Berlin. 1947. Landscape format. (approx. 25x35.5cm). approx. 40 cardboard sheets with protective sheet. Period parchment binding with triple screw binding. Binding slightly rubbed, back cover with a few scratch marks. Interior in good condition, individual photographs with minor fading. Overall good condition. -WE ARE HAVING A SPRING SALE WITH 25 PERCENT OFF ENTIRE STOCK UNTIL May 31st. AS ALWAYS, WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OUR RARE ITEMS -

Language: German

Order number: 7465C

Remarks: The private album belonged to an employee of Mars-Film GmbH, Berlin. It is probably an album with photographs for the birthday of this employee (camera assistant and liaison) in February 1947. The album (in a parchment binding, which was extremely rare in the post-war period) brings together a total of 73 original photographs. The prints are available in various formats and are usually fixed in the album on handmade cardboard. The majority of the prints have the format 8.2 x 11.3 cm or 8.5 x 11.5 cm, deviating from this, some images are available in the format 9.2 x 13.7 cm or 8.5 x 6 cm. Two to three pictures are usually mounted on a cardboard sheet; each cardboard sheet has a protective sheet. The prints are in good condition, with occasional small brightening at the edge of the image. Since it is a birthday album that was probably created by the Mars-Film employees for their colleague in the winter of 1946/1947, the album contains a wide Spektrum of photographs. The first pictures show cheerful trick montages and are usually accompanied by short texts. Later photos show the colleague receiving the gift and other employees in situations outside of the office: in front of ruins in Berlin, on a tram or at a company party. Other pictures come from more private situations, such as with the family in front of a cinema (presumably in West Berlin). These photographs most likely all come from the immediate post-war years of 1945 and 1946. The second part of the album contains photographs that have much more to do with the operational activities of Mars-Film GmbH and often come from the last years of the war 1944-1945. Mars-Film GmbH was founded in December 1942 as a unit of the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) and made educational and training films for the Wehrmacht (film titles such as: "Overcoming Mine Barriers", "Inhibitions on Machine Guns", "Combat Substances"). She was therefore privileged in terms of film material and other goods that were scarce during the war, and her employees (approx. 200) protected from combat use. After the war, Mars-Film made further recordings for international newsreels (for example from the rubble of Berlin) and similar film work for a short time. This smaller part of the album contains the following motifs from before 1945, which were probably often connected to current film shooting projects: employees at work, meetings with Marine soldiers and officers in offices, soldiers in front of trucks. This also includes three items in the album that are worth highlighting. First: a birthday card for a captain in the film staff of the OKW (autumn 1944) with a clear war-active tendency, when it says in cheerful praise of the captain: "I swear by my cane of crutches, you just want to avoid deployment [...] We don't want to film it, we want to win!". This card is also handwritten and signed on the back. Secondly: there are approx. 12 photographs with (photographed) motifs from contemporary billboards or Propaganda boards. These usually show illustrations with cameramen and technical equipment in the middle of the war or behind the front in supposedly cheerful scenes. These also include seemingly anti-Soviet and anti-British scenes. The photographs reveal the shooting angle etc. that something was photographed here, these rather large boards were probably hanging in the offices of Filmstab (OKW) or directly at Mars-Film GmbH. Thirdly, the album also contains a card with the portrait photo of Horst Grund, who, as a cameraman during the Second World War, took numerous photos for films and newsreel episodes for the purposes of war reporting and war propaganda. The card was written on the back by Horst Grund and addressed to his friend (the Mars Film employee). Immediately after the end of the war (1946-1948), Horst Grund worked for Mars-Film GmbH, which continued to exist after 1945. Very interesting album with photographic insights into the post-war period and the work of a very special film production company.- - - ATTENTION! Due to its weight or size, this book can only be sent as a PACKAGE. (Please inquire about postage costs abroad.) / ATTENTION! Due to its weight or size this book can only be sent as a PARCEL.

Keywords: film, television, radio, 1933-45, 1945, after, Berlin, film, film history, company history, National Socialism, photo albums, photographs, propaganda, Wehrmacht