SS Portrait-Russian Fake?

[Brig]

Purchased this on the eStand, did not see the Russian stamp on the rear until it arrived. Appears to be on wartime Agfa paper, but I've always had a distrust for Russian stamped photos. Am I correct that this is one of the fake Russian archive photos?

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

very very similar to the fake Russia archive pictures unfortunately...
The "signature" on lead pencil is very obvious.

And why would you find SS studio pictures from "Russian archives" ? This is just pure non-sense.

See You

Vince

[Brig]

I'm not saying this is a so-called Russian Archive Photo, but the Russian stamp reminded me of it.

I remember a decade and a half ago fake SS portraits were being churned out with a Russian archive stamp on them. Never saw any on agfa, and I believe the stamp was in a box. That was the story...Russian Archive. Never made sense.

[Mil-Archive]

Not one I would want in my collection. If the seller didn't mention the Russian stamp in the ad then if return that.

[H.W Plainview]

Not one I would want in my collection. If the seller didn't mention the Russian stamp in the ad then if return that.

hi

same here, this is not a good surprise.

[Tom B]

I'm not saying this is a so-called Russian Archive Photo, but the Russian stamp reminded me of it.

I remember a decade and a half ago fake SS portraits were being churned out with a Russian archive stamp on them. Never saw any on agfa, and I believe the stamp was in a box. That was the story...Russian Archive. Never made sense.

Me too. Tom

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

confirmed as fake russian archives picture...

More below :

https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/colle...471650426.html

https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/colle...471651289.html

https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/colle...471650017.html

https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/colle...471649529.html

See You

Vince

[Brig]

That's the stamp I recall...

[Gaspare]

Everyone kinds of mistakes these photos..

sure, they are post war.. Early 1990s a large office building near Kiev was broken in and ransacked of everything that wasn't bolted down.. I got there in mid 90s. At the local bazaar there was a guy with shoeboxes of them! I'm talking 10 or so!! There was also pounds of thr Arbeitsbuchs for Auslanders [foreigners] These are the green colored books. and also the Arbeitskards,,they were folded up ID bi fold paper. they had a photo and thumbprint. Pretty interesting as they had the camps they were in etc. The Buchs were hardly filled out but in much better condition.
Getting off topic here,,anyway
IF you notice all/most of the photos are of SS men,,or,,Panzer or GD men, OR foreign volunteers [POA, Cossacks etc.] . Anyone with a skull on them or wearing black. What was told to us is that they were like 'wanted' posters. To identify anyone that was a nazi/SS or collaborationist.

They would be used as evidence or for certain agencies to see if someone was a war criminal! Same with the Buchs and Kartes,, to identify civilian war criminals..
Supposedly every one of the 15 Republics had copies of these photos . Ukraine had most of the original Buchs and Kards and Russia had the original of the photos..

Don't know if true but this is what we heard back them. I bought 200 of the Kards and 200 of the Buchs along with a bunch of other documents.... There were also some 20 or so SS soldbuchs,,most without photos and Police IDs. Also some Gestapo arrest warrants [multi page with a cardboard pink main copy]. We got everything for the grand fee of about $350., maybe a little less.... We knew the photos were reproduction/copies but they were interesting and cheap so we got a shoebox crammed full..

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

Soviet archives/Soviet judicial system do not work like that ("collecting random pictures... used to identify war criminals...").

And what about all the "vehicles", and the fact that some pics are taken from BA/NA Western archives that never went into "Soviet" hands ?

To the contrary to the West, Communist countries were expeditious into putting someone on tria. Millions of locals and German soldiers/civilians were quickly indicted starting from 1943. Some trials happened up to the 80's, but Soviets mostly worked on testimonies (and usually torture it should be noted). They didn't play with boxes of random pictures to "identify" who was who.
We know what the West did (almost nothing against war criminals, especially in the East - death camps/Einsaztgruppen/Orpo/Schutzmannschaft).

This shows that the crook who "sold the swindle" has no idea of what he was talking about.

Was it a seller from the US or from Germany to whom you bought the stuff ?

It is important to understand that this is not because something is cheap that it is not faked... If a faked item cost you 0.01 usd, if you sell it 0.10 usd you are winning money.

See You

Vince

[Gaspare]

Vince,,I can tell you with 100% certainly the Abeitsbuchs , Soldbuchs, arrest papers, Abeitskards were authentic.

I bought the photos because they were inexpensive and had interesting subject matter.. I'm sure they didn't find the photos in the agency along with the other items in shoeboxes....
I do know that along with staplers, file boxes chairs, typewriters etc. all sorts of ink stamps and photo edge cutting devices were found..
That once they found out they could get money for such things they started cutting the edges and ink stamping any war related photos they could find..

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not promoting these photos as authentic nor am I selling them. I'm just mentioning how I got them in the mid 1990s and what was explained to me.. see you..

[Dr.Mabuse]

Why does this SS Soldier wears a belt buckle of the army?

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

yes gaspare, i was only speaking of the pictures of course (the subject of the topic).

The rest of the story with Arbeitsbücher & usw is totally plausible and it is doubtful that they were faked or pimped. You can find this kind of documents per dozen on auctions, webstores, flea markets etc.

Crooks are good to "milk their product" with original items.

See You

Vince

[Gaspare]

-
* Dr. M. ,, a Heer buckle and a 'breast eagle' worn on the arm SS fashion!

That is what makes these East European photos so interesting. Some are well known,,some only seen from their series.

Sure in the later 90s and current these photos are sold as authentics to unsuspecting tourists going to the bazaars.. Early on my interest was just in the soldbuchs, arrest docs etc. The photos were thrown in for a few dollars..
By mid 90s, late 90s you had to be wary of anything you would buy. Great stories were made up and the infamous 'I broke in to this safe' and, I dug it myself' stories by 'diggers' helped to ruin the good ole days..

So take the photos for what they are,,post war. And the ones with images your interested in try and not pay more than a dollar or 2 if you really have to have them...