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This collection consists of at least 300 copy prints, all of which are stamped "National Archives Luftwaffe Collection" on the back. The photographs appear to have been taken by German photographers, presumably Luftwaffe personnel, and the images are generally informal in subject and composition, more like "snapshots" than official photographs. Subjects include shots of Luftwaffe personnel and aircraft, as well as other Allied and Axis aircraft.
These prints were evidently selected and copied for NASM's collection from the larger collection of captured World War II German photography which resided at the National Archives from the mid-1940s until the late 1960s or early 1970s. At that point, the originals were returned to West Germany and are currently housed at the Bildarchive of the Bundesarchiv. While 300 prints are directly identified, there are probably an additional 100-200 images scattered in the Archives Collection which also came from this collection.
Luftwaffe Photograph Collection [National Archives], Accession XXXX-0635, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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