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Usually, when you read a history article or story, it's mostly just dry facts and your imagination. But an amazing photo gives something a bit different. It shows you how it all actually looked, letting you understand the historical moment more intimately. Whether it would be a historical landmark, a famous person or random old pictures of the past - they all have fascinating stories behind them, and we're just about to show you.
The brave photojournalists that took these interesting pictures saw the morbidity of wars, documented the creation of an atomic bomb and shot stills of most magnificent constructions being built. You might not be aware that the city of Tel-Aviv used to be just plain dunes or how someone looks after literally falling from space. Keep on scrolling to take a look at Bored Panda's list of rare historical photos that might shine a new light on how you saw these crucial moments.
Wondering how historical photos taken in black and white would look if they were restored in color? Check out this article.
(h/t: designyoutrust)
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Dorothy Counts - The First Black Girl To Attend An All White School In The United States - Being Teased And Taunted By Her White Male Peers At Charlotte’s Harry Harding High School, 1957
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#2
Nikola Tesla Sitting In His Laboratory With His “Magnifying Transmitter”
#3
Austrian Boy Receives New Shoes During WWII
#4
Jewish Prisoners After Being Liberated From A Death Train, 1945
#5
The Graves Of A Catholic Woman And Her Protestant Husband, Holland, 1888
#6
A Lone Man Refusing To Do The Nazi Salute, 1936
#7
Race Organizers Attempt To Stop Kathrine Switzer From Competing In The Boston Marathon. She Became The First Woman To Finish The Race, 1967
#8
Harold Whittles Hearing Sound For The First Time, 1974
#9
Job Hunting In 1930's
#10
First Morning After Sweden Changed From Driving On The Left Side To Driving On The Right, 1967
#11
German Soldiers React To Footage Of Concentration Camps, 1945
Lucy Campbell 9 years ago
Poor kids, just ordered to war. They had no clue what their superiors were up to. Terribly sad.
Cesi Baca 9 years ago
Some did some didn't....but whether they knew about the camps or not. They were perfectly aware thatJews were being hauled off to camps. They also knew that once these Jews were put on trains they basically never came back. If these soldiers didn't know they could've at least figured it out that Jews were being offed. Unfortunately these soldiers and most of the German people didn't really care enough to put 2 & 2 together. A lot of American soldiers who have given testimony about liberating these camps said you could smell them for miles around.
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Philipp Dinse 9 years ago
I've Seen people Start laughing ( because There brain/mind can't handle such footage . I've visit 3 camps & always can't believe and Fight against my tears. This is the history of my grand parents (germany is my home country ). I will never 100% understand There way of thinking . I need to Apologize my horrible english. I just can say Learn, learn from the history.
lila7074 5 years ago
You are a kind soul and your English is wonderful, don’t ever apologize for learning another language, be proud of yourself! -a happy Jewish person who agrees that we must not let history repeat itself
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Jennifer Ruddick 9 years ago
Some of you also have to realize, that even if some of these soldiers knew bad things were happening....they were forced into being soldiers under God knows what threats. They were brainwashed into believing that Jews were being sent to work camps, not death camps. I'm sure they knew conditions were not comfortable for the Jews, but most of them had absolutely no utter idea that those people were being tortured thru medical experiments, or that they were flat out annihilating generations of families, and starving to death or dying of whatever gut wrenching disease was running rampant thru the camp. The ones who did know, were brainwashed into believing that the Jews were the reason for the collapse of the life they knew before, and Hitler was there to save them all from its even then the horrors were beyond their imagination.
richie_ziegler 9 years ago
To all the people saying that they don't all look disgusted: shortly after the end of the war the allied started showing raw footage of what they found at the concentration camps to the german population. They made it mandatory to watch it, however they quickly found that it didn't have the intended effect on most people. Most people didn't seem too bothered by the footage at all. The desired effect only occured after they started showing less horrid pictures in the movies (e.g. showing piles of clothes taken from the people in the camps, rather than piles of starved bodies) because these pictures were just too horrible for the mind to comprehend. I've seen some of these original movies in school and it is really not easy to comprehend that something like that could actually happen and that was probably a lot harder if you had to accept that you tolerated/didn't stop something like this. tl, dr: don't assume they are all evil just because they have blank looks on their face.
