WWII German RAD Photo Album with 1939 Ration

Updated August 7, 2026

This exceptionally comprehensive WWII-era album documents the paramilitary service of Michael Grantz within the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD). The diagnostic features are the earth-brown uniforms with the spade-and-wheat-sheaf cap insignias and the specific "working group" training seen in the photos. The presence of the Reichsfleischkarte (State Meat Ration Cards) and the Winterhilfswerk (Winter Relief) donation documents for "Michael Grantz" from 1939-1940 is highly significant. These documents bridge the gap between civilian administration and paramilitary service. The imagery showing men training with shovels and rifles in barracks settings is textbook for an RAD recruit preparing for the transition into the Wehrmacht. The collection includes 103 photographs—a mix of authentic period prints and later additions—capturing barracks life, formation drills, and shovel-based labor training. Unique to this set is the inclusion of several rare 1939-1940 original documents, including a Reichsfleischkarte (meat ration card) and Winter Relief contribution forms. The 13 double-sided pages are bound in a standard-issue 9" x 12.5" gray corded album. The combination of personal snapshots and official civil-service ephemera provides a rare, dual-perspective record of a German youth’s life at the outbreak of the Second World War. BP

Register & bid on this lot at Bidspirit →

More lots in this auction

• WWII German 148-Photo RAD & Mixed-Service Album
• WWII German Army Photo Album w/ 118 Photos
• WWII Kriegsmarine 2nd Naval Training Album
• WWII German 30th Engineer Battalion Photo Album
• WWI German Imperial Army Photo Album w/ 66 Photos
• German Military Photograph Album, Circa 1930s-40s
• Album von Bremen Folding Viewbook, ca. 1900
• WWII German Army Eastern Front Photo Album

See all lots in The Bagale Collection, Session III - Wartime Militaria →