Original German WWII Luftwaffe & Family Personal Photo Album 132 Photographs Total Original Items

Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. This is a wonderful Luftwaffe personal photo album with a myriad of photos taken in training, on duty, and with family. They show a large variety of different types of scenes, some of which look to be in Germany and France, and some showing planes and others with soldiers in the field or on trains. Towards the end, the photos are almost entirely of family. Definitely some great variety in this album!

The cover is a gorgeous embroidered felt pattern with colors of white, orange, gold, and brown. The album measures roughly 11¾ x 8½ x ¾”. The pages are separated by the classic German spider-web onion paper. All photos appear to be held by adhesive, and there are a few photos missing from spots that are now empty.

A total of 132 photographs fill this album, making it a treasure-trove of images taken from the viewpoint of a young, patriotic 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 almost eighty years have passed. This is a fantastic German photo album with lots of research potential. Comes ready for 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