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FINE NAZI WAR TIME SERVICE COMMEMORATIVE ALBUM FOR A WEHRMACHT SOLDIER

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Meine Kriegsdienstzeit (My War Time Service) is a beautiful commemorative hardcover album-type book with a linen spine produced so Wehrmacht soldiers or a soldier’s family could enter, and then later on remember and commemorate specific details about their World War II military service.

The 9-1/8 x 11 inch Nazi book starts with a striking full-page profile portrait of Adolf Hitler opposite the Wehrgesetz of 21 May 1935. This was the universal military service law for able-bodied German men in defiance of the Versailles Treaty.

Meine Kriegsdienstzeit has a page for the soldier’s personal information, draft date, promotions, transfers, decorations, and release from the Wehrmacht (shown left). The next page has space for the military service details of the soldier’s grandfather, father and brothers. The pre-printed pages with space for the chronological timetable of the soldier’s service are also not filled out as are the pages for “memories” about superiors and comrades.

Inside the front cover is a striking 4-5/8 x 6-1/8 inch book plate showing this Third Reich commemorative service album was a gift from the manager of Solo Zündwaren- und Chemische Fabriken AG in Wien. Inside the back cover is a half-page cardstock ‘pocket’ to save service ephemera.

This is followed by four glossy pages with the history of the German military and its important role in defending the German way of life and creating Lebensraum through the centuries. This is followed by portraits of Hermann Göring (head of the Luftwaffe), Admiral Erich Raeder (head of the Kriegsmarine ) and Walther von Brauchitsch who was the Commander-in-Chief of the the German Army. The “German Soldier Oath to the Führer” is also beautifully printed on a full page.

“Duties of German Soldiers” are spelled out in eight concise paragraphs and there is a recap of the World War I armistice which on 3 September 1939 (25 years after the start of World War I) was broken when “England and France without reason declared war on Germany.”

Glassine pages separate ten thicker dark tan photo album-type cardstock pages from the rest of the book. There are no photos but the first two album pages have light glue residue so at one time this Meine Kriegsdienstzeit album was used by a Wehrmacht soldier or their relatives.

Meine Kriegsdienstzeit was published by Erasmusdruck Brüder Krause in Berlin, is undated and in fine condition, with a tight spine and no odor. This is a perfect blank album for some collectors with photos and ephemera to put in it, to conserve them.