Summary

Christmas postcard from Germany, featuring a collage of two black and white photographs of a longing woman and a soldier with rifle Christmas. Dated 20 December 1916, during World War I.

The postcard is addressed to Fredericke Siewert, located in Mettmann, Germany; the writer is located in Berlin.

During World War I around 11 billion letters or postcards were sent from the front free of charge through the German Army Postal Service. Millions more letters were sent to the front by families and friends at home. From 29 April 1916 onwards postal service stations were set up at every army command station in order to monitor the content of the mail and to create reports on the content. The transmission of classified military or rebellious and discouraging information was prohibited.

It is not known how this particular item came to be in Australia.

Description of Content

Combined black and white photographs depicting Christmas during war time. One image shows a woman holding a plate next to a Christmas table with a sparcly decorated Christmas trees and presents at home. She looks up to the soldier with rifle lying in shooting position on the ground during winter. Through the positioning of the woman her thoughts of and longing for the soldier at the front at Christmas time are expressed.

Physical Description

31398

Significance

This black and white postcard is a valuable record of photograph postcards of the early 20th century, during World War I. With advancement in photography technology, these portraits were now easier to produce and often printed on postcards. They often depicted portraits of people from the middle and upper classes in Europe and America, who used them for correspondence with friends and family or courtship. Themes such as social life, the position of women, military life and communication are referenced by both the visual iconography and the inscriptions on the postcards.

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