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BERLIN ILLUSTRATED NAZI NEWSPAPER JANUARY & FEBRUARY 1938, 8 ISSUES, 280 PAGES

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Offered on this USMBOOKS web page are all the issues of Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung published in January and February of the year 1938. The eight issues are complete and in nice condition and have a total of 280 heavily illustrated photo pages!

There are also pictures of HJ boys, BdM girls and previously unpublished images by Leni Riefenstahl taken behind the scenes at the 1936 Olympic Games.

..... German avalanche victims in the Himalayas, Argentinian soccer “magicians”, Cosima Wagner (the daughter of Franz List and wife of Richard Wagner), the oil industry in Oklahoma, Baldur von Schirach’s visit to the King of Irak in Baghdad, Palestine prisoners of the British, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a rare American pre-jeep machine gun car, Nazi coastal artillery, a German naval ship docked at Cape Town in South Africa, staged naval battles off the American Pacific Coast, the Berlin Press Ball, negro baptisms in the Mississippi river at St. Louis MO, escaped French prisoners from Devil’s Island rescued by a British ship, the wedding of Dr. Goebbels’ sister Maria to German film director and screenwriter Max Kimmich, British airplanes refueling mid-air, the boxing match between Ben Foord and Max Schmeling in Hamburg, Sonja Henie and other ice dancers, Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn, etc.

The Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (Berlin Illustrated Newspaper) was Germany’s largest weekly photo newspaper published in Reichshauptstadt Berlin by Ullstein AG, and was read by just about everybody in the capital of and throughout Nazi Germany. Each 10 x 14 inch issue contained the very latest news, photographs and information gathered from around the world including the most important features from the United States and England.  The excellent weekly was sold for only 20 Reichspfennigs, the equivalent of 8 US cents.

Above, a rare picture of a pre-jeep machine gun car, the American way to quickly get machine guns into place according to the caption.

Above, a picture of Prince Bernhard, the German born husband of Dutch Crown Princess Juliana, in his new American car. The caption says it was his first outing after recovering from a car accident [on 29 November 1937].

These eight 1938 issues of the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung contain heavily illustrated articles about the Nazi economic Four Year Plan headed by Hermann Göring, the Spanish Civil War, the 5th anniversary of 30 January 1933 (the Day of Victory, the National Socialist Machtsübernahme), the state visit of Yugoslavian foreign minister Milan Stojadinovic and his wife to Berlin which included a formal evening reception (Adolf Hitler and many ladies in evening attire) and a visit to Goering’s country estate Carinhall, political amnesty for Austrian National Socialists which includes a picture of Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart with Hitler in Berlin.

These tabloid newspapers also contain many photos with captions which updated less important but timely news such as the the 45th birthday of Alfred Rosenberg and Hermann Göring, movie costumes and theater sets designed by Reichsbühnenbildner (Nazi State Stage Designer and SS Officer) Benno von Arent, the life of African Americans and a “Negro University” in the US, ....

Travel features cover the Filchner Expedition to central Asia, the Touareg tribe in the Sahara, flying wolf hunters in the USA (“a rare profession in America”), Transjordania, winter at Niagara Falls, Mecca’s Holy Carpet, Japan’s influence in Thailand, and even vacationing at Palm Springs (“the luxurious resort in the desert”).

Above, the famous Dr. Werner Peiner painting 'Europa'.

Many interesting issues are often offered at prices up to $25.00 each.

The back cover of the 3 February 1938 issue of Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung is completely devoted to the accidental death of famous race car driver Bernd Rosemeyer. It features many pictures of the car wreck (above), his funeral and even a picture of Rosemeyer holding his newborn son, taken two days before his death.

Naturally, Nazi Party Führer and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler is prominently featured in every issue, heard from and seen in his role as leader of the government. Many prominent Nazis are featured, like Reichsminister Hermann Göring, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg, etc.

There are multi-page photo articles about Adolf Hitler’s sweeping changes to the structure of the High Command of the Wehrmacht and another one called Der Führer Spricht - die Welt hört zu! (Hitler speaks and the World listens) about an important Hitler speech to parliament. Hitler is also shown at the opening of the First German Architecture Exhibition in Munich, and with Gerdy Troost.

There is royal news about the wedding of Greek Crown Prince Paul attended by Prince August Wilhelm and other German royals (one wearing a Luftwaffe uniform), the Egyptian royal wedding of King Faruk and Queen Farida, and the birth of Princess Beatrix in Holland.

These issues of the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung also contain short stories, crossword puzzles, timely jokes and cartoons (including several anti-British and anti-French political caricatures) as well as cultural news and pictures of German and foreign movie stars and foreign politicians.

There is advertising for all sorts of German consumer products from cigarettes to toothpaste and binoculars to ladies underwear, hair dye, vacuum cleaners and razor blades: Reemtsma, Nivea, Wybert, Cynzano, Bols, Palmolive, Blaupunkt, Siemsens, Miele, Dr. Oetker, Felina, Alpecin, 4711, Olympia typewriters, even WHW charity collections and the Nazi Reichslotterie.

This lot of eight 86 year old issues of Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung is very well preserved as they were stored in a binder (each issue has two punch holes). They have no writing and no odor and only the 6 January issue has some old German tape repairs along the top edge of a few pages. These newspapers contain a treasure trove of news and pictures early in the year 1938 in Nazi Germany!