Probably one of the soldiers is the author of the text on the reverse. I don’t know the answers to the other questions.
My brother has been building a family tree and collecting family heirlooms for many years. This photo is one of many whose story I am trying to find out.
The 60 is in reference to the German Empire XXI Army Corps 31st Division, 62nd Infantry Brigade’s 7th Brandenburg 60th Infantry garrisoned at Weißenburg since 1860.
@Claes This is Prussia at the last vestiges of “Greater Poland” and anti-nationalist leadership under the von Baden administration, a prince who became president. These local training units fed the Eastern Front in defense of Poland and by extension, Greater Poland, from the invading forces.
The first letter looks like a V to me. Or is that old calligraphy?
I’m attaching a darktable sidecar; I think playing with the color balance rgbgrey coefficients and the rgb levels give different compromises, some better for some areas, others for others.
I’ve masked the sharpening (diffuse or sharpen) based on brightness (to avoid amplifying the details of the paper), so if changing the color balance rgb coefficients (or exposure) alters the brightness, that will have to be adjusted.
I’m amazed at how much information you’ve helped me get from a 100-year-old postcard.
I would like to thank all Play Raw participants for their help, special thanks to ‘tofa’ for the way of recovering the text, ‘apostel338’ for deciphering the key fragment of the text, ‘HIRAM’ for the professional determination of the military formation and history.
(With todays spelling daß selbe or daßselbe would be wrong. But at that time I think the rules were not that regulated as they are today, so it could fit)
I inform you that I am alive and well and hope the same from you.
We hope you will submit an update if you proceed with the decryption.
Also noticed the use of the purple Ersatzstempel, an official substitute (ersatz) cancellation used instead of the traditional hole punch. He probably brought it to the station in person to be hand-franked as such, like we would go to the counter at the post office when we don’t want something to go thru the sorting machine.
The cap insignia (cockades) are similar in the postcard, except the bottom knot would represent Preussen, as Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen was not granted unique insignia until 1920 when the draft was in effect.
1914 was like “Hey, we have a war! Nice time with the guys, Paris is a nice city and we will be back at Christmas.” Nobody anticipated the trenches, machine guns and artillery, even after posing with them. The hell of Verdun or the Somme were unthinkable.
A year ago I would have said that the hell of Bakhmut was unthinkable and belonged to the past as in Stalingrad.
It is in Kurrentschrift, Sütterlin was introduced in 1911 and this guy was in school around 1900.
I am pretty sure it is an ß, so “hate”. It’s a match with the “daß” a line above.
The missing word could begin with “adi…” or “adu…”, about “ad” I am pretty sure. But it is a small a and there should be a noun.
Yes, me too. This expected noun is a hard case. If there wasn’t this “a”-looking begining, I would read it as “Dienste”. This would fit the context, maybe following content can help. I probably try more this weekend. Haven’t looked into it since last sunday.