UNIQUE FULLY ANNOTATED PHOTO ALBUM WITH 718 SILVER GELATIN PRINTS AND 164 MEMORABILIA DOCUMENTING THE 6-MONTH VOLUNTARY SERVICE OF WILHELM HEYN, A GERMAN STAFF SERGEANT IN THE LEGION CONDOR DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936-1939)
NP: NP, ND (ca 1936-1939). Original photograph(s). Hardcover. Oblong folio (13 3/4 x 19 1/2"). Unpaginated. [65] tissue-guarded leaves. Original 3/4 bolt bound blue morocco over grey cloth, with a 3 x 2 3/4" metal six-pointed star ornament affixed to the front cover. Within the star are featured the three symbols of the Nationalist Air Force, Franco and the Spanish Legion. Laid in, a splendid illustrated 5000-meter run First Prize certificate gained by Unteroffizier (Staff sergeant) Wilhelm Heyn during a sportive event organized by the Fliegergruppe (Flying Corps) S in Schlessheim, on August 21, and 22, 1936. The certificate is hand signed by both the lieutenant and the commander of Heyn's flying corps. Two weeks prior this, Wilhelm (Willi) Heyn represented Germany in the Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the Berlin Olympics, where he finished ninth. The competition took place on August 3 and August 8, and the final was won by Volmari Iso-Hollo of Finland.
Unique photo-album annotated throughout containing 718 original silver gelatin prints, 164 memorabilia (including a military pass, an authorization to take pictures, propaganda leaflets, as well as 105 stamps) documenting German Luftwaffe Unteroffizier Wilhelm Heyn's six-month service in Nationalist Spain (October 1936 -April 1937) as a volunteer in the Legion Condor* during the Spanish Civil War. The Legion Condor was composed of German volunteers sent by Nazi Germany to help Franco defeat the leftist Republican forces.
The Legion provided the Luftwaffe the opportunity to develop and perfect tactics of aerial warfare that would fuel Germany's blitzkrieg through Europe in 1939 and 1940. Wilhelm Heyn was a part of it, as he was doing engineering work at Tablada, Seville's military airport. In some photographs he is seen assembling German planes and weapons.
The photographs contained in this album generally follow a chronological order, starting with Heyn's arrival to Spain in the Fall of 1936 onboard the infamous German ocean liner MS "St. Louis"**, and ending with the impressive victory parade for the Legion Condor in Berlin, on June 6, 1939.
The album opens with a large 9 1/4 x 7" portrait of Wilhelm Heyn in uniform. It is followed by 16 photographs taken onboard the MS "St. Louis" during his voyage from Hamburg to Cadiz (Nationalist Spain). Underneath this first series of photographs features a long handwritten inscription by Willi Heyn that says: "Though prohibited, I took my Leica. With a few exceptions, over a period of 6 months, I took all the photos under cloudless and sunny skies. Speed: 1/100, aperture 3.5, at a distance of 10 meters."
The next series of silver gelatin prints documents the greeting of the German volunteers by a sizeable crowd of civilians giving the fascist salute; Views of Cadiz; Bomb craters and the ruins of bombed houses seen during Heyn's roadtrip from Cadiz to Seville; Views of Seville with the occasional inscription "Viva el Generalissimo Franco!" on the walls; The ruins of Complutum, a Roman city near Madrid (Alcalá de Henares); With the Phalange legion in Córdoba; Views of Bilbao.
The following photographs depict the gypsy market at Aracena, Portugal; Granada and the alhambra; Aerial views of Seville; Positions abandoned by the "Reds" near Málaga; Views of Málaga, with burned out and bombed out buildings, including the German consulate. The flags of Nationalist Spain, Nazi Germany, and Italy can be seen coming out from windows and balconies.
A series of twenty-two pictures depicts Moroccan fighters from Franco's African army, the feared vanguard of a force that, ironically, Franco portrayed as a Christian crusade against godless communists.
Another series of photographs (11) shows "Italian comrades," including pilots, men from the "Brigatta Sevillano," and Colonial soldiers.
These are followed by views of Gibraltar from Algeciras; Tarifa, including photographs of gypsies begging for money; Seville's military airport of Tablada: a photograph showing a series of mattresses on the floor is captioned "Meine Falle (my trap), indicating that Heyn had, for a time, shared this rather rudimentary comfort. Another picture shows a He 111 flying overhead; General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano reviewing a military parade in Sevilla on May 1, 1937; Views of León and its anti-aircraft defenses.
A series of 15 silver gelatin prints show General Franco among his troops in Seville; Twelve others document a bullfighting in the arenas of the Andalusian capital, immediately followed by three photos showing the ruins of a munition factory (also in Seville) after its explosion; Views of Huelva.
After a series of pictures showing various types of Spaniards in and around Seville, the next series of 11 pictures shows the assembling of Me 109 and MG 17 machine guns at Tablada airfield; These are followed by images of the Holy Week procession in Seville.
The following 54 photographs show various German and Italian planes at Tablada, such as Ju 52, Ju 87, He 51, He 70, He 111, Me 108, the Italian Fiat CR.32, a twin-engined Savoia bomber, etc..
