A Manly Textile

The men I know don’t really care about any specific textiles (except those ugly free T-shirts that they manage to collect frequently), but here is one I associate with my dad.

1950s tablecloth showing West Germany

Close-up of West Germany

He was stationed in Germany during the Korean War (thank goodness), and this table cloth is a souvenir he brought back.  As far as I can tell, it shows West Germany.  East Germany is portrayed only by the words Ost Zone and a picture of the Brandenburg Gate and some sort of radio tower.

We are fortunate to have some of the photographs he took while he was stationed there, too.  He was particularly interested in vehicles, from oxcarts to little 3-wheeled vehicles, and he also took pictures of castles, cathedrals, and buildings that were still in ruins from WWII.

Oxcart in West Germany in 1950s

Messerschmidt 3-wheeler

Schweinfurt, Germany

Bayreuth, Germany

Dad picked up some German while he was over there, and still enjoys using the phrases he learned.  So vielen dank for the history lesson, Dad!