We are back at it again today for another round of never before seen WWII photographs from my Grandpa Joe’s collection.
As you may already know, I was traveling to the U.S. over the past several days and I was unable to find the time to make a post and I apologize for that but I wanted to do one as soon as possible and get back on track to my normal Monday WWII posts.
While in the U.S. I had the honor to stay at my Grandmother's house, Grandpa Joe’s widow and she said that she didn't know much about the photographs; however, she was able to confirm my suspicions that he was assigned to be a photographer while on duty in Germany. According to his discharge papers he was trained as an infantryman.
For today, I have several photographs for you folks which are portraits of civilians. You will see that some were even done in a makeshift studio and makes me wonder if he was doing a side job by taking these pictures for people. If you know anything about these photographs or the people in them please let me know!
Here we have a pair of German beauties. I'm not sure who they are and this is the only photograph I have of them. They sure seem to be enjoying themselves and they don't seem to mind being photographed either. Here gals stand in front of this chain link fence and smile for the camera!
These ladies are wearing some very beautiful dresses and from all the photographs I have seen in his collection, this is the only one with such finely dressed young women. The lady on the left is pictured quite frequently and often with my grandfather, Perhaps a fling? Hard to say. Anyways, I am sure glad he married my Grandma after the war instead. Judging by the buildings in the background and accompanying photographs on the film I am assuming this was taken on an Army or Airbase in Germany.
For these next two photographs, we have a couple of portraits taken in a makeshift studio. I suspect that for a time he was working out of the studio because there are a good 20 or 30 pictures taken like this. I found these two to be the most interesting. For me, it is difficult to imagine what it was like at that time in Germany, but here we have these civilians posing for the camera. Maybe they were working for the U.S. Army or just friendly civilians who wanted their pictures taken for a cheap price.
I'm not sure the politically correct term for a person of this stature anymore so I will not even attempt to label him. He seems like a proud, well-dressed man with very strong eyes and I know he had a story to tell.
Next up we have Joseph Stalin’s doppelganger. Something about him just screams Russian to me but he also has a Leonardo DiCaprio look about him. Perhaps his grandfather, just kidding.
Now I just love this photograph. Here we have an amazing shot of some country folks with a beautiful landscape in the background. Again, they appear quite happy to have their photographs taken and I wish I knew the story behind it. Sadly, it leaves quite a lot to the imagination but they had lived through so much and you just have to admire the human spirit captured in this photograph.
There are many more photographs, so please come on back next Monday and join me on this amazing journey through Germany during World War II!
Thanks, everyone for stopping by and please upvote and Re-steam this post! I am really enjoying all the comments and feedback from all you folks, thank you very much! If you have any information on any of these photographs, please, please share it in the comments.
I own all of these photographs so please respect my family history and ask permission prior to use.
