Early Fallschirmjager Album ( a little strange )

[JYN]

FJ Portraits

Dear Akira,

Concerning the true story of the nice portraits of FJs we know.
As I wrote (Green Devils !), in 1943 while quartered in Ivry-la-Bataille, Witzig's engineers decided to have their portraits taken by a photographer who ran a studio in nearby Anet. This is the true true story of those plates.

I was the first one to identify the unit. In fact most of those FJs were men from a sMG group. More than ten years ago, Mr Sammut (french collector) bought all the original glass negatives plates after the death of the photographer and then he started to sell them as well as prints in gun shows. Some of them Heer, LW have been sold by him in lot but the FJ ones are still his property.

Some of the negatives he found depicted some men from the LAH. They have been used by Schiffer for the cover of the WSS trilogy. Which just came to you is post-war repro photos made by a faker.

I am sending a repro-photo (wrong side if you compare it from one print, directly made from the original negative, in my book on page 97 - Format 6 x 8) ) that I get in a DKG NACHLASS (Mr Bethge love this expression) last year. The grouping is made of photos which are coming from different sources. Mr Bethge is not a reliable guy. Compare it to yours !I get one original print from a veteran and it was not this side and this quality. That how I identify the unit....


recto


verso Agfa Lupex


Sorry Akira, but I know where are the negatives and this pictures have been made by 1943 in France not so far from Paris.

Jean-Yves

Jean-Yves

[JYN]

Akira,

The photos you sent of men supposed to be KIA by 1940 have been printed on the wrong side also. No doubts, they have been made by the same faker !
JYN

[Willi Z.]

JYN is correct on the matter of both the origin and the authenticity of those portrait photos. Each year at the Max a French dealer brings literally 100's of those photos......they cost $10 each. I have the entire set and even have some that have been enlarged hanging on on wall. They have been around for about 3 years now.

Even if they were original, they are not 1940 or 1941 vintage. The gear, uniforms, etc are all post '42 vintage. Splinter 3rd model smocks, RZ20 chutes, etc. Studio portrait photos such as these were commonly taken during '43 and '44 in France.

The presence of photos such as these in an early album cast alot of suspicion on the entire album.

Willi

[Ian Tannahill]

Giday Akira,

Thanks for posting a copy of the picture.

Best wishes,

Ian

[Akira Takiguchi]

Thanks everybody for your help, especially Jean-Yve who took the trouble to explain the whole situation deep in detail! Captioning those portraits as "KIA 1940" is like captioning a Panther photo as "<i>Panzer advancing to Stalingrad</i>"!

Though it may take some time but I will continue posting photos from this album for <i>anatomy</i> . I hope you won't be too bored from seeing more photos.

This album has certainly interesting photos, and I can see certain integrity and <i>strangeness</i> as well.

OK, let's begin today's show...

Preparation for the battle in Poland.

<img src="http://www.history.jp/images/MJahn-Vorbereitungen-1s.jpg">

After the battle of Poland... The burial celemony.

<img src="http://www.history.jp/images/Deblin39-1s.jpg">

You can clearly read the name <i>Frhr v. Brandis</i>... Look at the Eric's <a href="http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12752&pagenumber=1"><i> Hall of shame</i> thread</a>! Interesting coincidence.

<img src="http://www.history.jp/images/GrabObltBrandis-1s.jpg">

[JamesM]

Question for Willi

Willi,

Do you know of any way to purchase the prints you mentioned without having to travel to the Max show?

- James

[Eric Queen]

Akira,

You might want to check and see if anyone from Jahn's unit
( I./FJR1 ( if Olt.von Brandis was his direct CO then 3./FJR1 ))
was burried at the Fort Iwangorod cemetary near Deblin. As far as I know, only the 8 from II./FJR1 ( killed at Wola Gulowska on September 24, 1939 ) were burried there.

Eric

[bergrenner]

Just wanted to add that the photo with the PzKpfw III is also in Die Ritterkreuzträger, Fallschirmjäger pg 225.

[Willi Z.]

James,

A friend of Bill Shea's (Charles W.) sells blow ups of some of these photos. I have a few in 8x10 and 11x17. Otherwise I never see the small postcard sizes other than at the Max.

Willi

[Rick White]

Hi Akira,

The album is still a good purchase for the price - despite its problems. You could easily recoup your money (and then some) by selling the photos individually if you ever needed to.

Also, I have an album in my collection made up by the son of LW pilot from original and reproduced photos. He got many details wrong - people, places, dates - just as you would expect. Could this be the case here?

I have also have had albums from veterans themselves who, after putting together the album twenty or thirty years later, got details wrong. You would also expect veterans to make mistakes after getting photos from comrades after the war (personally or at unit reunions) and constructing an album based on "collective memory" - especially after a few Krugs of Grog!

Of course, another option is that a fraudulent dealer slapped the silly thing together to get photo-nuts like Akira and me to bid high!

Rick

P.S. I have never gotten a response from this particular seller when I have emailed him questions. I know my Deutsch izt nisht zoh goot (that was for Rick L.) , but ....

[JYN]

Hi Rick

Please don't say that a photo album at this price is a good purchase.
I am a bit familiar with photos which are coming from the vets and you could easily find the same material in an other album a day after. All German WWII Soldiers were not good photographer !
JYN

[Akira Takiguchi]

Thanks Rick for your words!

In case of photographs, whether it is a good purchase or not, depends on <b>the buyer</b> and not on the photographs by themselves. Of course any buyer can make himself better any time, so once a bad purchase could end up in a good purchase.

I am not interested in reselling the photos (aside from selling off duplicates), so money is not a problem, just I have to become better in identification.

JYN's right about multiple copies. These days newbies pay incredible prices. Read an old thread on GD forum, if you're interested. I can't find my articles at this site (archive) inside it, unfortunately:

http://daggers.infopop.net/2/OpenTop...1&m=5233015593

[Rick White]

My point exactly, Akira. Whether we agree with it or not, there are many people who will pay premium prices for photos like these - the Capitalist pigs...spit!

Good link, Akira. Enjoyed reading it.

Rick

[Akira Takiguchi]

Bildberichtertruppe sold photographs to the soldiers using these kind of papers. So sometimes what you see in your photo album could be one of such "supplied" comments.

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/wwii/panzer/images/photolist.jpg

[Rick White]

Good point Akira. I find this to be particularly true for pre-war / early-war albums. Many times, I believe, whole albums, not just the photos, were made available for purchase - especially the "official unit" albums with the unit name/number printed on the front. However, the later the war went, the more personalized I find that they become. Do you agree?

That is the first time I have seen a photo-caption list. Very interesting.

Rick