Original German WWII Luftwaffe Administrative Official & NCO Personal Photo Album with Siegrune Marked Cloth Cover – 108 Pictures Original Items

Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. This is a wonderful personal photo album with what looks to be mostly personal snapshots, which look to have come from the different areas of Germany. The first pages all show pictures of the same person, who in some pictures is pictured in the uniform of a Luftwaffe Administrative Official, while in other pictures they are a Luftwaffe NCO. It was fairly standard for administrative officials to have very different roles and rank levels when they were called up for combat. This individual looks to have held the administrative rank of Regierungsinspektor (Government Inspector), roughly equivalent to an Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) in the Luftwaffe. Their combat rank was Unteroffizier (Sergeant), though there are earlier pictures showing them as an enlisted Gefreiter (Airman). This person is pictured throughout the album in all manner of scenes, so we assume it covers a fairly large period of time.

The album has a very nice woven tan cover, which has a single red ᛋ Siegrune (Sig/Victory Rune) in the weave, so it’s possible that they were involved in the Deutches Jungvolk in some way, as that was their emblem. The album measures approximately 8 7/8″ x 6 5/8″, and features 24 pages, secured into the cover with a red cord. Between the pages are spiderweb pattern “onion skin” separators, which keep the photos from sticking together.

A total of 108 photographs fill this album, most held in place with corner tabs. We can see that photos have been removed on some pages and new photos added, but this looks to have been done period. There are also a few photos that have written captions! These look to be more recent, so the Veteran may have added them at some point long after the war. It’s very rare that we get collections that show the same individual in so many different areas, making this a great album full of research potential.

The album is a treasure-trove of images taken from the viewpoint of a young German soldier in the Luftwaffe. 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 over seventy years have passed.

Comes more than ready for further research and display!

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.

The Luftwaffe was the aerial-warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany’s military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force.

During the interwar period, the German armed forces secretly trained pilots – in violation of the Treaty – at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the NSDAP (in power from 1933) and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe’s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through the announcement of German rearmament and conscription on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing-ground for new tactics and aircraft. Partially as a result of this combat experience, the Luftwaffe had become one of the most sophisticated, technologically advanced, and battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II broke out in 1939. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty