Figure 1.--One development well before the War was the degree to which the NAZI Party separated children from their parents. Here one boy is in the Luftwaffe and another boy in the Reich Labor Service. The youngest boy looks like he has just joined the Hitler Youth. These were all compulsory organizations.

German families like families all over Europe were affected by the War. One impact even before the War was the way the NAZI Party coopted German children beginning at age 10 with introductin into the Hitler Youth. Ironically compared to what came later in the War, German families were some of the European families least affected at the omset of the War. Casualties were light and early victories enabled the Germans to exploit the occupied countries to finance and support the war effort. France proved to be a marvelous source of consonsumer goods for German civilians. And the campaigns were short, meaning that the soldiers were not separated from their families for long periods. This changed after Barbarossa (June 1941) and the Red army offensive before Moscow (December 1941). The Whermacht had to deploy the bulk of its force on distant battelfields. Casualties skyrocketed and leave becane almost impossible to obtain. Thus from 1942 until 1946-47, many German households were without male heads. And of course many families lost their fathers permanetly because of battle field casualties or disappeaance in Soviet camps. Hitler declared war on America (December 1941). This led to around-the-clock bombing (January 1943), bringing the front line to German civilians. Rationing begaing steadily more severe. And families became increasingly separated. It was no longer just the brothers and fathers at the front. The children in the cities had to be evacuated. HJ boys staying in the cities were often away from home manning anti-aircraft batteries. And many young women were involved in war work or assiting in facilities like hospitals and other facilities often at distant locations. As the Allies liberated the occupied countries, the Germans were no longer able to supply the civilan population by exploiting occupied peoples. By the end if the War, German families were living in the ruins of demolished cities.

Mother and Son (early 1940s)

Here we have a portrait of an unidentified German mother and son. The portrait is undated. It looks to us like the late 1930s or during the World war II in the early 1940s. One reason we think it mightbhave been taken during the 40s is the father is not in the portrait. Presumably he is absent because he was serving in the German military somewhere in Europe. The boy has short hair and wears h-bar shorts. H-bar pants was a particularly popular style in Germany. Instead of a tie, he wears little cloth balls. I'm not sure how to describe these little balls, but have noted them in both French and German clothes.

Wehrmacht Family (early 1940s)

Here we see another small German family. The NAZIs were beseaching German mothers to have more children, but we see many one-child family. The photograph is undated, but we would assume was taken in the early 1940s. The father is a Wehrmacht officer. His son as a a short back and sides haifr cut like his father. His shirt is buttoned at the collar without a tie and he wears blavk short pants, perhaps his Hitler Youth shorts.

Unidentified Wehrmacht Family (1941)

Here we see another Wehrmact family. There are two children, a little girl and an older boy. The teenage boy is wearing his Hitler Youth uniform. He looks to be an HJ officer as he wears a lanyard. His father looks to be a Wehrmacht officer. I think their name is weritten on the back of the photograph. In 1941 it looked like the Germans would win the War--until the failure of Barbarossa in front of Moscow. Afterv1941, large numbers of foreign slave laborers were brought into the Reich to free up German workers for the miitarry. In 1941 most families had farhers and sons in the Whermacht. After 1941 virtually every family had men in the Whermacht.

Unidentified Wehrmacht Family (early 1940s)

Here we see another unidentified Wehrmacht family. There are three boys dressed in suits for the portrait with their mother and father. They look go be about 6-15 years old. The two younger boys wear short pants suits. Note that they do not wear uniforms even though at least one boy, perhaps two was old enough to be in the Hitler Youth. That suggests that the family was not a strong NAZI family. Perhaps they were Catholic. The portraitv is undated. We suspect it was taken in the early 1940s. The father is a Heer officer. It is a little tricky interpreting the rank insignia, but cwe think he was a major or colonel. The body language is interesting. Neither of the parents is touching the boys, even the youngest boys.

Uniformed Boys (1940s)

Here we see three uniformed boys from an unidentified German family (figure 1). They all wear uniforms of compulsory organizations: the Reich Labor Service (RAD), the Hiltler Youth, and the military (Luftwaffe). The portrait is undated, but we suspect was taken about 1941-42. After 1942 the Reich Labor Service became increasingly less important. One development well before the War was the degree to which the NAZI Party separated children from their parents. We suspect that the degree to which uniforms appear in these family photographs is an indicator thst the family supports the NAZIs and war effort. Of course it could be the children and youth that wanted their portraits taken in the uniforms. This is difficult to assess.