Yokie Miller 9 years ago
I am in no way condoning the atrocity of genocide the German people inflicted on the Jewish people, gays, Catholics, etc. That being said, the one temptation we humans give in to is taking our world view and placing over history. Don't know your age, but I am 50 yrs. old and my father, his father, and all the way up the chain, were stoic, strong, men who did unbelievable things in the face of danger and never spoke of it again. That is how they were brought up, trained and socialized. But, my father was a very compassionate, giving, generous person. My father wouldn't show an expression either, but he would do everything in his power to stop evil and to help the people whose lives were destroyed. Simply put, "Don't judge a book by its cover".
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Caroline Driver 9 years ago
And do you know who invented concentration camps? We British, in the Boer War. No one is blame free
Richard Baldwin 9 years ago
Indeed, nobody is blame free, but I'd check your definitions. Although the first modern concentration camps used to systematically dissuade rebels from fighting are usually attributed to the British during the Boer War, in the Spanish–American War, forts and camps were used by the Spanish in Cuba to separate rebels from their agricultural support bases. They've happened all through history. The USA used them to intern Native Americans in the 1830s, in the Civil war of 1860s, German and Japanese citizens in WW2. The Phillipines The word 'concentration camp' doesn't mean 'extermination camp', though it's now inextricably linked to the notion now thanks to the Nazis. It's emotive to talk of concentration camps, but to link Auschwitz as a 'concentration camp' and therefore the same as those in prior conflicts is disingenuous and revisionist.
Load More Replies... Cesi Baca 9 years ago
Actually if you really look at this photo, the majority of the soldiers don't seem to be bothered at all. Your eye is drawn to the few holding their faces. But really take a look at the rest of them. Seem just fine.
Linda Bicknell 9 years ago
You would have to understand the German culture. Just because they aren't showing reactions doesn't mean they aren't affected
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Kelly Smith 9 years ago
Yup, that's what you were all fighting for. Horrifying when you finally see the truth.
Rosemary Moreland 9 years ago
There are only a few upset. The majority are just watching. Chilling.
Archie Moore 9 years ago
And those with hidden faces are hiding from the photographer, not the horror they see.
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Victoria Howard 9 years ago
how didn't they know? But the propaganda machine of Nazi Germany was INCREDIBLE.
Wendy Nelson 9 years ago
Burke once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
Risto Kononov 9 years ago
They are hiding their faces from the camera NOT reacting to the footage... what the hell?
Ashley Steidl 9 years ago
What many people fail to realize is that a large amount of people in Germany had no idea that there were even concentration camps.
Ori Jaffe 1 year ago
Agreed the knew exactly what the hell they were doing after all they were the men who threw them into ovens, made them strip and lie in ditches to get shot up, not to mention that the victims had to dig the ditches they were killed in….. the moral is that…EVERY GODAMN SOLDIER IN THAT ARMY KNEW WHAT THE HELL THEY WERE DOING AND ENJOYED IT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WILL BURN IN HELL
Load More Replies... Allen Cox 5 years ago
Yes, they did horrible horrific things but they were probably also manipulated/lied to by their superiors, probably had their own or their family's lives threatened if they didnt join Hitler, or they were just flat out oblivious. Am i saying i condone what they did or that these reasons make it ok? No, i am not saying that. Not in the slightest, im just saying they probably weren't given much a choice. Sad sad day in history, so many innocent jews taken from their families and killed
Denise Dee 6 years ago
I hardly believe that this is the reason they're hiding their faces , they're reaction to watching a film ... I bet they were warned ahead of time if you do not want your faces to be shown as I film you Germans , best you hide your face because this will be a film that will be seen by many people over time ...!!!!!!!!!
