Summary: | During World War I the soldiers’ life at and behind the frontline was captured by personal photography. While heavily regulated and censored on the allied side, conditions were more relaxed for German soldiers, and for German officers, in particular. Drawing on a large sample set of images of the same subject matter, a French church bell with a patriotic, anti-German inscription, this paper surveys the private production of picture postcards by German soldiers. Initially photographed by a range of individuals, some images were eventually produced as printed lithographed postcards by regional German publishers. The processes and limitations of the personal versus commercial production of picture postcards are discussed.
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