Just when you thought that history couldn’t get any cooler, a new Kickstarter has gathered a German soldier’s unpublished photos from World War One and is aiming to put the photos together in a special annotated book. The project is being spearheaded by Marius Moneth; a Ph.D. student at the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf. What’s even more unique though is the fact that the images, all 591 of them are from one soldier.
According to Marius:
“During the research for my doctoral thesis, I came across a unique collection of picture and photo albums. Generally, a soldier leaves behind only 1-2 albums about his time in the war. Here, however, nine albums report from the experiences of one person. During my scientific career, I have been working intensively on these photographs and I have concluded that the public should also get an insight into these outstanding photo albums.”
The photos are of particular historical importance because they give insight into the life of German soldiers during the time. The photos include how they were treated for medical needs, life in France, etc. These are incredibly rare looks into the life and times of German World War 1 soldiers because often photographers were not allowed into the medical wards. But Robert Lichte, who shot the images, was a medical officer. So because of this, we have such an incredible and unique perspective.
Now, we’ve seen lots of these before even as you look through the lives of many American accounts in cinema. But very little were of Germans. Part of this is due to the fact that since much of the war was in Europe, there aren’t a whole lot of records. But Robert’s images show a number of things like buildings which aren’t around any more.
The project needs a little over $21,000 to be accomplished. And you can find more information on the project’s Kickstarter page.