This week on Sepia Saturday,
the prompt picture has to do with the Potsdam Conference,
taking us back to WW2.
A shadow rose over Europe,
creeping over Germany in the 1920s
to reach its apex in the 1930s,
only to bring war and chaos by the end of that decade.
The shadow spread and found allies,
reaching all over Europe and Northern Africa,
and even Asia.
What madness can cause this is quite beyond me
as it goes against all I believe in.
But I have a certain understanding of the human mind,
when greed and the hunger for power take over,
and the belief that some are better than others,
marginalizing them, ostracizing them, killing them,
in a final solution...
A dark chapter in our History.
I have kept a folder containing a meager collection of stamps.
The one with the swastika is the only one I got,
and one too many...
But I also have a Canadian stamp of that era,
a 1943 issue.
Please note that the stamps are not showing their original color.
The German stamp was orange and the Canadian one, green,
but I opted to do my post solely in black and white,
a reflection of the gloominess prevailing at the time.
The Potsdam Conference sealed the fate of millions,
some went on to live a free life,
while others were condemned to live under a Communist regime.
This is now a thing of the past
as Communism collapsed by the end of the century in most countries now,
but generations were sacrificed in the meantime.
If different players had been involved at that conference,
what could the outcome have been like?
Useless speculation.
What is done, is done.
People often said "Never again"...
No need to mention all of the atrocities that have happened since.
It looks like we'll never learn from our mistakes.
On this lovely thought,
I now return you to
Legit Sepians can join our Facebook group for info and fun!!
I have posted before pictures of my mom in her hometown during WW2,
and I did a post also about my father's bootcamp.
He never made it across the Atlantic as he came down with meningitis,
but he nonetheless had a Nazi "trophy"...
That's it for me this week!!
See you around,
in a different place and time!!
:)~
HUGZ
Your decision to reproduce the stamps in monochrome is most effective. Let us sincerely hope that the madness that was the first half of the twentieth century is as much a part of history as the old postage stamps.
ReplyDelete"Never again", but we followed with the Korean War, Viet Nam War, Sarajevo bled a lot too, the African continent suffered a lot. I remember seeing pictures and hearing the stories of someone involved with "doctors without borders", more dictators came along, South America had its share, the people living in fear. Massacre/war/genocide, call it what you want, it still goes on!! Terror is also a factor that started in the 20th century and leaked into this millennium. No, we seem to need our daily dose of horror.
Delete:(~
HUGZ
Many of the wartime stamps, like the photographs of that era, tell little of the horror and sadness that most of the participants experienced, and which few of them wished to talk about once they got home.
ReplyDeleteI remember my mom mentioning an uncle of hers who was in WW1.
DeleteHe came back an angry man. He didn't say much but anger was always simmering...
:/~
HUGZ
I have a whole batch of Deutsches Reich stamps with the swastika and some with Hitler, more in fact that of modern Germany. However they always seemed menacing to me. Good idea to go monochrome.
ReplyDeleteThe idea came of those news reels they showed in the theaters before a movie projection.
Delete:)~
HUGZ
I enjoyed going back to your previous posts it was before I joined Sepia Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThe pics of my mom were before I joined in myself.
DeleteIt's Tony who took it upon himself to eventually register one of my posts on SS.
The rest is history...
:D~
HUGZ
I'm having a hard time imagining a tank ever being in Canada.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to forget La Crise D'Octobre (October Crisis in 1970),
Deletesomething I've mentioned on this blog before.
http://www.ticklebear4u.com/2011/10/sepia-saturday-83.html
It is something you didn't see,
but something that left its trace on my psyche.
Possibly why I am a humanist and could not bear arms against another.
Curious what can shape a boy's mind to make him the man he is now.
:)~
HUGZ
Your talents are endless, what a striking and amazing post!
ReplyDeleteWhy?! History 101 in a nutshell?!?...
Delete:D~
HUGZ
I have a Nazi flag. I bought it at an estate sale thinking to sell it for a profit only to find that I couldn't bring myself to sell it because I was afraid it would fall into the hands of neo-Nazis. Then, I considered burning it, but concluded that it holds a powerful place in history, and that by burning it, I would, in effect, be giving my consent to burning unpleasant parts of history, so I kept it.
ReplyDeleteSnow, you'll never stop amazing me!!
DeleteI wouldn't touch such a thing,
but I still have the "trophy" someone brought back to my father
while he was in the military hospital...
The thing disgusts me but I haven't destroyed it again.
Oh well!!
:/~
HUGZ
A thoughtful post. I think stamp collecting at the age of 10 was my introduction to world geography and history. At first it was just the color and design, but then it was the antique quality of the little perforated squares of paper. I could understand images of kings and queens but who was this German guy with the Charlie Chaplin mustache? This sent me to the library and a discovery of horrors I could never have imagined. I suppose those stamps (which in hindsight were only 30 years removed from when they were mint) led me to appreciate the ways ordinary things like stamps, postcards, and photos have a real connection to history. And from stamp collecting to photo blogging is an easy step.
ReplyDeleteA similar experience for me, if a few years earlier.
DeleteThe design, the colors, and those words I didn't understand,
it all fascinated me.
We had the Expo'67 and that opened up my eyes to the world,
in my own "backyard"!!!
A natural transition to go from stamps and postcards to vintage photos,
yes, most definitely!!!
:)~
HUGZ
Very interesting post. A wonderful history lesson in a nutshell.
ReplyDeleteNancy
Thanks Nancy!!
DeleteI saw no need to go into details
as we already all know it [or should]...
:)~
HUGZ