Original German WWII Kriegsmarine “Meine Kriegserinnerungen” Photo Album with Sailor’s Cap Insignia – 87 Photos Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-kind-set. Here we have a wonderful Kriegsmarine Navy personal photo album, with what looks to be for the most part personal photographs that they took themselves, with a few professional portraits and postcards mixed in. It is covered with a lovely textured and embossed maroon leatherette cover, and there is a lovely silver painted Kriegsmarine “Donald Duck” cap on the upper left corner, over a banner reading MEINE DIENSTZEIT (My Service). The lower right has an additional gold embossed MEINE KRIEGSERRERUNGEN (My War Memories). The album measures approximately 13” x 9 3/4”, and is bound with a silver twisted cord.

A total of 87 photographs fill the pages of this album, making it a treasure-trove of images taken from the viewpoint of a young, patriotic German soldier, who is pictured on the first page of the album. He is dressed in his Kriegsmarine uniform, which shows a rating insignia for Kraftfahr (Motor Transport), with one rank chevron visible. At the time this was taken, they held the rank of Kraftfahrgefreiter, or Motor Transport Seaman, 2nd Class.

The photos are contained on 16 pages, which are not captioned, and most pages are separated by “spider web” pattern “onion skin” separators. Most are held to the pages with corner tabs, though later in the album many are glued directly to the pages. Many of the photos appear to show the sailor whose album it is, and they show a wide variety of locations. As a motor transport driver, he definitely would have seen a lot of different places. There are also definitely some photos from training, as well as some at sea. Really a great view into the life of a German Kriegsmarine sailor during WWII!

Historical records like this album have become priceless time capsules that provide an incomparable level of insight into the individual experience of the Second World War, now that almost eighty years have passed.

The older albums such as these usually withstand the ravages of time. The leather or fabric covers may wear, but the pages stay well intact. The black paper albums of the early 20th century are more fragile, while the glue from magnetic albums can damage photographs. And, as with all old photographs, keep albums in a safe, climate controlled environment.