Embroidered postcard, TRC 2017.2571.Family history tells that my maternal grandfather, Francis Redvers Collings, was one of the first British soldiers to enter the German city of Cologne after the ceasefire of 11th November 1918, which in fact ended the First World War. British troops first entered the German Rhineland on 3rd December 1918. The British Army of the Rhine would remain in Germany until 1929, with their headquarters in Cologne. I mention this because the TRC last week acquired an embroidered postcard with the text "1919 Souvenir of Cologne" (TRC 2017.2571).
This postcard was produced in the tradition of the First World War postcards, which were sent home by the Allied forces fighting in the trenches of northern France and elsewhere. We already discussed these postcards in a blog from October 2015. The cards were often decorated with patriotic symbols, including the flags of the Allied forces. This particular postcard also shows these flags, being incorprated into the year 1919. There are the flags from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the USA.
This silk card, plus others from the TRC Collection, will shortly be part of a series of digital exhibitions that highlight different aspects of the TRC's collection.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 1st July 2017.
PS. By the way, my grandfather's middle name refers to General Sir Redvers Henry Buller (VC), the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces during the first few months of the Second Boer War in South Africa.
