Just started following a brand-new Twitter feed, @ViewingHistory. It’s less than a day old, and only has seven Tweets so far. But I like what I see.
The above picture is captioned, “Soviet paratrooper over Leningrad (Date Unknown).” It seems appropriate that this photo be accompanied by the Soviet national anthem, which I always thought was quite stirring (I got chills when the crew on the sub sang it in “Hunt for Red October”).
Then, for view at another old adversary, I was really intrigued by the below image, captioned, “German soldier applying a dressing to wounded Russian civilian, 1941.”
Gee. I didn’t know Germans ever treated Russians like that during that war. Of course, it stands to reason — people are people, and decency will be found in the unlikeliest places. Perhaps you will find the image comforting, in that it renews some faith in people…
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I don’t have Twitter but I enjoyed the pics on the Twitter site or whatever it’s called.
My question is, however, who is running it? And why are there no photo credits? Who owns the images? Kinda doubt the Jobs-Gates image is in the public domain.
Brad, is there more information showing if you have a Twitter account?
No, there isn’t, on this feed, and there’s the rub….
I’d love to know the story behind the German-helping-the-Russian-civilian photo. For instance, it could be a shot staged for German propaganda. Who took it, under what circumstances, and for what purpose? It’s not likely that an independent photographer was just wandering around the Russian front and happened to get this. Back then, the world wasn’t full of people with cell phone cameras.
Now, whoever is running this site COULD provide that info, if he or she has it. Twitter has the potential to link you to any amount of information — on a blog or some other website. That’s mainly what I use it for — to link people to further info.
The fact that this does NOT lead to further info means this feed is merely intriguing, not all that informative. But I’m still going to follow it for awhile, and see what I see.
If I get curious enough, I might send some replies suggesting that whoever is doing this provide further info…
OK, I got curious enough. I just wrote in, “Great images. Have you considered providing links to further info — who took photos, why, under what conditions, etc.?”
Copyright….
How about Germans are basically just as decent as everybody else?
On a slightly related note, I saw a link on facebook today to this site:
http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/08/19/mugshots-from-the-1920s-are-significantly-cooler-than-mugshots-from-today/
which has some really interesting historical photos also.
Scout, looking through the site you highlighted, I’m struck by how much better criminals and accused criminals dressed 90 years ago. Not just a little better, either, but remarkably better. I guess they took more pride in their appearance, no matter what their profession.