John Doe 9 years ago
Actually that's really powerful, it reminds me that you can't blame a whole nation for the horrors a group of them have committed, and i'm speaking about Islam here, because blaming all Muslims of the horrors those extremists commit is like blaming what the Nazis did on Germans.
Chuchip Conley 9 years ago
there's a difference between a Geman soldier in WWII and a member of the third reich/Nazi. most did not know.
Mir Olson O 4 years ago (edited)
ive seen this photo before..some of the soldiers cant even bring themselves to look at anymore
Maranda Love 9 years ago
So many of them had no idea. They were lied to and misled, so many were clueless.
Wendy Monette 9 years ago
Yup, utterly heartbreaking, in a "how much stupidity does it take for us to WAKE UP" kind of way (because we're still doing it)
Natalie Gonzalez-Ely 9 years ago
The true reactions are the most telling and these are the truest. ..
Pablo Fodor 9 years ago
Remember many soldiers in the german army had NO idea about the camps.
Trevor Michel 9 years ago
Those are American troops. Notice the unit symbols on some of their sleeves
Maria Groenen 9 years ago
Those soldiers aren't crying. They're hiding their faces from the cameras.
Amberlee Gordon 9 years ago
The guy next to the medic in the front sort of looks like the actor Josh Hutcherson
Leslie Bowman 9 years ago
what is the most disturbing is how many of them are watching with no expression on their face.
Lila Mumper 9 years ago
Did you know that German prisoners of war were held in the Fremont MI area and were put to work on the farms in the area?
Doinita Puiu 9 years ago
yeh, some can't watch the horrors, and others are smiling...Like the are enjoying themselves sadistic a*s holes
Bonnie Loewenstein 9 years ago
It's striking how some of them are stunned and stricken, and others are quite indifferent.
Chuchip Conley 9 years ago
it's happening right now in Iraq and Syria. It happens all the time to people of color. no one bats an eye
Load More Replies... jevais 9 years ago
Everybody knew what was taking place in Europe, The USA government, even the Pope, etc. Hitler made enough speeches that they all knew what was his plan for not only the Jewish, but all who didn't agree with his way of seeing his Brave New World. A. Hitler was on the radio's through out the European waves before the war and during. No way nobody didn't know!
Richard Baldwin 9 years ago
I think if you look again, they aren't shielding their faces from the horror on screen, they are hiding from the camera.
Charlotte Goodson 9 years ago
The guys who are forcing themselves to watch are, to me, more poignant.
Salman Gurung 9 years ago
They would be executed for showing sympathy by the Hitler and Third Reich!
Susan Asbury McCormack 9 years ago
I have always thought so many German soldiers did not want to do what was done, but a soldier must obey orders.
Przemysław Kubański 9 years ago
only terrorist in Palestine is Hamas ... why there is always war where Hamas rules , and never there where Al-Fatah rules ? Answer is simple ... all Hamas care about is terrorism.
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Wendy Crow 9 years ago
Not every German was a Nazi. The rest of Europe and USA heard about the concentration camps from the beginning and denied their existence.
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Residents Of West Berlin Show Children To Their Grandparents Who Reside On The Eastern Side, 1961
#13
Acrobats Balance On Top Of The Empire State Building, 1934
#14
The Statue Of Liberty Under Construction In Paris In 1884
#15
An Exotic Dancer Demonstrates That Her Underwear Was Too Large To Have Exposed Herself, After Undercover Police Officers Arrested Her In Florida
#16
Mafia Boss Joe Masseria Lays Dead On A Brooklyn Restaurant Floor Holding The Ace Of Spades, 1931
Hayley Lightcap 9 years ago
That's cool, very dramatic. I think he lost the poker game though.
#17
Lesbian Couple At Le Monocle, Paris, 1932
Katie O'Brien 9 years ago
They look both relaxed and unsure. This is such a simple, yet interesting glimpse into the past.
