It’s pretty cool to inherit items from our older relatives, because who knows what telling history it’s holding. For one Imgur user, an old safe left behind by her great aunt brought her back to some tumultuous periods of human history.
There’s a tightly sealed, old, rusted metal safe lurking in Imgur user dieWollmaus’s house.
The safe belonged to her great aunt, who fled to Hamburg, Germany, from Russia in the 1940s to escape persecution under the Communist rule
One day, dieWollmaus decided to unlock the mysteries hidden in the safe
She opened the safe with a key, only to find an empty tray
She removed a lid underneath and, lo and behold, there were some old books, photos, empty cans, and yellowed postcards frozen in time
“I moved the content of the safe to a more comfortable (and warm) place to look through it all,” dieWollmaus wrote.
“3 books, some small empty cans, lots and lots of fotos [sic] and even more ‘Feldpost,’ letters and cards sent home from the battlefield. The oldest are dated 1914, the ‘youngest’ says 1944”
One of the books that struck her eyes was Mein Kampf, a 1925 autobiographical book written by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler
The controversial book detailed Hitler’s political ideology and dream for Germany
There was also a copy of Rob Roy, a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1817
The third book was an old copy of Lady and the Tramp, based on the classic film produced by Walt Disney in 1955
She also stumbled across some old family photographs.
“My grandmother thinks the little girl there is her mother, so these are my Great-Great-Grandparents, around 1900,” she wrote
There was another photo of her grandfather riding his motorcycle in the German countryside
She believes the picture was taken in the early 50s.
There were some photos of boys in their Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) uniforms
Inside, there were also some postcards.
This romantic postcard from 1916 brought to mind memories of a time when soldiers marched off to war, bidding farewell to their girlfriends
This postcard, dated 21.04.1941, has a Nazi government stamp on it
Here’s another vintage postcard
Was this an advertisement postcard printed to recruit women as nurses during the First World War?
“John liked to scribble. Pencil sketch,” wrote dieWollmaus
Nivea cream from the olden days.
These were empty containers though
Lastly, a photo of the heir to the Kaiser, or German emperor, during World War I
“I hope you enjoyed this little journey,” dieWollmaus concluded.
Though it was rather creepy to see all these after so many years, it’s still a fascinating time capsule that offers us a glimpse of life during those times.
Have you ever cracked open an old safe and discovered something astounding?
Photo credits: Imgur | dieWollmaus
Credit: NTD
