Original German WWII Kriegsmarine Borkum Island Coastal Artillery Photo Album with Unpublished Photos of Der Führer Adolf H – 98 Pictures Original Items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 lovely navy blue leatherette, and has an embossed gold Kriegsmarine Wehrmachtadler (armed forces eagle) in the upper left corner. The album measures approximately 10 1/2” x 7 1/2”, and is bound with tri-color twisted cord. The title page reads Erinnerungen an meine Wehrdienſtzeit (Memories of my military service), a common phrase seen in these military photo albums.

A total of 98 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 wearing standard clothes, and under this is the caption so ging ich zur Marine OKT 1935 (So I went into the Navy oct 1935). The following pages show him dressed in his Kriegsmarine sailor’s uniform, which show a Naval Küstenartillerie (Coastal Artillery) specialist insignia on his left arm. Per the photo album he was stationed on Borkum Island in the North Sea, which had a substantial Naval base during the war, with numerous artillery emplacements.

The island was an important part of the coastal defenses of Germany itself, and it was actually visited by Der Führer Adolf H himself, shown on the 12th page of the album under the heading Der Führer i. Borkum. The photos show several shots of a parade arranged for him, and also a picture of him at the port on the island.

The photos are contained on 20 pages, most of which are captioned, and most pages are separated by “onion skin” separators. Most are held to the pages with corner tabs, though later in the album many are glued directly to the pages. Towards the rear of the album are period personal Kriegsmarine photographs which were developed more recently. We assume these were taken by the owner of the album. Really a great view into the life of a German Kriegsmarine coastal artilleryman 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.