OSS CBI Photobook 2, Addendum

Last time this map showed up on the dorm room wall.

If I squint at the original print through my admittedly crummy hand lens, I can see, in the very top line on the map (black letters on white background) this:

" . . . 1772 to the Present"

or maybe

" . . . 1792 to the Present"

Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves in 1772.

After some pushback, Russia invaded Poland again in 1792 to nail down their occupation.

If I squint at the second line (white letters on black background) I can make out this:

"(Something) (Something) Hitler's (Something)"

So it's likely a map of wartime Poland.  Assuming that is so, the pose and arrangement look intentional.  Gene sits there with what could be a newspaper in hand.  The radio and the map are behind him.  His expression is one of a man who has just heard or read melancholy news about the land of his ancestors.

Meanwhile, in Buffalo, his father, our JPZ, would be taking similar photographs in his own living room.  Photo portraits that tell a story seem to have been the family business.

Julie