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A PHOTO ALBUM COMPILED BY A NAZI POLICEMAN
WHO SERVED IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND POLAND,
A HORSEMAN OF NOTE, AND PROBABLY A MEMBER
OF THE NOTORIOUS NAZI EINSATZGRUPPEN
This is a very rare, very interesting 9-1/2 x 13-3/4 inch (24 x 35 cm), 40-page, 232 photo album with covers hand carved in Krakau, Poland in 1940.
It was owned by a known Nazi policeman (Schutzpolizei Wien) from Vienna (Wien, the second largest city in Nazi Germany), who served in the invasion and partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and in the Nazi stabilization and subjugation of Poland from 1940 onward.
It was owned by a known Nazi policeman (Schutzpolizei Wien) from Vienna (Wien, the second largest city in Nazi Germany), who served in the invasion and partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and in the Nazi stabilization and subjugation of Poland from 1940 onward.
Policeman Franz Grohsberger grew up in suburban Vienna, the son of an Austro-Hungarian policeman. He was an excellent horseman and attended session at famous riding schools.
With obligatory military training behind him, he was a young policeman in March/April 1938 when Austrians voted to merge their country into the Greater German Reich of Adolf Hitler, and Grohsberger became a member of the Nazi Schutzpolizei Wien. Very proud of his new uniforms, he had his picture taken in both the Schupo parade dress and Einsatz uniforms.
With obligatory military training behind him, he was a young policeman in March/April 1938 when Austrians voted to merge their country into the Greater German Reich of Adolf Hitler, and Grohsberger became a member of the Nazi Schutzpolizei Wien. Very proud of his new uniforms, he had his picture taken in both the Schupo parade dress and Einsatz uniforms.
From 14 March to 20 August 1939, Grohsberger was in action with his horse mounted militarized police unit in the Protektorat of Bohemia and Moravia. There are pictures of his Einsatz and his return home to Vienna by train via Znaim. His military and paramilitary training continued with an Infantry course that included a lot of foreign machine guns and foreign armor.
His police training took him to St. Pölten where he photographed the squares in the city center from the highest roof tops. A great deal of equestrian training also occurred during this period.
In 1940 his unit was activated once again and sent to the area of Bochnia and Krakau, just east of Auschwitz in the "Generalgouvernement", formerly Poland. He clearly enjoyed his days there, photographing Krakow from the highest buildings in the city, dining with his police comrades in the evening and training with remarkable horses during the day.
In 1940 his unit was activated once again and sent to the area of Bochnia and Krakau, just east of Auschwitz in the "Generalgouvernement", formerly Poland. He clearly enjoyed his days there, photographing Krakow from the highest buildings in the city, dining with his police comrades in the evening and training with remarkable horses during the day.
A picture of Grohsberger lying on his bed beneath pictures of beautiful movie stars is captioned, "in siebenten Himmel" (in 7th Heaven).
While there, his unit was visited by renowned Generalmajor der Polizei and Inspector of the Vienna Order Police, Dr. Karl Retzlaff (Retzlav in Austrian) and by Deputy Gauleiter of Vienna, SS-Brigadeführer Karl Scharitzer. Grohsberger was close enough to both to photograph them several times for his album (see pictures at the top of this web page as well).
It appears that Franz Grohsberger was also in Yugoslavia and there are six amazing pictures apparently taken there of the funeral of one of his police comrades.
At least one of the comrades is wearing a uniform with SS runes just above his belt below the left pocket of his uniform. We can not say for certain what is written on the cuff titles of these uniforms, but it may say Deutsche Wehrmacht.
There are also pictures of Grohsberger with his father, with his parents, pictures of his girlfriends, on maneuvers with the Austrian Army before the Anschluss, ice damage caused by the overflowing Donau near Vienna in 1940, etc.
The pictures of the training of the Schutzpolizei Wien are especially interesting in many of the locations and in details like the double set of Nazi draped kettle drums on horseback.
The pictures of the training of the Schutzpolizei Wien are especially interesting in many of the locations and in details like the double set of Nazi draped kettle drums on horseback.
The album covers consist of thick, beautifully finished pieces of light colored wood (like spruce or pine). The surfaces were finished dark and then incised with a carving tool to create flowers, buildings and a monogram as well as the wording KRAKAU 1940 in a lighter color. The covers are bound to the spine with olive-green cloth tape in the usual fashion.
The original owner of this album is pictured with other Nazi police of an Einsatzgruppen unit, riding in a horsedrawn hay wagon in a very rare picture inscribed on the back "Zum Andenken an Radzin Podlasky am 20.6.1943" (in memory of Radzyn Podlaski 20 June 1943).
Radzyn Podlaski is a town in eastern Poland near Miedzyrzec, the Jewish ghetto from which tens of thousands of Jews were deported to Treblinka and Majdanek concentration camps or killed by Nazi police Einsatzgruppen in the 1940s. The area was declared Judenfrei (free of Jews) on 17 July 1943, and the owner of this photo album was there.
(For more specific information on Radzyn Podlaski, Miedzyrzec and the activities of the Einsatzgruppen in this area, we can suggest this website as a good place to start.)
(For more specific information on Radzyn Podlaski, Miedzyrzec and the activities of the Einsatzgruppen in this area, we can suggest this website as a good place to start.)
It is clear from looking at the album that Nazi policeman Franz Grohsberger lived to be fairly old and that he enjoyed looking back to the pictures of his days in the service. The photos and pages are in great shape but the transparent sheets between the pages have taken a beating (he replaced some of them) and here and there he re-attached a loose photo. It is possible that one of his relatives or a photo shop may have helped him in keeping the album together.
What we can say without the slightest reservation is that we purchased this superb Nazi police photo album directly from the second-hand dealer in Vienna who had acquired it from the veteran's estate, complete and as we are offering it here on the USMBOOKS website.
Grohsberger had access to a very good camera during the time these pictures were made and most of them are sharp, with good contrast and without cracks or damage.
f you have any questions regarding specific photos depicted on this webpage, feel free to ask. We will be happy to have a look for you.
Don't miss other original Third Reich photo albums and
Nazi police material for sale on USMBOOKS.com.
AMAZING NAZI POLICE MILITARY PHOTO ALBUM
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