If I ruled the world, all images of me would look thinner than I actually am. Also, in photos I would command that my breasts be made to look perkier and, uh, larger than they actually are. History would remember me as the hottest woman EVER!
That is, until someone found the originals.
When these men ruled they had the power to erase you from their lives. Literally. People who were once their loyal followers were removed from photos when they fell out of favor – wiped clean from history. I can only compare it to when people make dating site or social networking profiles and use a photo of themselves that had their ex-girlfriend or boyfriend in it, and the ex is now OBVIOUSLY CROPPED OUT.
Well, I suppose breaking up is hard to do. Even for Dictators.
Above: Nikolai Yezhov, the young man to the right of Stalin, was shot and killed in 1940. After he was removed from life he was also removed from the photo (below).
And Stalin wasn’t the only Commie Dictator who Shopped…
Lenin and Trotsky (top center) celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the Russian Revoloution in Red Square. When Trotsky fell out of favor with Lenin, he was airbrushed out of all photographs (including the one below).
Such extensive photo retouching back then would have been time consuming and difficult work. And I think it goes without saying that if it is a Dictator telling you to do it, your results had better be damn good lest you be permanently erased yourself.
I got all of the above photos from The Commissar Vanishes – a site about falsified photos in Stalin’s Russia. They have lots of other examples of “edited” images from that era, so if the photos here interest you be sure to check out their site!
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