Soviet soldiers returning home after victory in Europe receive an emotional welcome at Moscow’s Rzhevsky Railway Station on July 17, 1945, as families and civilians celebrate the end of years of war.
The Long Journey Home
This deeply emotional photograph captures one of the happiest moments experienced by millions of Soviet families after the Second World War. Taken at Rzhevsky Railway Station (today's Rizhsky Railway Station) in Moscow on July 17, 1945, it shows returning Red Army soldiers being welcomed by civilians after the victorious campaign in Europe.
Unlike photographs taken on the battlefield, this image records the moment when soldiers ceased to be combatants and became husbands, sons, brothers, friends, and neighbors once again. Years of separation, uncertainty, and sacrifice ended with embraces instead of gunfire.
A Hero Among Thousands
In the foreground, Russian women embrace Private Alexey Alekseevich Lisenkov, a medic of Evacuation Hospital No. 264 and former commander of a reconnaissance squad in the 434th Separate Anti-Tank Battalion of the 319th Rifle Division. Like countless veterans, he returned home after surviving years of brutal combat on the Eastern Front.
Although the photograph focuses on one man, it represents the experience of millions of Soviet servicemen who gradually returned from Europe during the months following Germany's surrender. Railway stations across the Soviet Union became places of unforgettable reunions, where families discovered who had survived and who would never return.
From War to Peace
The transition from war to peace was neither immediate nor easy. Many soldiers came home carrying physical wounds or memories that would remain with them for the rest of their lives. Yet photographs such as this preserve the extraordinary relief felt when loved ones finally stepped off the train alive.
Captured by photographer Nikolay Sitnikov, the image reminds us that victory was measured not only by captured cities and military triumphs, but also by the return of ordinary people to ordinary life. It is a celebration not simply of the end of war, but of families becoming whole again.
Technical photo data:
📝 Source of information:
1. victory.rusarchives.ru
2. pamyat-naroda.ru
3. Ogonyok magazine, No. 31 (950), August 5, 1945
📍 Location: Rzhevsky Railway Station (now Rizhsky Railway Station), Moscow, USSR
📅 Date of photo: July 17, 1945
📷 Photographer: Nikolay Sitnikov
Recommended literature:
- Catherine Merridale — Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939–1945
- Richard Overy — Russia's War
- Joanna Bourke — An Intimate History of Killing
- Orlando Figes — The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
- Soviet soldiers return Moscow 1945
- Rzhevsky Railway Station homecoming
- Red Army victory soldiers
- WWII Europe Soviet veterans
- Alexey Lisenkov medic
- Post-war celebrations USSR
- Soviet civilians welcome soldiers
- July 17 1945 Moscow
- Red Army homecoming after WWII
- Victory in Europe homecoming