Clapham South Shelter, July 1944
A new exhibition of images at London Transport Museum in partnership with n’ost, a Berlin journalistic network, shows recent photography of Ukrainian citizens in extraordinary circumstances – alongside black and white archive images of Londoners taking similar refuge in tube stations during the second world war. In this scene, two women dance as others watch. Echoes of the Blitz is showing at the London Transport Museum until spring 2025
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Universytet Metro Station, Kharkiv, 26 March 2022
Underground stations and metro systems provide shelter to citizens during periods of war – now and in the past. The exhibition displays 70 historical images from the museum collection, alongside 38 contemporary photographs by six renowned, mainly Ukrainian, documentary photographers
Photograph: Maxim Dondyuk/n,ost
Wood Green Station, 1940
London’s most concentrated period of bombing, and tube sheltering, was between September 1940 and May 1941, known as the blitz. The underground was never intended to be used in this way, and the authorities initially struggled to cope
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Dorohozhychi Metro Station, Kyiv, 02 March 2022
Despite these images being taken around 80 years apart, they present strong parallels of human experience across different locations and conflicts
Photograph: Maxim Dondyuk/n,ost
Piccadilly Circus Station, London, September 1940
The exhibition documents the resilience of people in Ukraine and London during times of war and the reality of having to escape from aerial bombardment
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Teatralna Station, Kyiv, 26 Jan 2023
Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union and most metro stations were built during the cold war (1947-91) to also function as bomb shelters in case of western attacks. Those same stations are now protecting Ukrainian civilians from Russian missiles. Viacheslav Ratynkyi, a photographer featured in the exhibition, said: ‘On the first day of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 I went down into the metro for the first time. As I listened to the air-raid siren, I decided to take shelter there and to bring a camera with me so I could document the situation’
Photograph: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/n,ost
Piccadilly Circus Underground Station, 1940
At first, during the second world war, the UK government was opposed to letting people shelter in tube stations as it believed keeping trains running was more important. However, following the sheer numbers of civilians heading below ground and protests from the press and Parliament, the authorities were forced to make a U-turn
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Heroiv Pratsi Metro Station, Kharkiv, 21 May 2022
Ukrainian citizens are shown sleeping, waiting, cooking and washing clothes, in makeshift homes in metro stations in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Serhii Korovayny, a photographer featured in the exhibition, said: ‘I now believe even more in the power of photojournalism. Pictures are an important tool to show and make understandable the different experiences of this war, in Ukraine itself and abroad. I will continue to photograph this conflict until the Ukrainian victory, which I hope will soon become a reality’
Photograph: Serhii Korovayny/n,ost
Unknown Station, London 1943
The London photos come from the London Transport Museum’s collection, and would have been subject to government censorship when first produced. The work of press photographers was directed and, where necessary, censored to promote an image of Londoners united against the blitz
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Dorohozhychi Metro Station, Kyiv, 2 March 2022
This contrasts with the hard-hitting, realistic photojournalism of the independent Ukrainian photographers’ work in the exhibition. Maxim Dondyuk, a featured photographer, said: ‘I am not a war photographer, I never wanted to be and never will be. But this is my country and I feel obliged as a documentary photographer and as a Ukrainian to capture this historic moment for the present and the future’
Photograph: Maxim Dondyuk/n,ost
Unknown Station, London, 1940-45
London’s air raid sirens sounded almost every day for eight months from September 1940 to May 1941 and again between June 1944 and March 1945
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Studentska metro station, Kharkiv, 16 May 2022
Photographer Pavlo Dorohoi: ‘A lot of this project was about the traces of people’s presence in the subway. Many people did not want to be filmed, and I chose to show this presence through the things that people leave behind when they live somewhere. There were cases when people didn’t want to be filmed because they were ashamed of the way they looked. They didn’t want to appear poor and unhappy even in such situations. Appearance is important for our culture. This shame prevented them from realising how important it was to show their suffering’
Photograph: Pavlo Dorohoi/n,ost
Piccadilly Circus station, 1940
Sheltering in tube stations overnight became a routine. There were special admission tickets, bunk beds on the platforms, refreshments and, at some stations, libraries, music and live entertainment
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Minska Metro Station, Kyiv, 21 May 2023
In Kyiv, sheltering in the metro peaked at around 40,000 people at the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Some stayed overnight, others for days or weeks, returning to the surface only for groceries or to wash. Those who lost their homes lived underground for months
Photograph: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/n,ost
Clapham South Station, London 1944
Len Phillips, a London shelterer between 1941 and 1945, said: ‘I hated it to be quite frank. The idea of going down night after night. Home, shelter, home, shelter’
Photograph: London Transport Museum Collection
Armiiska Metro Station, Kharkiv, 07 May 2022
Echoes of the Blitz has been created in partnership with n,ost, a Berlin-based journalistic network, and London Transport Museum
Photograph: Pavlo Dorohoi/n,ost
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