The Real Story Behind The Crying Child-Soldier Photograph

The popular picture of a crying child soldier was taken in 1945. It shows Hans-Georg Henke, a young German. The picture has been used to show how the people of Germany felt in the last days of the Second World War.

Hans-Georg Henke lost his parents when he was young. His father died in 1938. He was a Communist sympathizer. His mother died in 1946. So, Hans-Georg and his two brothers, who were all that was left of the Henke family, were left without money.

Henke's parents had died, so he had to find a way to make money to support the rest of his family. He did this by joining the Luftwaffe, the German military's air warfare branch, when he was just 15 years old.

According to Henke

Hans-Georg Henke is in a lot of pictures, and one of them shows him crying uncontrollably. Henke said that the picture was taken right after the Soviets attacked the German position in Stettin, where he was stationed with a battery of 88-mm guns.

The Germans were sent back to Rostock, but his unit was eventually overrun, and he was one of the people who were taken prisoner.

Henke said that the pictures were taken at that very moment and that his tears were because the world he knew was falling apart around him. Henke lived through the Second World War and later joined the East German Communist Party.

He kept telling this version of the story until he died at the age of 69 on October 9, 1997.

The Photographer Tells His Own Story

The American photojournalist, John Flores, says that Henke wasn't crying because his world was falling apart when the picture was taken. Instead, he was crying because of combat shock. His unit was taken by the American Allied forces, so he was doomed.

After the war, Henke joined the Communist Party and moved to East Germany. This caused him to change his story. East Germany thought that people who gave up to the Allies during the war could be a third force of opposition. Henke had to change his story so that the Soviets, not the Americans, took over.

Also, these photos show that he was wearing boots when he was caught, not rags on his feet as he said later.

John Florea is sure that Hans-Georg isn't crying because his world fell apart. Instead, he thinks Hans-Georg is crying because he is in a state of combat shock after being taken over by the American forces.

Boys at War

Twelve-year-old Samboo and another young soldier in the Karen National Liberation Army patrol near the Myanmar-Thailand border on Jan. 31, 2000.

The Karen, a group of people who speak a different language, have been fighting against the Myanmar (formerly Burma) government for a long time. A UN report says that in 2001, about 50,000 children in Myanmar were in the armed forces of the government or the opposition.

In 2019, the Myanmar defence ministry reported that more than 1,700 child soldiers had been reunited with their parents, and about 800 military personnel who recruited them disciplined.

A child soldier is a person under the age of 18 who is recruited or used by armed forces or armed groups in any capacity, including as a fighter, porter, messenger, or spy.

Child soldiers are often subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including forced labor, sexual violence, and exposure to violence and armed conflict. The use of child soldiers is considered a violation of international law and is a serious human rights issue.

Many organizations and governments work to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers into their communities.