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Photography, pornography, and the criminal case of Joseph A. Schneider: a case study in Soviet anti-pornography legislation and enforcement in the late 1950s

ABSTRACT On 23 April 1957, photographer Joseph Aleksandrovich Schneider was arrested by the Latvian SSR KGB for anti-Soviet activities. In searching his studio and apartment, KGB officers uncovered a series of erotic photographs Schneider had taken. This article examines how the KGB and Soviet prosecutors handled criminal charges related to the production and distribution of pornography through the lens of Schneider’s case. Schneider’s KGB file reveals the limitations and inconsistencies in enforcing anti-pornography legislation, as well as the interpretive shift in regarding pornography as a moral, rather than strictly criminal, transgression.