German WWII Luftwaffe Field Marshall Kesselring Photo Album

A highly important personal photo album from the estate of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, purchased from the German auction of October 2020 which dispersed many of his belongings. The plain leather-bound album contains 102 photographs in various sizes, ranging from 11 x 17 cm down to 8 x 6 cm. The album begins in 1940 and includes significant images such as observations of the air raids on the English Channel coast with Hermann Göring, Field Marshal Bruno Loerzer and other senior commanders; the presentation of Kesselring’s Marshal’s Baton on 4th September 1940; visits to an airfield hospital in December 1940; meetings with Hungarian and Japanese officers at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels; and scenes at 9th Flieger Corps headquarters in 1941. Many other high-quality and historically significant images with senior Luftwaffe officers are included. Originally the album contained around 40% more photographs, which have been removed. Albert Kesselring, one of the Luftwaffe’s most popular and competent commanders, was sentenced to death in 1945 for war crimes, later commuted to imprisonment, and released in 1952.

Ref; 88545