Germany, Heer. A Private Wartime Photo Album, with Correspondence, to a Georgian Legion Volunteer
(Georgische Legion Fotoalbum). A rare and extensive private wartime photo album belonging to a member of the Georgian Legion. It is constructed of a card stock binding with 27 back paper stock pages, some of which retain original wax paper dividers. Affixed to the interior cover is a sleeve shield of the Georgian Legion, constructed of a field-grey rayon backer and bearing a machine-embroidered flag of the pre-Soviet Republic of Georgia, topped by an inscription of “GEORGIAN”. The shield measures 72 mm (w) x 75 mm (h). The interior features 87 black-and-white photographs, encompassing both private snapshots and portraits. Included are images of the owner with other Georgian Legion personnel, all in uniform and with arm shields clearly visible, training and at leisure in Germany, with a number of other images captured in the field on the Eastern Front in both Ukraine and Russia. Some images depict tropical vegetation with Islamic architecture and mountainous terrain, possibly indicating that they were taken in the Caucasus or in the Black Sea region of the Soviet Union. All dated images were taken in 1943, and one page is loose and appears to have been taken from another album. Also included are two Feldpost letters with envelopes, both dated to 1944 and one of which is written in Cyrillic; two loose letters written in German and attached to second letters written in Cyrillic; a loose typewritten compilation of poetry or song lyrics; a newspaper extract, and; three hand-made birthday cards. The album measures 200 mm (w) x 240 mm (h). The album demonstrates evidence of an array of photographs having been removed and replaced with the existing images, in addition to some material fatigue and a length of duct tape which has been applied as a reinforcement to the spine. This rare and interesting album belonging to a Georgian Legion volunteer is in an overall better than very fine condition.