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ORIGINAL 1942 NAZI 3-D BOOK ON GERMAN SCULPTURE COMPLETE WITH THE METAL PICTURE VIEWER

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This is a fine example of the very scarce Raumbild-Verlag Otto Schönstein book Deutsche Plastik Unserer Zeit (German Sculpture of Our Time) by Kurt Lothar Tank. This 120-page, 8 x 11-1/2 inch hardcover book was published in München (Munich) in 1942 at the direction of Nazi Ministerialrat Wilfrid Bade with an introduction by Reichsminister Professor Albert Speer.

Raumbild Verlag (Three Dimensional Picture Publishers) books were unique in that they contained photographic stereo-view cards and a fold-up metal optical device with which the cards could be viewed.

The special covers of this album are about 1/2-inch thick and are die-cut with cavities that hold 135 special 3-D stereo photographs (real photographs - NOT mechanical halftone prints) and the metal viewer with glass lenses that is unfolded to view the photographs. The 135 stereo photos each measure 2-3/8 x 5 inches and have a number and a full description of the subject printed on the back. When seen in the viewer each picture is incredibly three-dimensional, almost as if the scene was being viewed in real life.

If you are not familiar with this Nazi three-dimensional book, you need to know that it consists of a well-written text by Kurt Tank on the subject of Third Reich sculpture and art. There are eight full-page photos in the text that depict nudes, horses and portraits of the renowned Third Reich sculptors Kurt Schmid-Ehmen, Georg Kolbe, Arno Breker, Josef Thorak, Arnold Waldschmidt, Josef Wackerle and Adolf Wamper at work in their studios.

Above, famous German sculptor Professor Josef Thorak in front of the model for his Reichsautobahn Monument

This very rare book is hardbound in tan material with black lettering on the covers and the spine. It is complete with all pictures and the original metal viewer.  All 135 pictures are in very nice condition without fading, cracking, browning or problems often encountered with these 3-D photographic images. The entire book is in very good condition, with a handwritten 1945 dedication to “Our Erwin” on the front flyleaf. 

Above, a heroic piece by Arno Breker at the House of German Art in Munich, flanked by busts of Richard Wagner and Paul von Hindenburg

Naturally, the subject of Third Reich sculpture covers a wide range. Among the 135 three-dimensional views are human busts of important figures like Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, Gauleiter Wagner and Professor Dornier, female and male nudes, military figures (including President von Hindenburg) and eagles, horses, tigers, as well as monumental figures created to decorate facilities of the Luftwaffe, Reichsautobahn, Wehrmacht, Reichsbank, Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe Ministry, Hitler’s Berlin Reichschancellery (several views), Radio Deutschland, Ordensburgen of the NSDAP, the Feldherrnhalle, Reichsparteitaggelände (Nazi Party Day Grounds) in Nürnberg, the Berlin Olympic Stadium, etc. Many of the 3-D photographs were taken at the House of German Art in München.

We know of no other way for a history buff to observe a life-like three-dimensional view of the entry door in the Ehrenhof of the Reichschancellery in Berlin, or one of the enormous Kurt Schmid-Ehmen eagles on the Nazi Party Days Grounds in Nürnberg.