#18
7-Foot Bolaji Badejo, A Nigerian Design Student And One-time Actor, Wearing His Costume From The Now Classic Sci-Fi Thriller Alien, 1978
#19
The Most Beautiful Suicide - Evelyn Mchale Leapt To Her Death From The Empire State Building, 1947
#20
The Remains Of The Astronaut Vladimir Komarov, A Man Who Fell From Space, 1967
Air Cachero 9 years ago
Technically, it's cosmonaut because he's from Russia. Astronaut is for Americans
#21
Hats In New York, 1930
Katie O'Brien 9 years ago
Men always wore a hat back then. My grandmother has often commented on this and how it's some different than today.
#22
A German Child Meets Her Father, A WWII Soldier, For The First Time Since She Was 1 Year Old, 1956
Karolis Stašys 9 years ago
Explanation - the soldier was held a prisoner in Siberia concentration camp after being captured by the soviets.
#23
Wounded Combat Dog During Action On The Orote Peninsula, 1944
#24
Frida Kahlo Dressed As A Boy, 1924
#25
A Mother Shows A Picture Of Her Son To A Returning Prisoner Of War, 1947
#26
Scottish Piper In A Kilt On The Battlefield During World War One
Stéphanie Hirigaray 9 years ago
The bagpipe is the only musical instrument deemed a weapon of war because it inspired its troops to battle and instilled terror into the enemy
#27
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa Is Returned To The Louvre After WWII
Sarah Garland 9 years ago
It's commendable when people risk themselves to save art and history during war times, and then return it.
#28
These Are Titanic Survivors Boarding The Carpathia In 1912
#29
Painting The Eiffel Tower, 1932
#30
A Rare Shot Of A Young Winston Churchill, 1895
#31
The First Bananas In Norway, 1905
#32
Robert Williams Wood, Max Planck And Albert Einstein In The Front Row Of A Session Of The Physical Society In Berlin On July 28, 1931
#33
About 100 People Participate In A Lottery To Divide A 12 Acre Plot Of Sand Dunes, That Would Later Become The City Of Tel Aviv, 1909
#34
Carving Eye On Mount Rushmore, 1930s.
#35
Tsar Nicholas II Allows His Daughter, The Grand Duchess Anastasia, To Smoke
#36
Marilyn Monroe Filming Her Iconic Scene In The Seven Year Itch. This Shot Was Taken In New York In Front Of A Large Crowd Of Bystanders And Press To Create Hype, 1954
Teodor Graur 9 years ago
Poor Marilyn... Produs al mass-media şi copil al Hollywood-ului. Trist.
#37
Bob Dylan With Mick Jagger And Keith Richards At Jaggers 29th Birthday Party, July 1972
LeJoy Rothe 9 years ago
These jokers are almost my dad's age and still rock so hard! I love these guys!
