Original German WWII Luftwaffe Personal “My Service” Photo Album – 139 Pictures Original Items

Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. This is a wonderful personal photo album with some professional shots as well as personal snapshots, which look to have come from the different areas of Germany. They show both military personnel and civilians during both the winter and warmer months. The soldiers shown definitely have the Luftwaffe Eagle on the right breast of their uniforms, but there are other regular Army as well as RAD members.

The front cover features a silver embossed Meine Dienstzeit (My Service) at the bottom, and the top has a Luftwaffe Eagle. The album measures approximately 10 3/4″ x 7 1/2″, and features 22 pages, secured into the cover with a gray tie string. A total of 139 photographs fill this album, all held in place with period adhesive.

The album is a treasure-trove of images taken from the viewpoint of a young German soldier in the Luftwaffe. We did not remove any of the photos but each page does have writing and dates. 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