Germany, Third Reich. A Rare 1936 Berlin Olympics Photo Album, Egon Sander

(Fotoalbum). A photo album constructed of tan cloth covering with the Olympics Rings stamped on the front cover, string bound, containing twenty pages constructed of black cardstock, with tissue-guarded leafs between each page, presenting a collection of memorabilia, postcards, and photographs related to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The inside cover presents three ticket stubs glued to the page, one dated 1 August for the Eröffnungsfeier (Opening Ceremony), one dated 7 August for Polo, and one dated 13 August for Handball.

The first page presents two official Olympische Spiele Berlin 1936 postcards on the obverse side and one official postcard on the reverse side of the page. On the reverse of all three postcards are signatures of Olympic athletes and participants, including American athlete Joseph W. Cummings (1911-1993). The next two pages present a total of seven postcards, displaying black-and-white photographs of the Olympics stadiums, pools, and fields, five unused, two used, with postage stamps dated 24 July 1936, one addressed to Fru Kaptajn Sander (Mrs. Captain Sander) and one addressed to Fru Felsing (Mrs. Felsin), each measuring approximately 14.1 cm (w) x 9.2 cm (h). On the same page as the last postcard in this series is an Olympia Ausweis (Olympic ID Card) issued to Egon Sander (b. 2 May 1912 in Korsør) of Copenhagen, Denmark, the obverse presents a black-and-white photograph of Sander in plain clothes, with person information handwritten in black ink, stamped with DOK Danmarks Olympiske Komite, the reverse indicates that Sander was an Offizieller Pressevertreter (Official Press Representative), measuring 9 cm (w) x 14.9 cm (h).

The following pages present 19 black-and-white photographs, each measuring approximately 8.9 cm (w) x 11.7 cm (h), and 41 black-and-white photographs, each measuring approximately 8.5 cm (w) x 6.1 cm (h), displaying the Opening Ceremony, behind-the-scenes shots of athletes preparing for competition, teams on the field, swimming pools and diving sports, audience members in the stands, gymnasts on balance beams, a business displaying the signage stating Juden find nicht erwünscht (Jews are not welcome), the Internationales Sportstudenten Lager (International Sports Students Camp), and numerous other scenes at the Olympics. Four additional unused postcards follow the photographs, as well as a ticket to the playoffs of the World Handball Championship on Sunday, 10 July 1938, at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in addition to an invitation from SS-Brigadeführer Richard Herrmann (1895-1941) to a social event at the German Opera House on Sunday, 10 July 1938 on the occasion of the Handball World Cup. The album measures 29 cm (w) x 22 cm (h), presents very mild soiling on exterior cloth cover, interior contents are in extremely fine conditions.