Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery 2024: Most Memorable Kiss

As a professional photographer, I pay attention to historic photos that capture people’s imagination.

A famous The Kissing Sailor photo is one of my all-time favorites.

The photo was taken on Aug. 14, 1945, one day after Japan surrendered to the United States, as people went into the New York City streets celebrating the news.

The Kissing Sailor. Credits: U.S. Naval Institute

Actually, The Kissing Sailor WAS my all-time favorite before I visited Berlin and went to see the East Side Gallery.

East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall.

Just look how much passion there is in this kiss in the photo below! And even if for whatever reason you try to unsee it, it isn’t easy to do!

Drawing on the Berlin Wall. Brezhnev kisses Erich Honecker.

Not that many people know today who Erich Honecker or Leonid Brezhnev were. But in the 1980s they were the leaders of two economic superpowers in Europe and the…