WW1. French soldier rescuing a wounded German soldier from certain death on the front. (personal family photo)

24 comments
  1. Any idea when? I gather the camaraderie that was characteristic of the war’s early days diminished substantially by its end.

  2. Considering most photos of that period were staged, I have my doubts about this one OP…

  3. hey OP, it appears the photo was printed on a textured paper as was common back int he day. They unfortunately scan horribly, resulting in the lines you see.

    I would suggest re-scanning it in different orientations. You can alsso try a ‘despeckle’ or ‘de-noise’ filter to reduce the effect, though you also lose sharpness, and that is not ideal for a historical photo.

    For the best reproduction, I would carefully light it and photograph it rather than scan it. A quick play with the levels or Curve setting can also bring this back the contrast.

    If you do… be sure to make a hard copy print of the result (gloss finish), for future members of your family to have a chance to see it in a better quality

  4. Imagine having this much courage and this much compassion. Imagine being able to see your enemy as a real person despite the desperate struggle for survival you were forced into.

  5. French soldiers usually do this, unfortunately they did this too many times and guess which German soldier they regret saving

  6. Wow what a beautiful photo, this is an absolute family treasure.

    I live in a little village of alsace, just today i passed the WW1 memorial and looked at all the names. In a little town like this it must have been a son from every family

  7. “Just because our nations are enemies, it doesn’t mean that people on different sides are enemies. We are men who fight over politics in different houses while we are pawns fighting for a way to get home.”

    Just a random quote I made up.

  8. I remember an interview with a German WW1 Veteran about killing an French soldier. “How can normal people be like that […] under different circumstances we might have liked each other and become friends”

  9. Never again may such a war terrorise this beautiful continent and our beautiful countries. We love you, Germany.

  10. If we put empathy aside then sometimes you simply need to have captives for exchanges. It may be not about saving enemies lifes but about saving your allies lifes.

  11. War is weird. One minute you try to shoot someone in the face and the next minute you try to save a member of the same enemy.

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