In between photographs of planes, five silver gelatin prints show a dog race in Seville.
Three photographs of noteworthy importance show the arrival of the first He 111, then the best and fastest of the German bombers (they made their combat debut in March 1937). These pictures are followed by others showing the painting of German planes with Nationalist Air Force insignia.
It is interesting to note that Wilhelm Heyn and other German volunteers of the Legion Condor are seen wearing Spanish khaki-brown uniforms with Nationalist rank insignia.
Preceding a series of 22 military photographs taken on the North front, are pasted seven Hotel stickers (Gran Hotel Suizo, Zamora; Hotel Madrid, Las Palmas; Hotel Francia, Vitoria; Gran Hotel Carlton, Bilbao; Hotel Oliden, León; Gran Restaurant Hotel La Vascongada, Burgos; Hotel Norte y Londres, Burgos), as well as the entrance ticket for the bullfighting Heyn attended in Seville (dated December 13, 1936) and its one-leaf program with the following toreros mentioned: José Casimiro D'Almeida, Antonio Márquez, Luis Fuentes Bejarano, Domingo Ortega, José Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, and Juanito Belmonte.
The photographs taken on the North front show aerial views, followed by bombed out houses, roads, and railroads, Nationalist soldiers, and a group of civilians giving the fascist salute.
These are followed by another series of 29 stickers from the following Hotels: Hotel Paris y Roma, Sevilla; Hotel Madrid, Algeciras; Hotel Victoria, Puerta Real, Granada; Hotel Simon, Cordoba; Hotel Norte y Londres, Burgos; Hotel Victoria, Cadiz; Hotel Victoria, Cordoba; Hotel Coló, Huelva; Gran Hotel y Restaurant Paris, León; Hotel Londres, Malaga; Hotel Anglo-Hispano; Hotel Imperio, Malaga; Hotel Alvarez, Caceres; Hotel Avila, Burgos; Hotel Cristina, Sevilla; Hotel Regina, Malaga; Hotel Victoria, Granada; Hotel de Inglaterra, Sevilla; Andalucia Palace, Sevilla; Hotel Massimo d'Azeglio, Roma; Roma Continentale. Includes a sticker from Café Candela A. Madrazo, Burgos, and six travel stickers from Norddeutscher Lloyd; Hapag, and the Hamburg-Amerika Linie.
The following series of 34 photographs is rather stunning as they document Heyn's visit onboard the German submarine U-28*** off Cadiz. They include pictures of the crew and its captain Wilhelm Ambrosius.
Other photographs are a mixture of Heyn's visit throughout Nationalist Spain, including Tetuan, then the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco.
They are followed by another series of 31 pictures taken on the North front showing various tanks abandoned by the Republicans, burned out and bombed out homes; Bombers being re-armed; Soldiers pausing, hunting and eating, etc..
On the following two leaves have been pasted 21 various documents including four printed propaganda leaflets (1 in German, 1 in French, and 2 in Spanish) inciting the foreigners of the International Brigades, and the Spanish Republicans to surrender. Other documents include circulated envelops with pro-Franco stamps, hotel bills, and a hand-signed typed letter instructing a certain Manga Heyn (his wife? Mother?), in Berlin, to follow a series of instructions regarding exchanging correspondence with him. Also includes Heyn's military pass, and an authorization to take pictures.
Pasted onto the following two leaves are 105 stamps from Nationalist Spain, as well as from Spanish and French Morocco.
The last photographs contained in this album show 17 views of Rome taken by Heyn while on his way back to Germany, and 27 pictures documenting the victory parade held in Berlin on June 6, 1939, in honor of the Legion Condor.
Captions in German. Album and photographs in very good condition. vg. Item #43439
* The Legion Condor was a unit composed of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany, which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Legion developed methods of terror bombing which were used widely in the Second World War shortly afterwards. The bombing of Guernica was the most infamous operation carried out by the Legion. Hugo Sperrle commanded the unit's aircraft formations and Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma commanded the ground element.
** The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner. In 1939, it set off on a voyage in which its captain, Gustav Schröder, tried to find homes for over 900 Jewish refugees from Germany. After they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States, and Canada, the refugees were finally accepted in various European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and France. Historians have estimated that approximately a quarter of them died in death camps during World War II. The event was the subject of a 1974 book, Voyage of the Damned, by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts. It was adapted for a 1976 U.S. film of the same title and a 1994 opera titled "St. Louis Blues" by Chiel Meijering.
*** The submarine U-28 was a Type VIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Her keel was laid down on December 2, 1935, by DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen. She was launched on July 14, 1936, and commissioned into Kriegsmarine on September 12, 1936, with Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Ambrosius in command. Ambrosius was succeeded by nine other commanding officers over the next eight years. U-28 conducted seven war patrols between September 19, 1939 and November 15, 1940, all under the command of Kapitänleutnant Günter Kuhnke, sinking a total of 13 ships, and damaging two others. After her third patrol, U-28 became a training vessel and was used to bring new U-boat crews up to standard. She was later sunk in an accident on March 17, 1944 and stricken on August 4, 1944.
Price: $15,000.00