Exotic "Leopard Skin" Helmet.....

[Paul.B.]

Every person in the photo looks like they are head'n to a
fancy dress up party

[Maximiliano]

Not Argentina.

[Zepphead]

Stormfighter's theory seems more probable than possible but I to am curious about that hat in the back round.
Paul

[mr slug]

Stormfighter's theory seems more probable than possible but I to am curious about that hat in the back round.
Paul

I want that sombrero

[Stormfighter]

Stormfighter's theory seems more probable than possible but I to am curious about that hat in the back round.
Paul

It's clear from all three individuals in the street that many people dressed in costumes to celebrate Adenauer's inauguration. The man at left is wearing a top hat and frock coat, the man in the middle is wearing a sombrero (note, just because he's wearing a sombrero doesn't place the event outside of Germany - certainly sombreros were imported to Germany before and after the Second World War), and as we can see, the man at right went all out in making his "The First Soldier of the Federal Government" costume. The attached photo of Adenauer's inauguration further illustrates the carnival theme of the day.

Barry

[F L Clemens]

The helmet photo may also come from a Karneval/Rosenmontag festival in 1949 or possibly 1950. The photo with Adenauer is probably his meeting with the Prinz of the Karneval in Koeln - a tradition he started that subsequent Kanzlers have continued.

Here are pictures from Karneval 1949 - http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/ka...ke-108021.html

I doubt the leopard camo is wartime. I would bet it was applied for the festival as a spoof.