Unidentified East Prussian Family (1942)

This portrait shows an East Prussian family in 1942. We believe it was taken in the Winter, probably sometime during January-March. The man is an enlisted Wehrmacht soldier. We at first assumed he was the father. It is possible that he is the eldest son and father is away at the front. Judging from the lack of tunic insignia he is a relatively recent innductee. Of course 1942 was a bad time to be inducted into the Wehrmacht. What was to be a massive, short campaign in the East had turned into a life and death struggle with the Soviet Union. We suspect that mother had this portrait taken with the family just before he was posted to the front--more than likely the Eastern Front. His three sons and a daughter are shown with their mother. The oldest boy wears his Hitler Jugend uniform. Note that he wears wears his uniform with long brown stockings. This was not very common, butapparently more common in conservative and largely rural East Prussia with severe winters. Children very commonly wire long stockings for play and school, especially during the Winter. The younger boys wear sailor suits, also with long stockings. The daughter wears the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) uniform with the white blouse and scarfe.

Bavarian Family (1940s)

We note an unidentified Bavarian family during World War II. The soldier is a corporal. We see no clues as to when in the War, although it may have been fairly early in the War. A regimental tab is wrapped around his epaulettes. It looks like it might be 515, although it is difficult to read. We rarely see these regimental tabls well into the WEar. We are not sure about the individuals. The lady wearing rather dated clothing my be a grandmother. We are not sure if the soldier is a father or older brother. The children are all wearing Bavarin Tracht, the boys Lederhosen and the girl a classic Dirndl. Notice the boys' Lederhosen are basiv, nit the elborate styled use to dress up for spcil occassions. (Lederhosen today is often seen as a German style, in fact it was a regional Bavarian (southern German) style. We know where the portrait was taken. The studio was Weiser in Telsendorf Obb. Telsendorf is a small town on the Old Salt Road located near Adolf Hitler's Eagle's Nest mountain resort at Berchtesgaden. This is in southern Bavaria near the Autrrian border. Obb means Österreichische Bundesbahnen. This is the southern-most or Alpine area of Bavaria. The family may not have lived in Telsendorf, but would have lived close to the town.

NAZI Family: The Reichels (1943)

Any assessment of World War II Germany leads to the question of how NAZIfied Germany was. Thde Germans from the generals on down said it was all Hitler's doing, we were only following orders. It is clear, however, that there eere many enthiastic followrs. The question of knowledge and complicity will never be answered with any certainty. And in fairness, in a totalitarian state like NAZI Germnany, it was impossible to survive without some degree of complicity unless you wanted to end up in a concentration camp. But there were also many ardent NAZI families. One of those was the Reichel family. The father was a NAZI Party functiinary from Erdmannsdorf in Saxony. Here we see Herr Reichel (we do not know his first name), his wife and 12 chikdren. At first we did not think it was a family portarit, but this is how the Bundesarchiv identifies it. And it us possible to have that many children. (My father came from a family of 11 children.) They lived in Erdmannsdorf (Augustusburg in Saxony). The photograpg as taken in 1943, by whivch tme thewar was turning for Germany. The unifirming of the chikdren is extrondinary. The mother wears the well-deserved Mother's Cross, The five of the older sons wear Wehrmacht bunifirms. (One may be the Marine division of the Hitler Youth (HJ). The sixth is in the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst). The six youngest are members of National Socialist children's and youth organizations. The two youngest girls and the boy are members of Deutsche Kinderschar (notice the Wolfsangel badges on their dresses. This was not all that common amnd in addition to tghe prodly uniformed children along with the father's Party positioin suggest a really rdently NAZI family. Their big sister wears the Bund Deutscher Mädel unuform (the HJ girls's organization. The two brothers from wear HJ uniforms. This may be some kind of propaganda portrait, otherwise we do not see how leave for the boys in active service could have all been home at the same time.

Brandt Family (1943)

The Brandt family lived in Löbau, a village about 70 km east of Dresden. This photo was taken in 1943 in the farm where they lived. In the center of back row we can see the parents with the younger daughter Christel. In the right side stands the elder son Heinz and in the left the niece Selma. In the front row there are the sons Helmut and Alfred. Alfred is wearing a sort of polo t-shirt with long sleeves and short pants. The other boys wear double-breasted jackets, Heinz with long trousers and Helmut with short pants. Although Helmut dressed-up for the photo, he is barefoot like his little sister. Until 1943, the German people had not experienced privationd from the War as a result of looting the occupied countries. Farm families were especially insulated because they grew food and the Allied strategic bombing campaign targeted the industrial cities. Some younger farm children went barefoot like the boy here.

