Every Friday The Psychogenealogist shares a "Pic of the Week." The intent is to encourage thought and imagination about the spaces where psychology, genealogy, and history converge.

This photograph is of two handsome, dapperly dressed men. They are both wearing hats and overcoats. One is wearing a necktie and the other a scarf or ascot of some sort. With closemouthed smiles they cast calm and friendly gazes towards the photographer. 

Here is the stamp on the back of the photo. The writing on the bottom right corner was written by a vendor at the local antique store where this random photo was purchased. 

It appears to be German. It was found in a bin of other photos of known German origin. The stamp reads:

Foto - Immisch

A312

Leica - Spezialist

I am guessing that "Immisch" is a surname, perhaps the photographer or studio name. The specialist (perhaps the developer) was Leica?

There is a faint stamp indicating the photographic paper that was used. I cross reference it with this website and it appears to be the "Agfa-Brovira" photo paper used in Europe starting in World War II. Here is an example from that page of what the full stamp looks like.

All clues considered, my guess is that this is a picture of two European men, likely German, in or around 1945.

Here are some other questions I have about the photo.

Questions:

• Who are these men and what are their stories?
• Are they friends? Brothers? Nazis? Lovers?
• What do you think, feel, and wonder about as you look at this photo?
• Who took the photo? What sort of camera did they use?
• How and why did this 1945 European photograph end up in an antique store in Detroit?

Let me know what you think!

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