Europe in the 1950s

It is just one moment among millions in 1950s, postwar Europe, but it is one captured by American photographer Bill Perlmutter, who arrived in Europe in 1954 to take photographs for the US Army. Perlmutter captured this mood without prejudice. With his Rolleiflex camera, he set off on a journey of discovery. Throughout the pages of "Through a Soldier's Lens," the viewer accompanies him from Germany to France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Three children on a sidewalk in an unknown German city having fun with the photographer.

A man with a toothbrush moustache standing next to a German shepherd? No wonder the photographer called this particular image "Hitler Lookalike." Where it was taken is unknown.

Perlmutter had no inhibitions as a photographer and he was curious -- not unlike these children waving at an armored personnel carrier belonging to the US military.

The photographer discovered this vehicle, a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller, in Augsburg in 1955. The three-wheeled micro-cars were produced starting in 1953, but didn't last very long.

This elderly woman was likewise photographed during Perlmutter's 1956 visit to Paris.

As he travelled through Europe, Perlmutter sought to capture day-to-day life. This image shows four men loading a painting onto a horse-drawn cart in Italy in 1956.

In Venice, Perlmutter happened across workers attempting to dredge mud out of a silted-up canal in 1956.

A young child on the main square of Venice. Perlmutter called the Italian city "the most enchanting city I had ever visited."

A group of girls dance on the beach in Nazaré in Portugal in 1956. Perlmutter was fascinated by the country and said that it was the livliest place he visited.

Perlmutter felt as though Portugal was frozen in the 19th century. These simple boats passed as fishing vessels in the country in the 1950s.

Postwar Portugal was a simple country with high rates of poverty. Here, women sell wares at an outdoor market.