A Signed & Dedicated Junkers Sketch Book to Knight's Cross Recipient Führer Wienecke

Printed Sketch book by Hans Liska, measuring 30 x 20.5 cm; Date of item: 1942; Condition: very good, some signs of aging. Cover has slight rips, pages are not damaged. A sketch book with drawings of Austrian born artist Hans Liska. Printed by Reproduktion und Offsetdruck Carl Werner, Reichenbach i.V., 1942. The cover shows the handwritten word “Skizzenbuch” (sketch book). The sketches are very beautiful, intricate, and detailed, about half in black and white, the other half in colour. Most pictures have handwritten notes, explaining certain aspects of the pictures, for instance the location (“Calais”, “Rouen”, “Paris”, “Le Havre”, “Ostende”, “Greece”, “Korinth”, “Sewastopol”) or the backstory of the depiction. The pictures show a multitude of wartime scenes: Several aviation themed pictures, street views of bombed cities, close ups of soldiers and civilians. On the inside of the backcover there is a coffee stain that prompted somebody to write “richtiger Bohnenkaffee” (real bean coffee) next to it. On the inside of the cover there are two photos, showing a man in uniform, K.M.F.-Führer Wienecke, to whom this book was dedicated in July 1943, for a celebration he directed, in honour of 30 years of naval aviation. As an introduction, the artist states in the beginning of the book that it was put together from various sketch books after a suggestion by the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (Junkers airplane and engine works company), with the intent to bring joy to the soldiers at the front and the armaments workers at home. The introduction is handwritten and signed. Hans Liska (1907–1983) was born in Vienna. Between 1933 and 1944 he worked as an artist for several magazines. During the war he served in a propaganda company and special squadron. His sketches and drawings from the front made it into multiple magazines and newspapers, in Germany as well as in neutral foreign countries.