Every Christmas Eve from 1900 to 1942, a Berlin couple named Richard and Anna Wagner stood in front of their decorated tree and posed for a photograph. The images were sent as holiday greetings to friends. Decades later, the full collection was found in an attic in former East Berlin — a quiet, remarkable record of one couple’s life together across four turbulent decades.
The tradition began the year of their marriage. Their first portrait shows a young couple in a modest but comfortable home. Richard holds a silver-topped cane, and Anna lifts her cat, Meitz, toward the camera. The decorations are simple, but the warmth in the scene is unmistakable. By 1908, the couple had settled comfortably into married life, and the portraits continued without interruption.
By 1912, the Wagners were visibly more prosperous. The home’s decorations grew richer, their figures fuller, and Richard now sat at his desk while Anna tidied around him — a small but telling domestic detail.
World War I entered the portraits directly. In 1915, a map of German troop advances was placed prominently in the background — a deliberate statement rather than a decoration. Two years later, the war’s toll was even more personal. Richard and Anna wore heavy overcoats indoors, a sign that coal for heating had become scarce.
The postwar years brought visible change. In 1927, Richard wore glasses for the first time, his hair going grey at the temples. That year, Anna’s Christmas gift was a vacuum cleaner — electricity had just been installed in the home. It’s a small, cheerful detail that anchors the photo firmly in its era.
By 1935, the portrait had a leaner, quieter look. Fewer gifts, simpler surroundings, and an older Richard — the pressures of the Great Depression still lingered across Germany. The couple’s faces carried more years, but they continued to show up for the photograph every Christmas Eve without fail.
The series ends in 1942. Both Richard and Anna appear fully grey, dressed again in winter coats. Richard died in August of that year. The final image in the collection shows Anna standing alone — no tree, no presents, no Richard. Though she lived until 1945, she never continued the tradition. The photograph of her standing alone is the last one.
