When I look at a new SS theme, I usually have an idea of which pictures from the family archive I could use. But not this time. Fortunately, Alan provided an escape (as he always does). He mentions "a couple of Alpine skiers from almost a century ago, feeling high on the top of a mountain".
I am not a skiing man myself nor do we have mountains in Holland. The highest "mountain" here is a hill called the Vaalserberg in the province of Limburg; it is a little over 300 meters high. Not exactly the type of mountain when you plan to go out skiing. But there is a picture of my grandfather Andreas Miebies (1883-1957) standing in the dunes near The Hague. It was taken over a century ago, during the second part of WW One when he was mobilized. We see him here standing on the very right. His rank is that of sergeant and he is the commanding officer of this group of soldiers serving in the 47th Landweer batallion Hunters (Jagers).
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| A section of infantry troops belonging to the 47th batallion Hunters with Sgt. Andreas Miebies on the very right The rifles you see are the Austrian .256 Manlicher M.95. It was manufactured under license in The Netherlands by the Hembrug weapon factory in Zaandam. It has been in use until after WW Two.  When my grandparents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, their oldest son, my father, put together a kind of PowerPoint presentation avant la lettre. For that purpose, he made several drawings and stitched them onto a fabric roll. On the drawing below he drew himself shortly after his birth on his father's lap with Grandma still in bed. At the time, my dad was born in August 1914, Granddad apparently served already in the army as the Manlicher rifle was up against the wall and his uniform on the chair.  At the beginning of WW Two, the Dutch army Manlichers were confiscated and used by the Germans. So it is not impossible that just a few days before the end of WW Two, my father and his comrades were shot by Dutch Manlichers in the hands of Germans... Like the drawing, the picture of the military in the dunes was also part of the presentation my father made for his parents. Readers with sharp eyes will be able to see the stitch holes on the top side of the photograph. If you want to see how other Sepians interpreted this month's theme, go to the Sepia Saturday site and enjoy yourself! |
How clever drawing his father's body around the photograph of his face! Did he do other drawings with the same idea?
ReplyDeleteYes, there were many. The fabric roll was about 5 meters long.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Handcrafted albums that preserve family stories are great treasures. Your grandfather's platoon try to look very brave and fierce but the fellow reclining in front having a smoke removes any seriousness.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question about my story of the small town of Roulette, it was named after John Roulet, a 18th century pioneer. But as often happens, the postal service later changed the spelling to Roulette. I wonder how the local folk pronounce it?
Time does strange things with names. The last name of my 18th century ancestor was Muwis. Today mine is Miebies. Cause? Oral transfer of information.
DeleteFascinated by the idea of the illustrated fabric roll. Almost like quilting, but with a story -- and the superimposed photo adds to the hand drawing. In answer to your question on my blog, my Uncle Fred was in the U.S. Army from 1941-1944 (3 years) during WWII.
ReplyDelete