Postcards

[NDShooter]

Hello Everyone;

My question is;

What purpose did the german military or political units use the postcards for?
I've noticed that these postcards are very personal; sometimes with just a portrait photo of themselves. So what companies made these for the soldiers and did they stop when the war really took off?

Weird question I know; but I just dont get how personal the pictures on the postcard are.

[NDShooter]

Anybody know?

[plasmod3]

some postcards are made by local photographic firms, these cards usu have a rubber stamp at the back telling of it's origin. These were made for personal reasons and not in any military or political capacity. The cards with military or political themes tend to be from either governement units / loccal nsdap offices or official event commemeratives like the nuremburg cards. Still the demand for these cards were so high it is not infrequent for us to find cards made by smaller firms to catch a piece of the pie. These cards tend to be rarer but seldom as colourful or 'nice' as the official cards. The only more personal cards produced in quantity will be the hoffman cards, he did the knight's cross holders for example. Kids will collect these cards & send them to the 'subject' to autograph....needless to say not many have complete collections of these with autographs on them.

[NDShooter]

thank you! So those postcards of SS members where just to send to their families? No real reason behind them?

[drmessimer]

NDshooter: It was, in the day of celluloid film, possible to have your photo prints done as postcards. It was particularly common in the US from 1900 to 1920, and the European market picked it up through the 30 and early 40's. In fact, Kodak used to make a Postcard Camera that allowed the photographer to write directly on the negative what he had photographed. I had one of those for years until it literally feel apart with age. So, finding rather personal photos done as postcards from the 1900-1945 period is not really unusual. Dwight

[NDShooter]

Thanks; Photography is not my strong point but I picked up a bunch of SS portrait postcards and just didn't know how they came to be.
Thanks Again!

[drmessimer]

NDshooter: Photo studios regularly offered portraits in postcard format. In fact, they were still doing it in Germany in the 1950's. I sent home a bunch of them from Berlin when I was stationed there in the mid-late-fifties. Dwight