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The old Tatar in Bakhchisaray (Crimea), Yakub, as many of the Crimean Tatars, was deported in 1944 by the Soviet government to the Urals, where he was forced to work as a lumberjack. This work, in severe conditions, ruined his health. He returned to Crimea in the early 1990, as the Soviet Union collapsed: photo by Wojdom, 20 September 2012
Families identify war dead in Kerch, Crimea: photo by Dmitri Baltermants, January 1942 (The Dmitri Baltermants Collection/Corbis)
Milk seller in in Bakhchisaray (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 22 September 2012
Russian vacations (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 8 September 2012
Fun at the beach in Koktebel (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 7 September 2012
In Koktebel (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 7 September 2012
At the Biostancya, near Koktebel (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 7 September 2012
On the beach, Black Sea (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 11 September 2012
On the bus (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 8 September 2012
A monastery in the mountains (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 21 September 2012
Women at the holy spring, near the monastery (Crimea): photo by Wojdom, 21 September 2012
Participants at demonstration in Sinferopl, Crimea hold a banner""There is only one Homeland, like a Mother!": photo by Leyla Emir-Asan, 18 May 2010; posted 4 July 2010 (International Committee for Crimea)
Participant at demonstration in Sinferopol, Crimea displays pictures of Crimean Tatars who served as officers and won medals in the Soviet Army: photo by Leyla Emir-Asan, 18 May 2010; posted 4 July 2010 (International Committee for Crimea)
Soviet rocket in Crimea: photo by Kirill (Twilight Tea), 15 July 2012
Soviet war memorial, Panorama building, Sevastopol, Crimea. The panorama of the 349-day defense of Sevastopol, 1849-1850: photo by Slavophile, 8 June 2011
Soviet era surveillance tower, Koktebel, Crimea. Shot seconds before a troupe of peasants in colorful folkloric garb marched over the hill, singing Soviet anthems... not: photo by Satanael, August 2006
Postcard from Lucy GRV in Russia, showing a famous park in Yalta, Crimea (now the Ukraine), famous resort of the Soviet people. The card was sent in 1956 from a student to a teacher for Mother's Day: image by Jassy-50, 11 October 2013
Reminiscences of the Crimea: photo by Natalie Panga, 14 March 2012
Crimea is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history. The Cimmerians, Greeks, Persians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, the state of Kievan Rus', Byzantine Greeks, Kipchaks, Ottoman Turks, Golden Horde Tatars and the Mongols all controlled Crimea in its early history. In the 13th century, it was partly controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese; they were followed by the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire in the 15th to 18th centuries, the Russian Empire in the 18th to 20th centuries, the Russian SFSR and later the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union in the rest of the 20th century, Germany in World War II, and now Crimea is an autonomous Ukrainian administrative region.
"Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. For autobiography has to do with time, with sequence and what makes up the continuous flow of life. Here, I am talking of a space, of moments and discontinuities. For even if months and years appear here, it is in the form they have in the moment of recollection. This strange form -- it may be called fleeting or eternal -- is in neither case the stuff that life is made of.”-- Walter Benjamin
Camp Artek, 1991. Famous Soviet (present day Ukrainian) summer camp for children in Crimea. Can you find me?: photo by Uzi-Doesit, 25 April 2011
Foros sanitarium, Foros, Crimea. Soviet old-style sanatorium in Foros. Time stands still: photo by SusanneD, 25 September 2006
Balaklava nuclear submarine base, Crimea #55. The nuclear submarine base in Balaklava used to be one of the most secret military bases on the planet. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, the base was no longer needed. Now it is open to the public. Tunnelled into the cliff face, it is more like a set from a James Bond movie than a museum!: photo by Jonathan Wallace, October 2006; posted 27 February 2009
Balaklava nuclear submarine base, Crimea #47. The nuclear submarine base in Balaklava used to be one of the most secret military bases on the planet. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, the base was no longer needed. Now it is open to the public. Tunnelled into the cliff face, it is more like a set from a James Bond movie than a museum!: photo by Jonathan Wallace, October 2006; posted 27 February 2009
Entry into Soviet nuclear submarine base, Balaklava, Crimea. Underground and classified nuclear submarine base operational until 1991 and said to be virtually indestructible, even by a direct atomic impact. In this period Balaklava was one of the most secret villages in Soviet Russia. Almost the entire population of Balaklava at the time worked at the base, even family members could not visit the town of Balaklava without good reason and identification. The base remained operational after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started and the warheads and low yield torpedoes were removed. Then in 1996 the last Russian submarine left the base, and now you can go on guided tours round the canal system, base and small museum, which is now housed in the old weapons stowage hangars deep inside the hillside: photo by Vyacheslav Argenburg, 1 September 2005