Moscow 1956, through the eyes of the Frenchman Jacques Dupaquier (38 photos)

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Jacques Dupaquier was a French scientist, historian and member of the French Communist Party who traveled throughout the Soviet Union several times: in 1956, 1964 and 1975.

In September 1956, Jacques Dupaquier arrived by plane from France to the capital of the USSR, Moscow. From Dupaquier’s memoirs in one of his interviews: “There was no such freedom as in 1956 in the Soviet Union even in the era of M. Gorbachev. There was no police control over our delegation, I broke away from the group and walked for several hours along the streets completely alone. I knew a little Russian and had the opportunity to find out the direction of movement. We found ourselves in the USSR in a wonderful era, Soviet society was experiencing a moral collapse after Nikita Khrushchev’s report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. Not a single person knew anymore , what is possible and what is not, and I did everything I wanted, and it was incredibly exciting. I photographed drunks who were lying around on the main streets of Moscow, and the police, contrary to my expectations, did not even try to stop me or take away my camera ".

When asked what struck him most about the capital of Soviet Russia, Jacques Dupaquier gave the following answer: “I was amazed that in 1956 the capital of Russia, Moscow, was more than half a wooden city, and poverty prevailed outside the main streets ".