1949 Smena Track Athletes Magazine

This is issue #13 of Smena (Смена) from 1949, featuring a vibrant painting of athletes racing over hurdles in a packed stadium. The back displays sheet music for "Ходит по полю девчонка" (A Girl Walks Through the Field) with rural photography. Inside includes dramatic parachuting photography and fiction, capturing Soviet youth culture's emphasis on physical fitness and adventure.

Smena was the Soviet Union's most popular youth magazine, published by Komsomol and reaching over 3 million copies by the 1980s. This 1949 issue reflects the post-war period's intense focus on physical culture (fizkul'tura) as both recreation and ideological training for Soviet youth.

Good vintage condition. Pages show significant yellowing and edge wear. Moderate creasing and some staining. All pages intact with clear imagery.