Historic Lost People Photos: Do you have any to post/discuss?

There was a recent thread about a roll of film from WWII that was recently developed (thread link). It contained war time photos never before seen. As I was reading this thread, I remembered a couple of photos that I inherited from my father. I discovered these photos as a kid, and asked him about them and where they came from. He began, reluctantly, to tell me the back story of the photos.

He was in the U.S. Navy during WWII, stationed in London, England, and was involved with helping the U.S. and British forces coordinate their attacks for the D-Day landings at Normandy, France in 1944. After the allies pushed inland, he was transferred to LeHavre, France. He told me that the city was bombed quite heavily prior to the invasion as it was a German SS HQ at the time. Well while stationed there, he was off-duty that first day, and (being the lifelong picker that he was) found himself roaming through the rubble and bombed out remains of buildings. Suddenly, he came across the body of a dead German SS major. He decided to go through his pockets to see if there was any identification of who this person was or if he had any important documents on his person (which we would forward to the U.S. intelligence service). He happened to find, tucked inside the uniform breast pocket, two photographs of Adolf Hitler, in his touring car, in a parade of sorts.

Now, I am not fan of Hitler, and neither was my father, but he kept these photos for decades because they were part of history and his personal proof he was there. These photos have never been seen outside of our family until now. So, in essence, they are "lost photos" of a sort. I post them here, for historic purposes, not as a celebration of Hitler or his deeds. Since ATS has a worldwide membership, I thought we could discuss if anyone recognizes where these photos were taken. As I see it, just because they were found in LeHavre, does not mean that is where they were taken, or that they are even from the same day/place. I've always wondered where and when these were shot, and where they might live in the annals of history.

So, ATS, I post them here for historic discussion, and ask that the discussion please not degrade into Hitler hero worship debates. I also welcome other ATS members to post their own "lost people of history" photos if any exist among the membership here.

These are digitally scanned copies of the original photos. They have not been retouched other than contrast to make them a bit more legible, and still contain all the flaws and age from the years in storage.

Picture 1: As you can see in this one, the soldier on the right seems to be wearing a WWI uniform, as indicated by the spiked helmet he is wearing. The street is brick, and there seems to be what could be a train behind the line of spectators across the street.I also wonder who that is sitting in the back seat with him at the time.


Picture 2: This pic is a closer shot of him and his touring car, with various buildings and a banner with blurry German writing upon it in the background. I also wonder who that is sitting in the back seat with him at the time.



NOTE: I cleared this idea with the mods ahead of time to ensure I was not breaking any kind of T&C, as well as to notify them in the event they want to monitor the thread to keep is from spiraling out of control (because there are friends and foes of this man that can be very adamant of their opinions).

For a start, the guy on the right in picture 1 i think is a police officer, not a soldier.

So if he has a spiked helmet and is a police officer, it is somewhere in Germany, as they were the only one in europe using that type of helmet at that time.

Preussische Pickelhaube, from the German police.


Hitler is driving in his Mercedes limo.

He is photographed in it many times.

a reply to: Mianeye

Very interesting, thanks for that clarification! It does make sense he is a police officer, and does help place it geographically. However, as a police officer, I do wonder about the cane he is using though. Unless, as has been historically, it was a fashion accessory" as part of a formal dress.

a reply to: Krakatoa

Could be a sword, if he is in parade uniform or something.

I have some old photo plates of the daughter and niece of the family that owned our Victorian home taken at Yellowstone during the turn of the last century.

I found them during the restoration in a box along with some local photo plates and the family themselves as well.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

I have some old photo plates of the daughter and niece of the family that owned our Victorian home taken at Yellowstone during the turn of the last century.

I found them during the restoration in a box along with some local photo plates and the family themselves as well.

Out of interest why do Americans call some of there homes " Victorian " ?
I t6hought that was purely a British terminology.

originally posted by: alldaylong

Out of interest why do Americans call some of there homes " Victorian " ?
I t6hought that was purely a British terminology.

That is what many of the various style homes built in the 1840's-1890's were designated. American's at the time had a love for all things British and took cues from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: alldaylong

Out of interest why do Americans call some of there homes " Victorian " ?
I t6hought that was purely a British terminology.

That is what many of the various style homes built in the 1840's-1890's were designated. American's at the time had a love for all things British and took cues from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Thanks for the info.

I noticed that the wind shield is down on the Mercedes in OP pic's, so looked around and found this from Nuremberg 1935, though no mention on who was driving with him.


Here is another one where the windshield is down, but no mention of where the photo is taken.



Every other photo of Hitler in that car the windshield is up.

That's an interesting observation. Now, in the spirit of ATS and conspiracies, I wonder if the windshield position and year have anything to do with protection from assassination attempts. If the windshield is up only in later photos, could it be after the first assassination attempt on his life? Which would indicate that earlier photos would have the windshield down (or up), whereas later photos would always have it up. If so, that could help date these to a time frame as well.

Thanks Mianeye, Star for you for sure!