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

[Todd Gylsen]

Sometime later, the style changed to this style. You can notice the release date has been added just to the right of the photo number. This particular example is dated 17 August 1934 (17834). You can see how confusing this number could be with the date listed as just one large number.

[Todd Gylsen]

The style changed after a few years, probably sometime in 1937, to this style. The numbers of the date have now been separated by periods as well as having been moved to the bottom right of the script.

[Todd Gylsen]

Soon after the war broke, the addition of the Kriegsberichter’s name can now be seen on the press script. In this example, the Kriegsberichter is Sommerschuh. This would be the normal style of Atlantic press scripts to the end of the war. Not all press scripts will contain the Kriegsberichter’s name.

[Todd Gylsen]

On very rare occasions, Atlantic had dual language captions attached to their photos. Following is an example where it is in both German and English. It is possible that other languages existed on the Atlantic press scripts.

[Todd Gylsen]

The numbering of the Atlantic press photographs began from 1 through 9999. Once 9999 was reached, Atlantic started over again with the number 1. It is not uncommon for Atlantic to use letters after the photograph number, such as in several of the examples shown above. However, on 1 January 1943 this changed. On this date, the numbering of the Atlantic press photos would run from 1 on January 1st and ran to however many photos were released that year. On 1 January 1944, the numbering system began at number 1 again. The same would happen on 1 January 1945.

To date, the latest Atlantic press photo I have observed is dated 30 Oct 1944 and is numbered 3729. I have yet to come across any from 1945. It appears any Atlantic press photo after October 1944 is very rare.


This is all for tonight. The next time I will discuss Weltbild press photos.

[PZIV]

Thanks for the post! I have a grouping of photos from a SS-Kriegsberichter with one of them showing him and his friends with cufftitles on.

[GELIS44]

An interesting read!! I wish you the best with your book if you choose to take the next step. Photos have peaked my interest!!
My new focus is Hitler snapshots, which I just posted on the forum!! Do you have any Hitler press photos?? I'm sure you do!!

[MLW]

Todd:

While I don't know much about Kreigsberichter(s), I do know that it is a shame that your knowledge may not be captured for others to use. Have you considered 1) Making a web site? 2) A publisher like Schiffer that publishes "photo-heavy" books? I have, and do, face a similar situation and am glad to swap ideas.

Regards, Marc
www.maginotlineatwar.com

[Michael H. Pruett]

Great Job Todd

Great job, I do hope you go ahead with your book project.
Best Regards,
Mike

[Todd Gylsen]

Mansal, I, too, have several SS-Kriegsberichter press photos in the archives and will discuss these later in the thread.

NEllis, I have managed to acquire a few Hitler press photos and intend on showing them much later in the thread. Keep your eyes peeled for them.

Thanks guys for the compliments. I sure wish I could find some hard documentation from these press agencies to be able to be more exact on the dates the scripts and stamp markings changed. The dates, markings and scripts are what I have learned from studying the press photos in my personal collection, which stands at over 3500 at this time. I'm sure there are other styles of stamps and press scripts which I have not observed in person. Of course, I am always on the lookout to keep on adding more.

[Todd Gylsen]

The Weltbild press agency was also located in Berlin and operated pre-war and throughout the war years. Weltbild press photos can be identified by the stamping on the back of the photo as well as the typed script. There were 3 main styles of stampings utilized by Weltbild, while the colors of the stampings were a shade of purple.

The earliest style of stamp utilized by Weltbild is shown below. This style ran throughout the existence of Weltbild.

[Todd Gylsen]

In 1938, the stamp changed a little bit with the addition of the date block in the middle of the stamp. This style was utilized as well throughout the existence of Weltbild.

I personally like this style of stamp over the previous one. If the script was missing on the press photos, at least you can date them by this style of stamp.

[Todd Gylsen]

In 1937, this next style was introduced and only ran for a couple years.

[Todd Gylsen]

In 1939, this next style was utilized, but without the date as in the above stamp. This stamp was utilized sporadically throughout the rest of the war years.

[Todd Gylsen]

This style was also utilized for a short period of time between 1940 and 1941.