Description
Illustrierter Beobachter
Donnerstag, 22. März 1945 • 20. Jahrgang • Folge 12
Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf. GmbH, München 22
20 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.
International pricing noted on cover (Dänemark 40 Öre, Italien 2 Lire, Kroatien 50 Kuna, Norwegen 45 Öre, Slowakei 2,50 Ks., Schweden 50 Öre, Schweiz 40 Rappen, Ungarn 46 Pengö)
Cover Page
Caption: „Deutsche Polizeistation am Polarkreis.“ (“German police station at the Arctic Circle.”)
Subject: Two German shepherd dogs in harness in the snow, used by German police soldiers stationed at a remote Arctic outpost; men are visible in the background.
Location: Polarkreis (Arctic Circle), northern front.
Photo credit: Kriegsberichter Maltry (PK-Aufnahme, Wb.).
Major Headlines & Content
Brückenkopf Frankfurt a. d. Oder (Bridgehead Frankfurt on the Oder) — Photo report on German artillery and grenadiers repelling a Soviet attempt to hold a bridgehead near Frankfurt an der Oder, describing heavy fighting along the flooded Oder valley. Places: Oder, Frankfurt a. d. Oder.
Die höchste deutsche Auszeichnung für Konstantin Hierl (The Highest German Award for Konstantin Hierl) — Report on Adolf Hitler awarding Reichsarbeitsführer, Reichsleiter and Reichsminister Konstantin Hierl the Golden Cross of the German Order with Oak Leaves and Swords on his 70th birthday, the first time this honour was bestowed; also covers Hitler’s reception of Reichsleiter, Gauleiter and NSDAP unit leaders at his headquarters on 24 February marking the 25th anniversary of the Party programme. Named: Adolf Hitler, Konstantin Hierl. Photo credits: SS-PK-Aufnahmen: SS-Kriegsberichter Kramer, Heinrich Hoffmann.
In der Festung Küstrin (In the Fortress of Küstrin) — Photo report on the defence of Küstrin, compared to Breslau and Königsberg as a besieged German strongpoint, showing street barricades made of old cannons, artillery damage, a Hitlerjunge directing traffic, a destroyed American-made tank, and an Oberfeldwebel from Kupferdreh decorated for destroying 13 American tanks in 40 minutes. Named: SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Reinefarth (fortress commandant). Places: Küstrin, Breslau, Königsberg. Photo credits: PK-Aufnahmen: SS-Kriegsberichter Woscidlo, Kriegsberichter Wörner-Rosenthal.
Geschehen — gesehen (Events — Witnessed) — Photo-montage of wartime scenes: Hungarian ox-carts hauling bombs to a field airfield near the Plattensee, dog-sled transport of wounded soldiers in the north, a mobile dental station for the Hitler-Jugend, and a telephone exchange continuing to operate during an air-raid alarm. Places: Plattensee (Hungary). Photo credits: Kriegsberichter Brosius, Janz.
Wie lebt der Ostarbeiter in Deutschland? (How Does the Eastern Worker Live in Germany?) — Photo feature on the daily lives of Ostarbeiter (workers from the occupied East) in Germany, showing a mother from Smolensk with her children, a school lunch programme, a shoemaker from Petersburg, a teenage girl from the Orel district hoping to become a teacher, and workers’ leisure evenings and a wartime engagement. Places: Smolensk, Petersburg, Orel, Ukraine. Photo credits: SS-Kriegsberichter Bogner (H. Hoffmann).
Der photographierte Mord (The Photographed Murder) — Report responding to a three-page picture story in the American magazine „Life“ on unrest in Anglo-American-occupied Italy, focusing on the lynching and drowning of Rome’s fascist police chief Pietro Caruso by a mob in the Tiber after he was spared by an Allied military court but convicted and later shot. Named: Pietro Caruso. Places: Rom, Tiber. Photo credits: from „Life“.
Adolf Hitler an der Front im Osten (Adolf Hitler at the Front in the East) — Photo report showing Adolf Hitler visiting a divisional command post and meeting with the staff of an army corps on the Oder front. Named: Adolf Hitler. Places: Oder-Front. Photo credits: Heinrich Hoffmann.
Other Content
Fiction serial — „Die Gräfin Sponheim“ by M. Coray (continues; „Fortsetzung folgt“). Historical serial set in medieval Trier and the Moselle region, centred on a feud between Erzbischof Balduin von Trier and the young Gräfin Laurette von Sponheim over her Starkenburg lands. Locations: Trier, Mosel, Starkenburg, Koblenz. Does not translate the verse passages; summarised in English prose.
Fiction serial — „Petra und der Läufer“, Roman von Adolf Löffler (5. Fortsetzung; continues). Contemporary sports novel about the rivalry and romance between sprinter Karli Baldwin and his trainer Kunz, and the swimmer Petra, building toward Baldwin’s 100-metre record attempt in Frankfurt.
Short story — „Das Verborgene“ by Walter Persich — a self-contained story about a stage dancer, Fiorenza, and her partner Gig, and a suitor’s discovery of the secret behind their stage relationship.
Photo feature — „Krieger und Amazone“ — a young Viennese artist on convalescent leave sketches his sister, a former opera-ballet dancer, posed in Amazon costume; paired with „1 Strohsack — 2 Stühle“, on Hitler-Jugend girls practising gymnastics despite a shortage of equipment. Photo credits: Bruno Völkel, Els Leßmann.
Photo feature — „Olla Potrida“ — a miscellany of colonial curiosities: a piglet carried in a palm-leaf bag in Südsumatra, a giant baobab tree („Affenbrotbaum“) in Deutsch-Ostafrika, the sausage tree („Leberwurstbaum“), and pigs transported in woven baskets by ox-cart. Photo credits: Otto Haeckel.
Puzzles — „Rätsel“ — a Kreuzwort-Silbenrätsel, a Magisches Quadrat, and a Kryptogramm. Solutions to the previous issue’s puzzles are also printed.
Chess column — „Schach-Beobachter“ — a chess problem (Aufgabe by Erich Wolkenau, München) and analysis of a game (Damengambit, Ahues vs. Poulsen, Bad Harzburg international tournament).