. Together with their Soviet counterparts they set up a recreation centre: Adventure Kyrgyzstan, NBI 37/77. ## KAZAKHSTAN ![Die Explosion der Feststoffrakete](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/07._kapustin_jar_28-8-88_sefzik-300x206.jpg) “The explosion of the solid fuel rockets tears a 15m deep crater around 45m in diameter. Remnants of the rockets burn out in 35 seconds.”, Kapustin-Yar 1988 © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Bernd-Horst Sefzik ## BACKGROUND In 1987, in the so-called INF treaty, the USA and the USSR agreed to dismantle their nuclear intermediate-range systems. The photo series shows the destruction of one of the first Soviet SS-20 missiles: Start on the steppes, NBI 17/89. ![Drei sowjetische Offiziere](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/06._kapustin_jar_28-8-88_sefzik-300x206.jpg) Soviet officers on the steppes of Kazakhstan. In the background intermediate-range missiles type SS-20, Kapustin-Yar 1988 © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Bernd-Horst Sefzik ## The photo series - [ ![Straßenszene, im Vordergrund zwei Frauen](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sefzik-09-finnland-1984-197x300.jpg) ### Europa Photo articles of Bernd-Horst Sefzik. Part 1. Short-Story, 3 min Lesezeit ](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/story/europa) - [ ![Kleine Kinder an einer geöffneten Altstadt-Haustür](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sefzik-06-kolumbien-1973-300x196.jpg) ### Amerika und Asien Reportage-Fotografie des Ost-Berliner Bildjournalisten Bernd-Horst Sefzik aus der Neuen Berliner Illustrierten (NBI). | Teil 3 Short-Story, 5 min Lesezeit ](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/story/asien-mittel-und-sudamerika) - [ ![Auf dem Schwarz-Weiß-Foto ist der Fotograf Bernd-Horst Sefzik zu sehen, er trägt eine Brille und ein helles Hemd, in der linken Hand hält er einen Selbstauslöser, er schaut direkt in die Kamera](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/sefzik-portrait_0-243x300.jpg) ### Bernd-Horst Sefzik Adoptive Berliner Bernd-Horst Sefzik (1942–1994) made a name for himself as a photo journalist in the GDR and beyond. In the “Neue Berliner Illustrierte”, his reports contained striking images from across the globe. Article, 4 min Lesezeit ](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/article/bernd-horst-sefzik)