Shell shock

[Sven Janke]

Gentlemen,

while going through some of my imperial pictures i took a closer look at this picture from November 1914 and noticed one soldier with a doll!




Could this soldier be a victim of the socalled "shell shock"?
What do you thing? Or is it just some kind of soldier joke?
In my eyes this man does not look very happy.


close- up




greetings

sven

[Chip M]

This was some sort of tradition in Germany . I have seen many other photos of German soldiers and sailors posing with dolls, goats and other odd things. Not sure of the significance, but this is not a solitary case.

Chip

[90th Light]

There was a doll found on one of the WW2 U-Boats that they brought back up and found a lot of the contents still in tact. Will go back through my documentaries and find the U-Boat number.

I had assumed the doll was an undelivered present intended for a child but upon seeing this thread it may in fact have been some sort of tradition,

Chris

[Chip M]

Yes, there is a navy connection too. One of the photos I was referring in my last post is a prewar studio photo of several navy men with a doll, and various reservist flasks and pipes.

Chip

[rick1]

Interesting thread never heard of this... came across this pic on the web...

[Gustaf B]

A thought comes to mind here, To me, these look like gifts for their children, that they have had their photograph taken with, so when the photo arrives with the gift, it has a direct connection to their father. These men probably knew that their children had a good chance over never seeing them alive, and this was a way to make a connection.
Best
Gus

[Chip M]

Gus,

That is an interesting theory and could be the case, but in the navy photos I have seen, it is pre-war and there is not much threat of daddy getting killed. Too bad there are no German vets left to give us an insight.

Chip

[90th Light]

Was reading some of my books about German flyers in WW1 tonight and came across a picture of a teddy bear tied onto the fusalage of one of the planes.

Will see if I can make a copy of it and have it posted.

My pick is that this is a military tradition rather than a present for the kinder,

Chris

[Rincewind]

From one of my albums

[Gustaf B]

This is an interesting discussion, and it may be a difficult one to pin down, but I think it could go both ways, it would seem that the fellow with the bear is not old enough to have children, but the fellows with the dolls are. As for the monkey, I am sure he is not a child's, or he would not be smoking I can not really see a grown man carrying a doll as a mascot, I know that when the elevator boy at the Rheinturm mistook my tiger for a doll, it really P.Oed the tiger (no self respecting tiger likes to be called a Puppe).
Best
Gsu

[rick1]

another...

[Hoss]

Nice photo Rick
My view is there all just mascots. Except Sven,s, the soldier in front with the doll might be an amputee or has been very ill. Probably the doll and flowers were sent from home.
None of the soldiers look like shell shock cases imo. The Brits just zapped them with electro shock and sent em back!

Eric

Bye the way those early German teddy,s a worth a bob or two.

[rick1]

Nice photo Rick
My view is there all just mascots. Except Sven,s, the soldier in front with the doll might be an amputee or has been very ill. Probably the doll and flowers were sent from home.
None of the soldiers look like shell shock cases imo. The Brits just zapped them with electro shock and sent em back!

Eric

Bye the way those early German teddy,s a worth a bob or two.

Great theory! ... this has been my view also.
Shell shock ...no.

This thread should be kept going for doll photos...maybe a mod can change the title as such...for search purposes.
With input from Sven of course for his great thread idea.

[Hoss]

Rick
Teddy,s a Steiff circa 1910. I looked it up.
Looking at Svens photo again most if not all are amputees. The bed masking the poor chap on the floor who obviously is missing both legs.

Eric

[ROBB]

This is shell shocked , a bit different from a man holding a Dolly . Rob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRv56gsqkzs