From the Kriegsberichter's Eyes: A study in German Press Photos

[Todd Gylsen]

This style began to be seen in 1941 and was on most of the Weltbild press photos for the rest of the war years. It normally would be seen in conjunction with another of the above stamp, normally either the 1st or 2nd version of stamp.

Also of note is there is a variation of this style of stamp which is seldom seen. It looks exactly like this style of stamp except the world 'Weltbild' has been changed to the initials 'Wb.'

[Todd Gylsen]

Weltbild did have a few different styles of press scripts which didn’t change very much throughout the years. The earliest style of Weltbild press script began with numeric numbering, #414 in this example. This numbering system would soon change.

[Todd Gylsen]

In the next style, Weltbild began to use the numbering system which they would use throughout their existence. The number in this example is B2638. Weltbild’s numbering system was quite simple. It would begin with a letter followed by a number. Once they ran to 9999, the letter would switch to the next letter in the alphabet. By 1945, Weltbild had reached the letter ‘L’ in their numbering system.

The latest example I personally have in my collection is dated 11 Jan 1945 which is numbered L6907. This is the only 1945 Weltbild photo I have personally observed. It appears these late-war press photos are extremely rare.

[Todd Gylsen]

In 1939, Weltbild began to put the name of the Kriegsberichter on the backs of their photos. You can see in the two examples the different ways the Kriegsberichter’s name was labeled on the back of the photos. In the first example, Bösig is the Kriegsberichter...

[Todd Gylsen]

...while Schlickum is the Kriegsberichter in the 2nd example.

[Todd Gylsen]

That's all for the Weltbild press agency. Presse Bild Zentrale is next. Please stay tuned.

[Todd Gylsen]

Orbis was located in Berlin while Sipho was located in Brussels, Belgium. The reason for these two agencies being discussed together is most Orbis press photos will also have a Sipho stamp.

The earliest Orbis photos utilized this stamp. It is not known when this stamp was ceased and the next variation came into being as Orbis rarely dated their photos.

[Todd Gylsen]

When an Orbis press photo is dated, normally the script will not be dated. Instead, a date was stamped onto the back of the photo. When this occurred, the most common Sipho stamp encountered on dated Orbis press photos is this example.

[Todd Gylsen]

The most common Orbis stamp is shown below.

[Todd Gylsen]

The more common styles of Sipho stamps encountered on Orbis press photos is shown below. This style would normally be blue in color.

[Todd Gylsen]

Orbis press scripts attached to the back of the photo was usually very basic. One of the styles (shown below) had a title line; the press caption and the last line would consist of the photographers name, Orbis and a photograph number. Orbis press photos also were not numbered in all cases. When the scripts are numbered, it appears they used the same photo number from a different press agency which originally released the photo. For example, in the sample shown below, the photo number is A103065. This is a Presse Bild Zentrale number. Other agency number systems which have been observed on Orbis press photos are Hoffmann and Atlantic. Not all Orbis press photos will contain the photographers name or even the press agency’s name.

[Todd Gylsen]

Sipho scripts are fairly uncommon. These scripts would normally be on thin white paper and be in two languages. The style would normally consist of the title line, caption line, photographers’ name, and ‘Sipho’.

[Todd Gylsen]

I guess I got a little out of sequence and forgot to post the Presse Bild Zentrale information. Here you go:

Presse Bild Zentrale was located in Berlin and operated pre-war and throughout the war years. Presse Bild Zentrale press photos can mainly be identified by their stamp on the back of the photo and sometimes by the their initials (PBZ) on the script attached to the back of the photo.

Presse Bild Zentrale had one style of stamp which was predominately utilized throughout their existence during the Third Reich period. The coloring of the stamp was a shade of light green.

[Todd Gylsen]

On a very rare occasion, this stamp has also been seen on the backs of Presse Bild Zentrale photos and is normally seen in conjunction with the above stamp.

[Todd Gylsen]

On the other hand, Presse Bild Zentrale utilized a few different styles of scripts on the backs of their photos. The early PBZ scripts were of the following pattern: The title line, followed by the picture number and date and normally the Kriegsberichter (photographer-von der Becke in this example), the next lines would be the main caption of the press photo.