A rare folder of twenty-four individual illustrations, given to a German officer during his training at Potsdam Propaganda School in 1942, titled 'Aus Der Heimat Des PK-MANNES', with a foreword in German from the Lieutenant Colonel and District Commander, explaining that there was to be a significant change in the nature of wartime propaganda.

The enclosed illustrations were produced after three years of war and show a marked attempt to minimise focus on the militarised elements of warfare and troop recruitment by, instead, documenting daily life and activities at the Potsdam Barracks and on Bornstedter Field. Such illustrations were created as an incentive to further achievements and inspire 'joyful commitment' in the service and act of what was meant to be a reminder of 'a busy and enjoyable time'.

This original folio contains twenty-four individually titled printed illustrations, all in very good condition, illustrating daily life and aspects of potential training for recruits and those engaged in the service, each signed 'PK (Propaganda Kompanien): Schubert' and dated 1942, 12cm wide x 16cm high. Sold together with a wartime copy of Deutschen Apotheke.

Provenance: Acquired by Herr Wiedler during his service as a Propaganda Training Officer at Potsdam Barracks, 1942. Wiedler would ultimately end up fighting on the Russian front and did not get back home until three years after the end of the war, after walking most of the way back to his home in Rheine in Nord Rhein Westfailia. In the absence of any form of communication, over such a long time, his wife had assumed he had died on the Russian Front.

Notes: Potsdam Barracks housed two batteries dedicated to Propaganda. The Depot Battalion was housed in the Propaganda Kompanien Barracks and acted as a pool for trained propagandists awaiting assignment, in addition to the training centre. The battalion consisted of four companies: 1st company, journalists: 2nd company, photographers and war artists; 3rd company, war reporters and 4th company, depot company, which included administrative personnel, and personnel who have returned to the depot after completing a tour of duty. In addition, there was also a section for radio propaganda experts. Recruits were mainly men who in civil life were journalists, press photographers or film cameramen. They received normal infantry training and frequently were sent on courses of 4-6 weeks duration at the Ministry of Propaganda.

The Propaganda Service Battalion likewise had its HQ in the same barracks. It consisted of two companies: 1st company, a pool of linguists and 2nd company, called the Propaganda Liaison Company (Propaganda Verbindungskompanie), which provided personnel for ensuring the transit of propaganda material (including periodicals and daily papers), to and from the various branches of the propaganda organization throughout the occupied countries and the theatres of war. Its strength was about 400 men.