Germany, SS. A Wartime Commemorative Photo Album

(Waffen-SS Fotoalbum). A fascinating and extremely well-preserved Waffen-SS member’s wartime photo album. It is constructed of a heavy card stock binding with a grey canvas twill exterior liner. The cover bears a black ink illustration of a Waffen-SS soldier in profile, wearing a Stahlhelm and flanked by an inscription of “MEINE DIENSTZEIT” (“MY SERVICE TIME”). The spine is perforated at both the front and back with holes, reinforced with black-painted magnetic metal grommets, with a string looped through and tightly tied in place to securely maintain the album’s structure. The interior content consists of 21 black card stock pages, each separated by a wax paper liner to protect the images. The latter consists of 73 black-and-white photos documenting the wartime service of both the owner and his unit. It opens with three studio portraits, with one depicting an SS-Mann in uniform and wearing an overseas cap, flanked by a smaller photo depicting an Unterscharführer of SS-Standarte “Der Führer” wearing a three-piece ribbon bar and demonstrating a facial wound. These are followed on the next page by a large portrait of an SS-Mann displaying a Gebirgsjäger insignia. The subsequent content features period commemorative images of Waffen-SS personnel in the northern sector of the Eastern Front, including Finland and the Soviet Union. Included are numerous images of personnel in camouflage field gear, combat in both urban and forested areas, captured and destroyed Soviet equipment and vehicles, and soldiers being decorated by Officers, the latter including several images of General and SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Maria Demelhuber. In several images, Demelhuber is notably depicted alongside Wehrmacht Gebirgsjäger General Eduard Dietl. The album measures 260 mm (w) x 175 mm (h) While several pages remain unused, there is no evidence of any missing or loose photos.