Photograph album from the 1930s/40s

Heilbronn. Hardcover. Very good . Cloth binding with string (broken). About 11 x 8 5/8 inches. 18 leaves, many with glassine interleaves. Some photographs are loose. The subject of this old family photograph album is not identified, but from internal evidence--inscriptions on the backs of the photographs--he appears to have been Karl Rieger who was born about 1905 in the German city of Heilbronn. The photographs show him as a young man with friends as he and they take walking and youth hostelling trips together. Later in preparation for joining the Luftwaffe he learns to fly gliders. Then he is seen in uniform and at his base, including in the dormitory with his fellow airmen. The base may have been near Munich because there are pictures of that city too. Finally, there are very poignant scenes of a funeral, for apparently he has been killed in action. One poignant last picture shows him as a young boy with his school class.-This album was clearly put together by a loved one. It has photographs of his family, including with his younger brother at home. In addition, there is one particular picture which is of the greatest interest. It shows a large open Mercedes touring car with someone in civilian clothes standing in the passenger seat and three aides in the back seat. The face of the man standing is not clear because he is wearing a hat, but he can be none other than Adolf Hitler himself. The time may have been in the early 1930s when perhaps he was campaigning.The album is very typical of Germany at the time. It is a most interesting keepsake of that period.