PHOTO #33211 Small Format Artillery Officer’s Photo Album

This album contains 33 pages, many of which have one larger photograph and many which have two smaller photographs per page. The photo album depicts a group of artillery officers throughout the album doing field exercises with cannon and horses pulling casoons. There is also a mounted kettle drummer with several shots of the drummer on horseback and also beating his drum. These photographs are extremely well done and are a great uniform study as well as a window into an officer’s life in the pre-war artillery branch. None of the 33 pages of photos are labeled but they are fairly easy to see what’s going on. There are probably about 50 photos altogether. The cover is a multicolored fabric cover with string binding. The album measures 5” x 7”.

Excellent Plus. $125.00

 PHOTO #33212 Album of Oblt. Edgar Schurr From February 1943 Through October 1944

This album is extremely charming and captivating, giving a great glance of what life was like with a military aristocratic couple in wartime Germany. The album measures about 12½” x 9½” and has about 200 photographs inside. The album opens with a hand drawn artistic family tree showing the coats of arms of the two marrying families. There are wedding pictures along with the reception held in the town of Bamberg. After the reception, the happy couple is off to the Tyrol area and there are some interesting photographs of the resorts and the mountains in this beautiful area. The album covers photographs of the couple’s sister and her children, Christmas in 1943, a wedding of a sister to another army officer, pictures of the new children arrivals, the new dogs born to the household and lots of photographs of army personnel to include those of a visit by General Amann to Regensburg in October 1944 and also those of a local knight’s cross winner Wachtmeister Engelbrecht. It is hard to describe the warm feeling one gets looking through this military family album. Obviously, this couple was well-to-do just judging by the places they visited and their overall quality of dress. I don’t know whether the couple survived the war or not, but hopefully their children did. It would be a great gesture to see whether the children are still alive today, as I am sure they would be very thrilled to see this photo album probably made up by Frau Schurr. The album has captions on every photograph and is absolutely loaded with beautiful artwork probably done by Frau Schurr. A beautiful and heartwarming study of a German family caught in a wartime neither one had anything to do with but obviously saw through.

Excellent Plus. $295.00

 PHOTO #31095 RAD Photo Album

This official RAD photo album is about 10½” x 7” in dimensions and it has the RAD shovel with swastika and wheat shafts embossed onto the green cover. There are 25 pages in this album with about 75 photos. The album covers the RAD experience of a young recruit stemming from the time he arrives to around the middle of his tenure with the RAD there are interesting buildings as well as marches and training with shovels. There are a couple of shots showing RAD hewers in wear. The opening photograph shows the entire RAD work group of Abteilung 5/201 based in Karthaus in Westfalen. There is also an opening picture in the book of a very friendly Führer and also a good drawing of labor leader Hierl. A nice album here.

Excellent. $195.00

PHOTO #33131C Wedding Photo Album with Reichsführer Himmler Presiding

This interesting artifact is a wedding album that consists of twenty original photographs. The album is 11 ½ by 7 ½ and is covered in a white type of linen with black string holding black pages. The pages are separated with onion skin. On the first page there is a dedication in pen and ink which I can not totally make out but I can see the capital letters, “R.F.SS.” and beneath this, “SS Grüppenführer Wolff”. I can also see that in German it says, “In Memory of 3. III. 1941” and is signed by Gottlob Berger, one of the twelve "Knights" of Wewelsburg and a close associate of both Wolff and Himmler. I do not know whether the album was given to Grüppenführer Wolff or to Himmler himself all I know is that the album comes from Himmler’s home. The nineteen pictures inside are all approximately 6 ½ by 4 ½ inches. These black and whites are professionally done and they depict the wedding of a couple that from what I can surmise were not necessarily SS people as the groom is dressed in normal civilian suit. The bride who actually looks like a transvestite to me is probably the daughter of the Munich police chief SS – Obergrüppenfuhrer Freiherr Karl von Eberstein. If you want to see a picture of Eberstein you can see him in my SS book on page 115. The father of the groom that appears in many of these pictures is unquestionably this man. There are pictures that show Eberstein with his degen and there are also pictures that show Himmler with the brocade strap used to carry his SS degen. There are also pictures that show Karl Wolff in the background. The pictures depict a small ceremony in an office and above the table is a portrait of Adolf Hitler. Himmler and Eberstein sit at the table along with the bride and groom as well as the justice official which may have been the Burgermeister. There are also pictures outside of the City Hall showing lots of high ranking SS officers as well as the wedding party. There are two bridesmaids along with two groomsmen and also these men are in civilian dress. There is also a fine picture of Himmler and Wolff together both wearing their SS degen with portepee. At the reception dinner Himmler stands to give a speech while there are roses on the table, von Eberstein to Himmler’s left and the “lovely” bride to Himmler’s right. There is a toast to Himmler as well as a picture of Himmler putting a ring onto the bride. Another photo shows Himmler giving the couple a pair of silver goblets. Another photo shows Himmler at the wedding table apparently laying a little joke on the bride as she is grinning glissfully at the Reichfürher. Another shot shows Karl Wolff with his wife opposite Himmler at the wedding table while von Eberstein looks on. Anyhow I’m sure by now you get the idea of what this album contains. This is an opportunity to acquire original photographs of Heinrich Himmler himself. A very important album here and the first of which I have ever seen with Himmler as the “star player”.

