description
Object description
Plastic photograph album with 439 remounted original wartime prints covering the service of Peter Heinrich, a soldier of (possibly) the German 20th Infantry Regiment in Germany, the German and Soviet zones of occupied Poland, and Soviet Union between 1940 and 1944.
Collection consists of:
1. Photographs of German recruits in Mannheim and their departure to the town of Leszno (Lissa) in the German zone of occupied Poland, 25-26 April 1940;
2. Long sequence of images taken in the town of Leszno in May-September 1941 including: military parade in the town square of Leszno on 10 May 1940; daily life and duty routine of the regiment; images of the 3rd Battery of the Heavy Artillery (3. Schwere Artillerie Ersatz Batterie mot. 70) during training and off-duty time;
3. Peter Heinrich in reserve hospitals in Allenstein (Olsztyn) and Emmerich, 11 June - 25 July 1941;
4. Sequence of photographs of the Warsaw Ghetto: Jews wearing yellow stars in the streets; bodies being transported by handcart to cemeteries, July-August 1941;
5. Destruction in the city and the Citadel of Brześć Litewski (Brest-Litovsk) in the Soviet zone of occupied Poland, after the Battle of Brest Litovsk, 22-29 June 1941 (early stages of the German invasion of Soviet Union - Operation Barbarossa); German graves in the city; Peter Heinrich tending a grave of Georg Lautenschlager, killed in action on 28 June 1941; Soviet prisoners in the open roof train ready to be transported from Brest-Litovsk; Germans gathering Polish Jews in a sport field for labour recruitment;
6. German troops on the way to and in the city of Smolensk in early 1942, Soviet Russia;
7. Winter quarters of Heinrich's regiment in the paper factory in the city of Shklov, Soviet Belarus;
8. German troops in the city of Charkov (Kharkov, Kharkiv), Soviet Ukraine; interesting shot of a short-barelled Panzer IV Ausf. F1 tank in the ruined street; German troops at a Soviet DP-28 machine gun shooting practise (either Smolensk or Charkov);
9. Series of photographs of various locations in Soviet Union, mainly farmers's houses and churches i.e. Orel. Minsk, Starayewo, Belgorod, Bedorewina, Teterwina; German troops socialising with local peasants; labour recruiting gathering for Jews in one of the Soviet towns; German cemetery in the town of Ostrogozhsk;
10. Short sequence of images of captured or destroyed Soviet equipment: armoured train in Brest-Litovsk; knocked out early T-34 tank (serial number 16-93); destroyed British-made Valentine tank in the Red Army service in Federowka; destroyed Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter plane (serial number 29); destroyed Katyusha rocket launcher (Stalin's organ; Stalinorgel);
11. German troops in their winter quarters in Ukraine; being issued with malaria pills; wearing heavy winter clothing etc; column of Hungarian cavalry moving towards front;
12. Mass burial of German troop in Charkov; drastic image of three Soviet civilians hanged with placards branding them as "Partizans"; German troops tending a grave of Oberschütze Ottmar Beck of the 12th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler), killed in action on 12 February 1943; German cemetery of over 10000 graves;
13. Sequence of photographs of the Red Square in Charkov, including most prominent landmarks in the city; probably 1943;
14. Troops of No. 4 Company of Peter Heinrich's regiment taking part in a football game;
15. Monument of Taras Shevchenko on Sumskaya Street in Charkov;
16. German military airfield between Orel and Kursk with Junkers Ju 52 and Henschel Hs 126 aircraft in use; four Maxim guns set as an anti-aircraft battery;
17. Hospital ship and German diver at work on the River Don;
18. Sequence of photographs from Charkov and Stalingrad including: destruction in Stalingrad (railway station, water tower); decapitated monument of Stalin; Tiger tank being towed by Sd.Kfz. 9 (Famo) half-tracks; German retreat from Charkov; Soviet prisoners being marched into the captivity; Soviet female workers checking each otehr heads for lice;
19. Miscellaneous sequence of images from various places in Soviet Union and Poland: German soldiers in heavy winter cloths and straw boots, winter 1941/1942; civilians in Warsaw; Gypsy woman in Poland; group of smiling Jews in Brest-Litovsk (probably summer 1941).
Other images depict German soldiers in the snow on the Eastern Front, Ukrainian villagers, building bridges and anti-tank obstacles etc.
