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Gerard Dole found this gorgeous card for me in Paris and sent it with the following history: "This is a most interesting picture when you know that what aroused French patriotism (fanatism) and brought the Great War (at least for simple minds) was the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in 1870. The Alsacienne Girl became the symbol of resistance, proudness, sorrow, etc. etc. The first WW1 French flying Squadroon was called "L'esquadrille des Cigognes" (cigogne is the Alsacian bird/can't remember its exact name in English at the moment long beaked bird which drops babies into chimneys, you know." |
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"Card stamped 1905 + German stamp = still under German government. That's why its back is printed in German first. Sent from cousines Maria et Louise Heim in Alsace to Marie Weber in Meurthe et Moselle (north east of France) where there would be atrocious fights in 1914-1918. Symbolic colours: black=mourning/red=blood/green=hope/white=purity" |
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