Soldier history.

[Haamrtime]

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Hello, I am new to this forum. I am looking for the history of the soldier who painted this. My Grandfather worked as a guard in the German POW camp in Alva Oklahoma. He aquired this painting while there. The symbology is pretty obvious to me except the clear cut on the hillside. Wondering what type of soldier the painter was.

[Hans1906]

Hi Haamrtime,

I'm not an expert on German POWs in Allied custody, but the number on the back of the painting was probably his "Gefangenennummer" / "Kriegsgefangenennummer" in Allied custody.

Here one link in german language about your question:

Was ist aus der Gefangenennummer zu erkennen? / What can be seen from the prisoner number?

Forum der Wehrmacht dicussion, started in the year 2016: https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/inde ... -erkennen/


Hans
P.S. Typical German, overly long designations, which unfortunately can be mistyped very quickly, sorry...

[Hans1906]

A small note, the artist was probably not a so-called "academic" trained painter, rather a talented amateur, unfortunately, I can not recognize the depicted landscape..?

The framing of the painting most certainly dates from the post-war period, 1950s or 1960s.

Edit: Before I forget, Herr Stefan Reuter in the "Forum der Wehrmacht" is an expert on German prisoners of war in American and Canadian captivity.


Hans

[Haamrtime]

Thank you Hans, very much appreciated.

[Hans1906]

The landscape looks typically "German", a birch in the foreground, children or young people are bathing in the river, etc.

But birch trees don't grow in such regions, most certainly an "idealized" idea of a German homeland.

Painting of a German prisoner of war far from home is almost obvious...

Please report more, if you find something ?


Hans