Last Summer, I Found WW2 Photos Of Dijon In France And Retook Them In The Same Places 70 Years Later

My name is Pierre, I’m a 19-year-old Frenchman and a history hunter. Not only because I’m an archaeology student, but also because I wander around my city of Dijon, former capital of the Dukes of Burgundy, re-shooting WW2 pictures I found last year on the Web from the same spot and angle.

I originally wanted to show my friends and family how these streets they cross everyday looked like, at a time when freedom was nothing else but a distant dream. A time when my own grandfather walked between these same buildings.
I’ve spent several hours roaming the streets on Google Earth, trying to find less known places, and then planning my itinerary for the day. My laptop in one hand, my camera in the other, I try to find the exact spot from where some anonymous Wehrmacht soldier snapped a picture of his pals, seven decades ago.

There’s one thing I love above this – looking at the old picture while standing there, imagining  Germans, the Free French Forces, the uniforms, the rifles, the pain, the joy, and all these situations around me. It feels like I am, myself, a part of History.