#38
The Last Public Execution By Guillotine, 1939
#39
Hungarian Jews Being Selected By Nazis To Be Sent To The Gas Chamber At Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Auschwitz Album May-June 1944
#40
Columns Of Hoover Dam Being Filled With Concrete, February 1934 (Looking Upstream From The Nevada Rim)
#41
US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer Destroys The Nazi Submarine U-175, April 17, 1943
#42
Vladimir Lenin's Last Photo. He Had Had Three Strokes At This Point And Was Completely Mute, 1923
#43
Eduard Bloch, The Jewish Physician Of The Hitler Family In His Office C. 1938. Bloch Was Later Called A ‘Noble Jew’ By Hitler And Stood Under His Personal Protection
#44
Soviet Troops Scrawled Graffiti In The Reichstag After They Took Berlin In 1945
#45
A Jewish Woman Who Is Concealing Her Face Sits On A Park Bench Marked "Only For Jews", Austria, 1938
#46
The Gadget, The First Atomic Bomb, 1945
LeJoy Rothe 9 years ago
I can't get over how casually he sits next tobit. He might as well be eating a sandwich. Just because we have the ability to make suck weapons of mass destruction, doesn't mean we should. :-(
#47
Jennie Macgregor, Arrested By Minneapolis Police On April 10, 1924 For Dispensing Alcoholic Beverages From Life-Preserver Flasks
#48
Crew Of The Japanese Carrier Zuikaku Give One Final Banzai Cheer Before The Ship Sinks, 1944
#49
Boxing Match Aboard The U.S.S. New York, July 3, 1899
#50
Finalizing The Fat Man Atomic Bomb, Which Was Dropped On Nagasaki On August 9, 1945. On Its Nose It Had Stenciled The Acronym “Jancfu”- Joint Army-Navy-Civilian F*** Up
#51
A Young Hitler Cheers The Start Of World War One, 1914
Auburn Skies 9 years ago
i dont think thats him. his iconic mustach was trimmed that way because he still wanted facial hair, but also needed it to fit under a gas mask
#52
The Eiffel Tower During The Nazi Occupation, 1940
#53
An American Evacuee Punches A South Vietnamese Man For A Place On The Last Chopper Out Of The US Embassy During The Evacuation Of Saigon In 1975
#54
A Group Of Men Posing In Front Of Lynch’s Slave Market, St. Louis, Missouri, 1852
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Anna Salerno 9 years ago
WOW... these are outstanding pictures... # 20 is absolutely unbelievable!
Castillo Delgado 1 year ago
Excellent and impressive images, these leave us reflecting about humanity!
Brian Goodwill 5 years ago
Very interesting article. Must have taken some time to find all those photos
Teriqua Jones 6 years ago
These pictures were fascinating! Thank you for making this collection to share.
Mark Reynolds 8 years ago
Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to complete the Boston marathon in 1966. She also completed it in 1967, an hour ahead of Switzer.
Arkane Trickster 9 years ago
20+ Rare "Greengo" Historic Photos That You Probably Haven’t Seen Before
Mohammad Baqer 9 years ago
An unusual pictorial article. It should appear in letters. Mohammad Baqer
Omar Melendrez 9 years ago
Great collection of images that reflect human history. The good and the bad.
David Gallagher 9 years ago
Most of these photos just prove we've done terrible things as humankind and never learn from any historical archive depicting so. :( Still, wonderful to learn so much from visuals of another era.
Daria B 9 years ago
Nah. The very fact that you found the cruel ones troubling proves that we DID learn and are indeed improving. Maybe slowly, but certainly.
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James 9 years ago
yes, yes it was. fact - www.vintag.es - it was only around last week or so it was posted. just look for it, or search.
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Anna Salerno 9 years ago
WOW... these are outstanding pictures... # 20 is absolutely unbelievable!
Castillo Delgado 1 year ago
Excellent and impressive images, these leave us reflecting about humanity!
Brian Goodwill 5 years ago
Very interesting article. Must have taken some time to find all those photos
Teriqua Jones 6 years ago
These pictures were fascinating! Thank you for making this collection to share.
Mark Reynolds 8 years ago
Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to complete the Boston marathon in 1966. She also completed it in 1967, an hour ahead of Switzer.
Arkane Trickster 9 years ago
20+ Rare "Greengo" Historic Photos That You Probably Haven’t Seen Before
Mohammad Baqer 9 years ago
An unusual pictorial article. It should appear in letters. Mohammad Baqer
Omar Melendrez 9 years ago
Great collection of images that reflect human history. The good and the bad.
David Gallagher 9 years ago
Most of these photos just prove we've done terrible things as humankind and never learn from any historical archive depicting so. :( Still, wonderful to learn so much from visuals of another era.
Daria B 9 years ago
Nah. The very fact that you found the cruel ones troubling proves that we DID learn and are indeed improving. Maybe slowly, but certainly.
Load More Replies... James 9 years ago
yes, yes it was. fact - www.vintag.es - it was only around last week or so it was posted. just look for it, or search.
Load More Replies... 
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