Unidentified Family (1943)

Here we see an unidentified German family taken during 1943 in the midst of World War II. The family certainly seems to have a large number of children. The apparently middle-class parents are seated surrounded by their numerous brood. The older boys seem to be wearing knicker suits with jackets and tie, the very long knickers blousing just above the ankles. The next to youngest child is a boy of about 5-years who wears a short-trousers one-piece suit with a self-belt, a very dark (is it black?) necktie and heavy woolen long stockings that appear to be dark brown. The stockings are obviously supported by a Strapsleibchen (bodice and supporters). An even younger child, probably just slightly older than a year old, is wear a white outfit. The girl has a suspender skirt with a plaid design and woolen long stockings. The oldest son, standing in the rear, may be wearing long trousers, although his suit jacket looks very similar to those his brothers with knickers are wearing. The boys seem to be rather young to be wearing knickers suits. Normally we see older boys wearing them. Presumably the photograph was taken during the winter. We don't know where in Germany this photo was taken. One wonders why some of the boys are not weating their Hitler Jugend uniforms. This was common in family photographs at the time, either because of the famility politics or because the boys were proud of them. Or it could be that mother just wanted them dressed up. The photo is labeled as German, but we wonder whether it might have been taken in Switzerland.

Unidentified Family (1943)

Here we have another unidetified German World War II family. There is no accompaning information, but it is obviously during World War II. And it seems to us to be an urban middle-class family. We believe that the portrait was taken in Spring 1943, although the yeari s only a guess. While we believe that it was common knowledge within the Wehrmacht that Jews were being avtively murdered, we kso believe that knowldge of what was transpiring was not uniformly dispersed throughout the German military, even the Heer (Army). The soldier here looks to be a recently drafted middle-aged man. The dafting of such men occurred as German military fortunes declined after late-1942. It is at this time the Germans faced inceasing manpower shortage as the Allies closed in. If this was indeed the case, the low-ranking soldier here would have known less about the Holocaust than German troops earlier in the War. By 1943, most of the killing was being done behind barbed wire in the carefully sealed off death and other camps run by the SS. Ntice the rather grim expression on the soldier's face. We suspct what was probably on this father's mind was the safety of his family, both from the expanding Allied bombing and the surging Red Army in the East.

Young Luftwaffe Family (1943)

Here we see a young Luftwaffe family. They were probably married in the lull between the Battle of Britain (1940) and Barbriossa (1941). Their little boy look to be about 3 years old. All we know about them was that the photograph was taken in September 1943. The father looks to be an NCO, possibly a flight cadet. Notice his well polished jack boots. They look to live in a substantial home. German cities were not yet in ruins. This was a pivotal time for the Luftwaffe. They had played a decisive role in the early German victories, but had failed at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, largely due to Göring's and Hitler's incompetence. And while they destoyed large numbers of Soviet aircraft as part of Brbarossa (June 1941), the Luftwaffe's efforts were not decisive in this climatic campaign of the War. (Unlike the campaigns in the West, in the East there were not small numbers of points in which the Luftwaffe could concentrate its striking power.) The Allies launched the combined bomber campaign against the Reich (January 1943). Most Luftwaffe squadeons were pulled back from the East to defend German cities. They were still fairly sucessful at the time this photograph was taken, but in only a few months with the arrival of P-51 Mustang escorts and increasing numbers of bonbers, the Luftwaffe and most of its pilots would be lagelky destroyed, leaving German cities to be ravaged by Allied bombers.

Von Frantzius Family (1944)

This photograph was taken in the East Prussian village of Eichen (May 1944). We see Oskar Von Frantzius with his wife Marie-Erika and their children Wolf-Dietrich, Gisela, Ruediger and Eckhard. Wolf-Dietrich wearsc Lederhosen and is barefoot. The von in the name suggests aristocratic connections. The children's clothings suggests that by 1944 the War was impinging on the lives of even well-to-do Germans. As a result of Goebbels Endsieg (Final Victory) propaganda, East Prussians like this had no idea how badly the War had gone and how close they were to disaster.

Created: 11:43 PM 12/19/2010
Last updated: 6:47 AM 6/24/2022