Wie viel kostet das Sammelalbum?

[DrCMH]

Not long ago I acquired a collection of cigarette card albums produced by "Sturm" Zigaretten that contain artist depictions, drawn by Herbert Knötel, of the German military uniforms employed from the time of Frederick II (the Great) through the early part of the Third Reich (ca. 1933). Below is an example of the SA, SS, and HJ scrapbook:


Of interest, at least to me and perhaps a few of you, is what was tucked inside of one of the volumes.


This was a pleasant surprise, along with a couple of other things, tucked into the albums and left to be discovered later. A receipt, of sorts, for "95 points" in exchange for the shipment of one scrapbook and an armband. This is reminiscent of the rewards programs I saw many American tobacco companies promote in previous years.

The passages contained within the albums are written by a Dr. Martin Lezius (1884-1941), an editor of the Journal of Military History of the German Society for Military History, and go over some of the major battles of the given eras. The Third Reich album is laden with nationalism and all of these albums have SA markings. I wonder if this publication was a method of fundraising for the Nazi party.

Anyhow, thanks for having a look and hopefully this will give some a bit of enjoyment with a snapshot of what one of these things cost...or, at least, what 95 points could get you.

Regards,

CMH

[HPL2008]

I wonder if this publication was a method of fundraising for the Nazi party.

Actually, the "Sturm" cigarette brand as such was a fundraising tool for the Party, or specifically the SA. See: Sturm-Zigaretten - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you. As my Bavarian friend notes, the Sturm cigarette entity had a central function in the party, and these albums continued a trend of popular enthusiasm for uniforms that predated the Nazis.
Thanks for the addendum of this nice material. I own two of these, but the letter from the Firma is a plus. Well done.

[DrPMC]

There are some interesting details about the Sturm brand and the SA in Robert Proctor's The Nazi War on Cancer. He writes of how Stormtroopers were involved in attacks on the sellers of the brands of a rival company Reemtsma, which were accused of selling 'Juden-Zigarette' because one member of the company's board was Jewish. One consequence of this was that Reemtsma withdrew advertising from Party papers and Hitler himself had to step in to iron out the problem so that lost advertising revenues could be recovered (see pp. 234-5). Proctor has it that the sale of Sturm cigarettes ended shortly after 1933.

Its a long time since I read this book, but I believe that any link between the Party and smoking was problematic because many of the the Nazis were strongly anti-smoking and campaigned against it. It was also a fact that it was in Germany before the war that the link between smoking and lung cancer was first demonstrated scientifically.

[DrCMH]

Thank you for your replies. I assumed the Sturm cigarette company had something to do with the SA, given the frequency of the SA "logo" appearance throughout.

A special thanks to DrPMC for posting the fine pictures of the advertisements. I will have to see about finding a copy of Proctor's book.

It did strike me as odd that a cigarette company would be associated with the Party. The more I learn, the more I find the Nazis were a group full of contradictions.

Thanks again,

CMH

[HPL2008]

It did strike me as odd that a cigarette company would be associated with the Party.

Well, tobacco is brown and kills, so it goes well together with Nazis, doesn't it?

But seriously:

The Reemtsma company mentioned by DrPMC actually got quite chummy with the Nazi Regime and did extremely well in the Third Reich.

German-speaking members will find some interesting info here: Museum der Arbeit * * * // Rauchzeichen - Fotoarchiv Reemtsma / Themen / NS-Zeit

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Well, tobacco is brown and kills, so it goes well together with Nazis, doesn't it?

But seriously:

The Reemtsma company mentioned by DrPMC actually got quite chummy with the Nazi Regime and did extremely well in the Third Reich.

German-speaking members will find some interesting info here: Museum der Arbeit * * * // Rauchzeichen - Fotoarchiv Reemtsma / Themen / NS-Zeit

Thanks for this nice material. Contradictions are what make history so worthwhile. Reality embraces the fact that the SA sold cigarettes to finance the party and the regime fought smoking as part of its drive for health of the better German family. I own the set of these cigarette card books, and am a fan of Knoetel's uniform illustrations.

The Museum der Arbeit site is first rate and Hamburg is a wonderful place.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you for your replies. I assumed the Sturm cigarette company had something to do with the SA, given the frequency of the SA "logo" appearance throughout.

A special thanks to DrPMC for posting the fine pictures of the advertisements. I will have to see about finding a copy of Proctor's book.

It did strike me as odd that a cigarette company would be associated with the Party. The more I learn, the more I find the Nazis were a group full of contradictions.

Thanks again,

CMH

The SS continued the tendency to criminal capitalism and a form of enterprise akin to cosa nostra and whatever as it steadily expanded and used its power to malicious ends.