Identifying some very good east European faked "original" WWII German photos..

The following photos ill be posting deal with good fakes that are actively coming out of Eastern European Countries such as Latvia. These are of the type that several well known ebay dealers are all selling off as: "original NKVD file photo copies" etc. Also, those who have read books about Stalingrad and Kursk--will recognize some of these.

This one was taken in Kiev and was of a crowd of Russians watching a large column of German Officers being marched through their City. I bought this photo knowing full well it was a repo and which is easily distinguished from originals by larger size as well as finish on the face of the photo. Some of these also have typewritten text on the back sides and or can also have black lines somewhere on the backs indicating that these photos were made from period stock of photo paper of the type that postcards were made from.

 

One of the most famed photos from the Battle of Stalingrad which shows two German Sergeants who are about to send their sections into combat. This photo is actually taken as part of a series of at least 5 photos and was done for propaganda purposes.

 

This one was taken just before the Battle of Kursk got under way:

 

One of the many lesser known fakes: Shows a Knights Cross Recipient with his son who is a DKiG recipient and possibly an future RKT:

 

Still another DKiG and RKT repo photo:

 

I wish this one had also been original as a good friend of mine actually IDed the senior officer in this photo who is also wearing one of those: "Airfield Commanding Officer" badges.

 

Shame this one wasnt the real deal either as a good friend of mine had IDEd all the men including the General.

This one was also part fo a series of photos taken for propaganda purposes. It was a Knights Cross award Ceremony in which three soldiers were awarded their RKs all who also had personally KOed at least one Russian tank with a hand-held weapon. Of special note--all three newly minted RKTs have Tank Destruction Strips on their rams as seen in other photos from this series but only seen on one man in this photo. Also, the General wears an Imperial Airship badge.

Almost forgot to mention--the soldier standing just behind and between the General and the soldier on the left--was an personal aide to general Guderian and he is originally from the 2nd Company 1st Panzer Regiment. Ill have something more on this officer later including a few original photos of him with General Guderian. ;-))

 

Here is another photo from the series belonging to the above RK awards ceremony photo:

 

Late war photo showing a "Defanged" Panther:

 

I have a few others but not sure what CD they are on? but will add them when I can.

 

One more form now--this time of a DAK officer:

 

I have a few more but apparently they are not on a photo CD or at least on one I already have access to. They include a couple mundane photos of vehicles and one great shot of Panzergrenadiers who are hopping a ride on some PZIIIS and PZ-IVS and are heading into battle at the start of Kursk. That one was also part of a series of propaganda photos.

 

Luckily there are people like yourself Carl, who can identify fakes such as these, to the normal eye they look very good and original. The unfortunate thing about this is that people buy them before they actual find out that they are fake. There is much copied WW2 memoriblia out on the market today, such s Ebay etc, nice heads up Carl .... :thumb:

 

Thank you Jim. Im getting better at IDing fakes. One of the easiest ways to ID a fake is look at the finish on the front. If smooth--99% good--if looks and feels a bit like sandpaper--big time fake since that finish was never used in WWII--im not sure when it came about? but was never used in WWII. All but one of these fakes came from ebay seller by the name of "Adolff" and one of its ebay usernames is: Kiev1944, but also sells under at least 5 other names im aware of and two of them are from Americans doing its dirty work for it. You can easily tell its various auctions by comparing how the photos are presented and the wording. I caught onto that and made it known on several sites that are now fully aware of "adolff" and its companions and how they do things. Well, they caught on that people found out their scams (not soon enough and newbies still bid on its auctions because they are unaware) and is why they now pay an American to put auctions up for them. :lame::lame::lame: I think adolff and its companions need to be facing a bevvy of live grenades.:nade:

Its along story I might try telling soon on how I got back most of my money from "adolff" and what happened. Part of it was that it wanted me to return the few pics--about 1-in4 that I originally paid for actually arrived in an unprotected envelope--and even then--a few of the photos were not the ones I bought to begin with. Anyway, adolff promised me a full refund if I mailed back the pics--I lied and told it I would. Well, without its authorization --and because adolffs payees here in the USA had not contacted it to get permission for a refund--which isnt needed here int he USA--I completely bluffed them by threatening to get in touch with the Sheriff's Department for Longbeach, California--and tell them of their mail fraud. Rather they decided to refund about 80% of my money which I got after about a week--and I merely never sent the repos back to adolff to scam someone else with. Now I use them as a teaching aid.

 

Very nice pictures mate, without knowing it is difficult to say that they were staged. Thanks for sharing. :thumb:

 

Thank you "Uncle Joe" ;-)) I got these the hard way. After almost 6 months of sending emails and PMs and such to "Adolff" All I got was promises it never meant to keep--just to keep stringing me along. Well, sine it got its American payments through a place called: Protech--I knew I could get my money but only if I got it first before "Adolff" became aware and stopped it. Luckily I had had over a week and got a check in from Protech, sent it to my bank but didnt cash it--I had them hold it for the period of time necessary to surpass any amount of time for a seperate party--could nab the money. I think it was 3 weeks? cant remember? Anyway, After cashing the check--I waited another month (just in case) and when that time period was up--there would be no way for :Adolff" to make any rounds at contacting my FCU in order to stop payment or anything else it could think of?

Well, "Adolff" was sadly mistaken in thinking I was born yesterday when it sent me several PMs and Emails trying to get me to give it my bank account and other info--which I did not--and it tried to get it even telling me a big whopping lie--that it would double my refund (which really sounded nice but) as I didnt believe a word "Adolff" ever said--I merely played along and toyed with "Adolff" a bit by making promises I never intended to keep as well as strung it along like it did to me--to give it a dose of its own medicine. :lol::lol: