Two Birmingham Businessmen in Berlin

[ChrisM]

Two Birmingham businessmen pause for a moment on a sunny Berlin street to have their photograph taken. It is 1932, the last summer before Germany starts to change for ever.

My father is on the right. The identity of his colleague is unknown. We are on the Charlottenstrasse, a smart area of central Berlin. Exactly why we are here I cannot tell you. But what is certain is that we are engaged in some sort of business on behalf of the company we work for, ICI at its Kynoch Works on the outskirts of Birmingham.

It is a fairly ordinary scene showing a moment of seventy-five years ago frozen in time and history. But take a moment to look at some of the detail and think about what it represents...........

(If you want to read more about what lies behind this picture, I have put it all on this website page. The link with Birmingham is a little tenuous, I have to admit. But apart from the family stuff which really interests no one but me, it does provide a bit of a reminder about aspects of recent European history).

Chris