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Beautiful and exceptionally scarce in terms of content, early German photo album in untouched condition. The album contains a total of 138 photos, 44 of them from active service. This album once belonged to a highly educated academic/lawyer, identified as Private Stöpel. The album documents with crystal-clear precision the complete transition of the German bourgeois elite into National Socialist conditioning and the military machine on the eve of the Second World War. The album opens with an artfully calligraphed title page for a Studienfahrt der Referendararbeitsgemeinschaft under the leadership of Dr. Thomas to Northern Germany (18.8. – 27.8.1937). This section contains superb, sharp topographical shots of Bremen (including Böttcherstraße and mythological citations) and the port of Hamburg (harbor tours, shipyards and sailing ships). Followed by visits to Lübeck and a crossing on the SS Milwaukee to Heligoland. Wehrmacht service & ideological training (1938):From January 1938 onward, the focus shifts entirely to Stöpel's military and political formation. The album includes a highly sought-after series of photos from his two-month Ausbildungslehrgang with the I./Flak-Reg. 74 (10. Ergänzungs-Batterie) in Stettin. This section shows unique, razor-sharp action and detail photos of heavy equipment, including the gigantic 150 cm Flak searchlights and training with the legendary 8.8 cm Flak gun. It also includes informal barracks shots (Stube 14, cleaning rifles, and the soldiers' game Schinken kloppen). After a short winter sports holiday in the Austrian/Swiss Samnaun (March 1938) comes the most historically rare section: 8 weeks in the notorious Gemeinschaftslager "Hanns Kerrl" near Jüterbog (16.5. – 9.7.38). This was a compulsory political indoctrination camp for young lawyers. This section shows rare shots of physical conditioning (sports festivals, obstacle courses, military exercises in white camp uniforms). The album ends with a historical highlight: a visit to Berlin on 21 June 1938, including a snapshot of the removal and packing of the marble statues in the Siegesallee for Albert Speer's redesign of Welthauptstadt Germania. The very last page shows unique grandstand shots of the legendary and electrifying football final for the German championship between Schalke 04 and Hannover 96 (3-3) at the Olympic Stadium on 26 June 1938. Condition:The album is in absolute, untouched museum condition. All photos are mounted crystal-clear with the original corner mounts, and over the years no postwar photos have been removed or cut out. The handwritten texts in white ink are razor-sharp and perfectly legible. The exterior features a magnificent, undamaged gray-blue cloth cover, complete with the original binding cord and the leather fastening strap. On the inside of the back cover is the original paper storage pouch. An exceptionally complete, historically crystal-clear and highly sought-after album for the serious collector!

Brand: Rurfront Militaria

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