First of all, this is in no way from WW1. Just look at the clothes of the women, the skirts hardly covering the knees, the clearly visible stockings, this would have been unthinkable before the Weimar Republic. Than the hat, the one woman is wearing (germans would call it a 'cowboy hat', and 'neckisch', i.e. ~ 'playful', if worn by a woman at that time), the hairdo of the other one - all this points more towards the very early 1940s.
The uniform, the man is wearing, also points towards this time, but it's not a military uniform, recognizable by the fact, that he doesn't wear the eagle on his right chest. So to my knowledge we have 3 possibilities:
- Its a uniform of the volunteer fire brigade http://www.feuerwehr.saarlouis.de/chronik-krieg-1935.0.html
- It's a uniform of the Ordnungspolizei ('Order Police', the uniformed police forces) https://picclick.de/2-WK-Foto-Portrait-Dekorierter-Soldat-des-Polizei-183712995146.html (the picture has mouse over)
- It's the uniform of the Feuerschutzpolizei ('Fire Protection Police') https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feuerschutzpolizei#/media/File:Feuerwehrmuseum_M%C3%BCnchen_-23.JPG
There's also a possibility 4. that it's a Reichsbahn ('National Railway') uniform, but I think this can be ruled out due to the completely different collar patches: https://bahnschutz-uniformen.jimdo.com/reichsbahnuniformen-1937-1945/
Edit: I just saw, that there is a version of the Reichsbahn uniform with the right collar patches, that has been worn in 1940/41, but this version also has cuff titles I can't find in your photo.
So let's discuss those options:
The most puzzling part is the cap he is wearing. It looks somehow like the Feldmütze m43 ('field cap m43'), but not really: http://www.instagub.com/post/1921874775854996963_8229098461 (more like the guy on the left is wearing it), older versions on the other hand were side caps, so there I am, at my wit's end. The only thing I'm almost certain about is, that the light dot is a cockade with the eagle.
So now to our 3 alternatives:
- This might very well be possible. Let's have a look at an actual uniform: https://www.weitze.net/militaria/Feuerwehr_32.html I don't know, how clearly you can see it, but the uniform has a red stripe around the cuff area, and to me it looks like the man in your photo has such a line, at the right cuff at least. Also the uniform in my picture as well as that one on the man in your picture has a patch on the left sleeve that looks like another cockade with an eagle. And the badge, the man is wearing on his left chest might be something he earned during an air raid. I just have two issues with this option: for one the blouse he's wearing looks darker than his trousers when actually the blouse was dark blue and the trousers were black, and it also looks like he should have worn a leather strap across his chest, of which I see nothing in your picture. Of course it is possible, that his right leg just reflects a lot of light and that he had taken of his blouse and the leather strap and that he put the blouse on just for that photo and didn't bother to put on the strap as well. Or that the voluteer fire brigade had a dress uniform without straps (very unlikely, tbh)
- Might also be, almost for the same reasons as 1. with the most important difference, that the cuffs should be dark red and hence stand out more. On the other hand does the cuff also not stand out in the picture I've linked to. Also the trousers should look somewhat darker, but it could also be, that this is due to the light, the left leg looks as dark as the blouse after all. In this case he might have earned his badge in occupied territory, in one way or the other. I guess you have heard about the german police bataillions. And the badge does look similar in both pictures.
- This might be the least likely of the 3, since this uniform was a light grey, which I wouldn't expect to look so dark in the picture, let alone the cuffs that should really stand out. But besides of that it's of course still possible.
It would be really helpful, if we had a coloured picture, I guess.