Excellent Plus, Plus. $7,500

PHOTO #31580 Luftwaffe Flight School Album

This Luftwaffe Flight album is of small format, being 5 inches by 8 inches. It is dated “1May 1939” and covers the flight school that was established by the Luftwaffe in East Bremen. The pictures are all one-to-a-page and each picture has a printed caption. I would assume that one of these albums was probably given to each of the graduating pilots. The photographs are most interesting because they show edged weapons in wear, to include Luftwaffe swords, as well as 1st Model Luftwaffe daggers. There are also shots of the commanding officer and his staff, as well as his wife. The photos also show members of the teaching staff, as well as graduating classes. It is a high quality album, totaling about 20 photographs. A great Luftwaffe study here and first-rate photography throughout.

Excellent Plus. $225.00

PHOTO #31487C Army Photo Album

This Army photo album has a nice woven style cover and is held together with brown cord. It has the usual black pages inside separated with onion skin. The pages are about 11 x 9. There are about 24 pages that contain photographs. Some of the photographs are labeled although most of them are not. The album is quite interesting as it follows the career of an NCO from 1930 to about 1938 just before the war. The NCO is a tough looking fellow who is quite easy to recognize in almost all of the photographs. The album starts out with what looks like a soldbuch photo along with a photo of our NCO in his Reichswehr uniform. The next picture shows the oath of allegiance being taken to Hitler and appears to be about 1935 as the five soldiers involved are wearing the transitional style Frankenstien type helmets. The album than commences with pictures going back to the early 1930s showing the usual marking with rifles, photos of entire classes swimming in a lake, sitting under trees and a good shot of a marching band complete with jingling Johnny and tuba playing in the background. Our NCO is also pictured with musical swallow tails and I believe he is the drum major that is seen in the band. There are no further pictures that deal with him in the band so this must have been a short career. The next pictures show him as an NCO leading trainees in classes outside marching, building of barracks, shooting rifles in ditches and of course the usual marching where the NCO carries a sword. Later shots show training in the woods in summer white tunics and lots of close up shots showing the carrying of bayonets and rifles with good uniform pictures. There is also a shot of our NCO boxing another individual. The NCO looks like he is going to win as he is a very rough looking fellow now devoid of hair. One shot of him laying down shows him with shoulder boards having tress around them as well as tress around his collar and one pip. The last photo shows the NCO standing by a tree with his men surrounding him. This is probably about 1938 when the album ends. A lot of interesting pictures here and very fine photography throughout.

Excellent Plus. $295.00

PHOTO #29080C Large Format Photo Album Belonging to General Akira Muto

General Akira Muto was the infamous Commander of Sumatra and the Philippines where terror against civilians was the order of the day. He was executed on 23 December 1948 at Sugamo prison in Tokyo, along with Hedeki Tojo, Kenji Doihara called the Tiger of Manchuria, and Iwane Matsui responsible for the rape of Nanking. The album starts out with a very large portrait photo of General Muto in uniform. The pictures are all captioned in Japanese. The next photo is a large print of some Japanese soldiers in the back of a truck, smiling and eating K-rations. At that point, the album goes into Muto’s family and his younger life. In fact, the photo appears to have the entire history of Muto’s life and there are many pictures showing him in school and in sports organizations. There are also photographs of soldiers with Samurai swords and any pictures of relatives, Aunts, friends and important places in Japan. There are at least 200 photographs in this album, many of which are captioned in Japanese. For someone who is a student of Japanese history, this has to be an important artifact. The album is accompanied by various American articles explaining the career of Muto along with his execution and other facts regarding the Japanese Generals who were on trial with Muto.

Excellent Plus. $1495.00

PHOTO #18086 Luftwaffe Photo Album

This album is a sanctioned Luftwaffe type, as it has printed on the padded cover “Meine Dienstzeit” or in English “My Service Time”. Above the printing and to the left is a nicely detailed Luftwaffe droop tail eagle, however, the swastika has been removed from this bird. The job, though, is well done and still looks good. The album is held together with red, white and black string. The album itself measures about 10 inches by 7.5 inches and there are 165 photos contained. The album begins at about 1930 with a career of an NCO. He originally was with the Cavalry Division of the Army and was quite a horseman. There are many pictures showing this NCO riding and jumping as well as posing with his horse. Some of these horsemanship photos are quite interesting. There are also pictures of the NCO with his family as well as in training about 1933. About halfway through the album in 1936, this Cavalry NCO joins the Luftwaffe. There are some shots of swords and 1st model Luftwaffe daggers being worn. This man became a very high NCO in the Luftwaffe, having two stripes on his sleeve which I believe meant that he was the equivalent of a Sergeant Major. He never gave up horses, as there are later photos showing him on horseback. There are also photos of airports and other interesting scenes. The photo album ends about 1937. It is quite interesting and really follows the life of this career high-ranking NCO.

Excellent Plus Plus. $395.00

PHOTO #22408 RAD/LUFTWAFFE Photo Album

This album has a RAD motif on the cover but the RAD section is only a few pages and then it becomes the career of this Luftwafffe NCO. The padded cover is of canvas type construction having a leather rawhide binding. At the center area of the album, there is a wide brown stripe and it has the “My Service Time” “Meine Dienstzeit” silver embossed on the brown surface. Above this is a pinned metal insignia of the RAD which features a mobile swastika positioned over two wheat shafts. The album has all onionskin separators and most of the photos are titled in fine white printing. The first part of the album covers the owner’s career in the RAD and shows some good photographs of encampments and training. About 4 photos in, the album goes to the Luftwaffe portion and, at this time, is dated 1.12.1938 and shows a nice, formal photo of the owner with one bird on his collar tabs. The album progresses through training and lots of scenes with sweethearts, airplanes, friends gathering together, etc. It is quite interesting, though, and even winds up showing the original owner with his Alsatian dog. This is a good album to study and will bring you much pleasure.

Excellent Plus, Plus. $350.00