German Photos from World War I
Found at the US National Archives
Recently, while looking for something else on the website of the US National Archives, I discovered a collection of more than nine hundred high-quality scans of photos of German soldiers of the last two years or so of the First World War. Created by photographers of the Bild und Filmamt (Film and Photo Office) of the Oberste Heeresleitung (Supreme Army Command), these pictures depict training, logistics, transportation, medical services, and other rear area activities.
Very few of these photos have made their way into print, onto webpages, or into the collection made available by the Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive). Thus, the collection provided me with a great deal of information that was new to me.
The Schwerpunkt of the collection lies with military activities on, or, to be more precise, behind the Western Front. A few photos, however, capture moments from the campaigns in Romania and Italy. Some deal with activities of the German Navy, and, in particular, the landing on the islands in the Gulf of Riga and the activities of the Marine Korps on the coast of Belgium.
To access this dragon’s hoard of historical goodness, follow the following URL to the catalog of the US National Archives
https://catalog.archives.gov/
Once the catalog search bar appears, type
BUFA 165
(‘BUFA’ stands for Bild und Filmamt. ‘165’ is the Record Group to which the physical copies of the photos belong.)
Hit ‘search’.
A page will appear that looks like the following.
On the left side of the page, click ‘available to access online’ and ‘photographs and other graphic materials’.
If you wish to look up a particular photo, type ‘BUFA’ and the four digit code that appears on the card that holds each photo. (In many cases, the code will also appear on the photo.)
For Further Reading
G'Day Bruce, What a superb find! Thank you so much for sharing.