Such a moving photo. That would have been heartbreaking.
superfrozen
This one gets me every time its posted. Can you imagine that feeling. Finally you make it home, did they survive and how do you find them.
DasEvoli
One of the great things people forget about the luxury the internet gives you
izwald88
Anyone know the story of this photo, outside of the claim in the title?
telllos
Ok, I’ll bite. Did he find them?
news_doge
Can you imagine? I know that many soldiers walked home from the Ostfront, wich took weeks and must have been a terrible journey.
But they were driven by the thought that at the end of the road they would see their families again. Imagine being that soldier.
And then when you actually, against all odds,arrived at your hometown you haven’t seen in years, it’s completely destroyed.
Your family gone. Maybe dead.
I don’t even want to think about it
nonsensicalsymbiosis
To survive the horrors of WWII and return home to find your world was destroyed. I feel his pain.
costapespia83
How many families did he destroy in France and Poland…can’t feel sorry for a Nazi.
-SGIASJ
Its sad that he as an individual lost his family, but his fate and the fate of his family serves as a good warning to the world: fascism can only lead to this.
Does anyone know if they died or moved somewhere else? Very sad either way
cutencreepy
My German grandfather was the oldest of 13 children. All his family vanished during the war. He never found out what happened to any of them, except one – his little brother was a tank commander who was killed in Italy.
My grandfather was 13 when he whitnessesed the destruction of his hometown (Krefeld). Many of his friends and relatives were killed in the bombings.
He may seem normal on the outside, but you can tell, that the pain still lingers within.
The allied soldiers weren’t saints either. My grandmother told me, that a group of American soldiers, who had just occupied her hometown of Straelen, ripped her doll from her hands, put it on the front of their car, and drove off laughing.
War is a terrible thing. May we be spared from its horrors.
Reaperfox7
Things like this are why we don’t want a world war 3
theredpm
Both sides suffered stop vilifying Germans
ArminoKink
Now he nows how the jews felt when they returned to claim their homes and properties…war is hell!
Chelonia_mydas
My grandfather escaped from a POW camp in Egypt only to be caught by the Russians about 60 kilometers from his house in Germany. He was sent to Cyprus for another 2 years and couldn’t come home until a year and a half after the war ended.
blesseddead2019
Hard to sympathize with a nazi, maybe he shouldn’t have tried mass murder and world domination .
Finn55
How you begin to try and find your family given the massive displacement is beyond me.
zfreeman
Germany was damn lucky we only firebombed them at the end of the war instead of using our newly developed atomic weapons
Mahgenetics
Is he stepping in a type of poison ivy?
AlfredAwhon
Europeans have always been fighting wars history says, what can be reason mankind showed capacity for violence to brink of annihilation?
dogbytes
The morning will come when the world is mine, tomorrow belongs to me. Inspiring lyrics do not a war win.
![A German soldier returns home only to find his family no longer there. Frankfurt, 1946 - by Tony Vaccaro [500X722]](https://i.redd.it/ue8abclthda41.jpg)
mydadstongue
Wow this is is a painful photo to take in.
Abyss_walker56
You can feel the pain just from this photo.
telefatstrat
Such a moving photo. That would have been heartbreaking.
superfrozen
This one gets me every time its posted. Can you imagine that feeling. Finally you make it home, did they survive and how do you find them.
DasEvoli
One of the great things people forget about the luxury the internet gives you
izwald88
Anyone know the story of this photo, outside of the claim in the title?
telllos
Ok, I’ll bite. Did he find them?
news_doge
Can you imagine? I know that many soldiers
walked home from the Ostfront, wich took weeks and must have been a terrible journey.
But they were driven by the thought that at the end of the road they would see their families again. Imagine being that soldier.
And then when you actually, against all odds,arrived at your hometown you haven’t seen in years, it’s completely destroyed.
Your family gone. Maybe dead.
I don’t even want to think about it
nonsensicalsymbiosis
To survive the horrors of WWII and return home to find your world was destroyed. I feel his pain.
costapespia83
How many families did he destroy in France and Poland…can’t feel sorry for a Nazi.
-SGIASJ
Its sad that he as an individual lost his family, but his fate and the fate of his family serves as a good warning to the world: fascism can only lead to this.
Morphis_N
https://www.gettyimages.it/detail/fotografie-di-cronaca/german-soldier-returns-after-the-war-to-find-a-fotografie-di-cronaca/525360783
shaw201
Does anyone know if they died or moved somewhere else? Very sad either way
cutencreepy
My German grandfather was the oldest of 13 children. All his family vanished during the war. He never found out what happened to any of them, except one – his little brother was a tank commander who was killed in Italy.
emdio
Civilian deaths on WW2 were just astonishing.
Some estimations go like:
Battle Deaths 15,000,000
Battle Wounded 25,000,000
Civilian Deaths 45,000,000
Source
Rhinelander7
My grandfather was 13 when he whitnessesed the destruction of his hometown (Krefeld). Many of his friends and relatives were killed in the bombings.
He may seem normal on the outside, but you can tell, that the pain still lingers within.
The allied soldiers weren’t saints either. My grandmother told me, that a group of American soldiers, who had just occupied her hometown of Straelen, ripped her doll from her hands, put it on the front of their car, and drove off laughing.
War is a terrible thing. May we be spared from its horrors.
Reaperfox7
Things like this are why we don’t want a world war 3
theredpm
Both sides suffered stop vilifying Germans
ArminoKink
Now he nows how the jews felt when they returned to claim their homes and properties…war is hell!
Chelonia_mydas
My grandfather escaped from a POW camp in Egypt only to be caught by the Russians about 60 kilometers from his house in Germany. He was sent to Cyprus for another 2 years and couldn’t come home until a year and a half after the war ended.
blesseddead2019
Hard to sympathize with a nazi, maybe he shouldn’t have tried mass murder and world domination .
Finn55
How you begin to try and find your family given the massive displacement is beyond me.
zfreeman
Germany was damn lucky we only firebombed them at the end of the war instead of using our newly developed atomic weapons
Mahgenetics
Is he stepping in a type of poison ivy?
AlfredAwhon
Europeans have always been fighting wars history says, what can be reason mankind showed capacity for violence to brink of annihilation?
dogbytes
The morning will come when the world is mine, tomorrow belongs to me. Inspiring lyrics do not a war win.
Erwin69Rommel
See, not all of them were complete rascist fucks