Last year whilst visiting Mongolia we travelled to Baganuur, once a Soviet Army base, now an abandoned relic of a different age. The base itself is worthy of a separate post at a later date, but in the meantime I wanted to share the following fragments of film we found laying in the rubble. They were clearly part of a Soviet propaganda / education programme and are on 35mm movie film. The iconography suggests that it was a film about the German Democratic Republic, but the other images could be from anywhere in the Eastern Bloc or Soviet world. I have not tried very hard, but have not been able to identify any of the people featured in the film, never-the-less it is the best piece of found film I have ever come across. Maybe I will go back one day to try and find the rest.
Two of the frames feature a couple of versions of the Nation Emblem of the DDR. The first dates from 1950 – 1953, the second is from after 1953.
Other frames focus on industrial scenes, such as below.
The rest are military or political in nature.
Someone might be able to identify the above individuals. They are probably political figures of some kind.
These fragments of film must have been laying in the rubble since at least 1990 when the Soviet Army left Mongolia and returned to the USSR.
Let me know if you have any ideas or a better knowledge of the era
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mike brooks on Somewhere in Mongolia
Comment posted: 22/04/2025
Gary Smith on Somewhere in Mongolia
Comment posted: 22/04/2025
Thanks for sharing!
James-T on Somewhere in Mongolia
Comment posted: 22/04/2025
Also the broad-faced man in the final frame looks familiar, but I can't identify -- possibly a Yugoslav dignitary.