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HEAVILY ILLUSTRATED 1940 ANNUAL NAZI PHOTO BOOK FOCUSSING ON YOUNG PEOPLE PARTICIPATING IN THE DESTINY OF GERMANY

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The meaning of Frohes Schaffen in German is “cheerful accomplishment” and this is an exceptionally fine 1940 edition of the Jugendjahrbuch or Nazi “Youth Yearbook” as published by Deutscher Verlag (Publishing) for Youth and Nation in Vienna, the second largest city in Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

These heavily illustrated annual Third Reich Frohes Schaffen youth books focussed on the positive aspects of labor and the resulting comradeship, the Nazi homeland , and the importance of the individual being a part of the future of Germany. As World War II approached, the concept of soldier life joined the labor focus for the German teenagers these yearly books were published for.

Above, the well-known Hitler saying “young Germans must hard as Krupp steel, tough as leather, and swift as a greyhound.

Frohes Schaffen covers technical innovations, sport and culture, military events, history and service, leisure activities, etc. The target audience was ordinary young German boys and girls. They were urged to think big, think about freedom, and to take pride in their accomplishments as they were at the forefront of the National Socialist revolution.

Throughout the text there are photos and this 1940 edition of Frohes Schaffen has interior and exterior pictures of the New Reichschancellery in Berlin, the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, war damage in France, HJ boys during various activities, Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, etc., etc.

The section called Das deutsche Heer has chapters about the role of the infantry, machine gunners, reconnaissance patrols, tanks and other armored vehicles, and artillery.

This section is followed with a chapter on the Kriegsmarine and their ships like cruisers, minesweepers, submarines, etc. Engineers are covered in the next heavily illustrated chapter, followed by communication troops, the cavalry and motorcycle troops.

Dr. Anton Hadwiger and Karl Hadwiger assembled the information for this heavy 7 x 9-¼ inch 1940 hardcover Yearbook of the German Youth in that portion of Germany called the Ostmark. It has 412 heavily illustrated pages with chapters about the Reichsminister Rathenau murder, Blut und Boden, the history and struggle of the SA, the Hitler Youth, more opportunities for higher education, the motorized HJ, the different provinces of Ostmark, Tannenberg, German colonial history in Africa, cultural sights in Vienna, the 150th anniversary of the death of Mozart, the war armament industry, Nazi labor service men at the front, resettlement in the German East, skiing and mountain climbing as a sport, ski championships, rowing as a sport, the Kriegsmarine memorial at Laboe, BB guns, and much, much more.

The 7 x 9-¼ inch, 2-¼ pound hardcover book is fully indexed in the back as are the photo sources which include Photo-Hoffmann, Atlantik, Weltbild, Pressebildzentrale, and even the Messerschmitt and Dornier factory photo archives.

The chapter called Austrians prove themselves is about Austrian Gebirgsjäger or mountain troops fighting with the Wehrmacht at Narvik in Norway.

There is an illustrated section with DYI projects such as building wooden fences, bows and arrows and rubber band pistols. This book also contains patriotic poems and songs like the Fahnenlied, Mutterland, Der deutsche Glaube, Marsch der Jugend, Fliegerlied, etc.

There is a heavily illustrated section about the German Luftwaffe with many pictures including Luftwaffe pilots, Flak, Stukas under construction, female airplane mechanics, He 111 airplanes above Warsaw, Nazi paratroopers, barrage balloons, sea planes, and Nazi planes like the Me109, He 113, Ju 87, Ju 52 transport planes, and others.

The 85 year old hardcover example of Frohes Schaffen is complete and in very nice used condition, with a few minor pencil notations here and there. No odor.