The Sandy Times issue revealing for the first time the Colorful war photographs of Hitler's photographer - Hugo Jaeger

The Sandy Times issue revealing for the first time the Colorful war photographs of Hitler's photographer - Hugo Jaeger

The Sunday Times magazine's first reveals the color photographs of 'Hitler's photographer' Hugo Jaeger, taken during World War II and first discovered 20 years later. May 9, 1945. On the cover of the issue is a large photograph of Dunkirk (France) by Jaeger, taken during the war, and the moving headline about the exposure of the photographs: "DUNKIRK: for years after the war the color pictures taken by a German photographer lay buried in a tin box in Bavaria. Today, we publish them for the first time."

The issue presents the miracle story of the way Jaeger's photographs after they were hidden at the end of the war in a forest near Munich - among the only known photographs taken in color and documenting World War II, And the Jewish ghettos (see below). Also, some photographs of Jaeger from the various fronts are presented.

Photographer Hugo Jaeger received exceptional access to the top leadership of Nazi Germany. He was a famous press photographer in Germany in the 1930s. In his role as "Special Military Reporter" he was privileged to use the advanced technologies of color and three-dimensional photography and to document the Warsaw Ghetto and the Kutno Ghetto in a rare way. Jaeger was drafted at the beginning of the war as a reservist for Wehrmacht propaganda units. Because of his high status as a photographer he was given the status of a "special military reporter", was given a uniform and weapons and was allowed to roam freely anywhere. Because of its special status, it also received two exceptional photography technologies: Kodak color films and a stereoscopic camera that produces three-dimensional photographs. He used to shoot the same scenes on both cameras. Jaeger's photographs shed light on the daily lives of Jews in the years 1939-1940, shortly after they were imprisoned in the ghettos and before mass extermination began. 

Jaeger was supposed to transfer the photos to the propaganda office but in fact never did. According to Jaeger at the time, in 1945, as Allied forces were advancing into Germany, he found himself in front of American soldiers in a small town west of Munich with the photographs held in a leather briefcase. He feared that the photographs would reveal his close connection to Furer and and to the top of the Nazi leadership. But the soldiers were interested in something else they found in the bag - a bottle of brandy and a small gambling game. They shared the drink with Jaeger and played, Without paying attention to the treasure in the bag. Jaeger hid the photographs in metal jars on the outskirts of town and kept a map that would allow him to locate them later. After the war in 1955, Jaeger returned to the hiding place, extracted the photographs, and hid them in a safe at a bank in Switzerland, And only a decade later were the photographs exposed to the general public.

See also Dynasty auction 12, Item 61.

50 p. 33 cm. Complete sheet. Very good condition.