Liller Kriegszeitung - Summer Edition 1917 | German WWI Field Press & Propaganda | Military Provenance

An original publication from the First World War: Liller Kriegszeitung - Sommerlese 1917, the fifth official anthology from the well-known German field newspaper published in Lille during the occupation for soldiers on the Western Front.

The Liller Kriegszeitung grew during the war into one of the best-known German soldier newspapers. This anthology, printed in Lille in August 1917, brings together stories, poems, front reports, photography, illustrations, caricatures, and biting war satire. The content thus provides a direct insight into the way German soldiers were informed, entertained, and influenced during the First World War.

The numerous illustrations and propaganda caricatures are particularly noteworthy. For example, the book contains the page Englands Phrasen, in which British war arguments are satirically presented as hypocritical. Other contributions deal, among other things, with the Western Front, the fighting around Arras, the submarine war, and the daily life of German soldiers.

This copy also has an interesting later military provenance. The book contains a library stamp from the Institut für Deutsche Militärgeschichte, the military history research institute of the GDR. At the back, there is also a later barcode from the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (MGFA), in which large parts of this historical library collection ended up after German reunification.

An authentic primary source from 1917 in which journalism, soldier life, art, humor, and war propaganda come together.

Specifications:

• Title: Liller Kriegszeitung - Sommerlese 1917
• Volume: Der Auslese fünfter Band
• Editor: Hauptmann d. L. Paul Oskar Höcker
• Publisher: Druck und Verlag der Liller Kriegszeitung
• Place of publication: Lille, France
• Year: August 1917
• Period: First World War
• Language: German
• Size: approximately 285 pages
• Binding: illustrated linen hardcover
• Illustrations: photographs, drawings, and political caricatures
• Subjects: First World War, Western Front, German field press, soldier life, propaganda, and war satire
• Provenance: library stamp Institut für Deutsche Militärgeschichte and later MGFA-FISt barcode
• Dimensions: approximately 23.5 × 16.5 × 2.6 cm
• Origin: printed and published in Lille, occupied by German troops
• Condition: fair antique condition with clear signs of use and library history. Wear and old repairs to the spine and edges. The binding is functional, but separation is visible between some signatures. Paper with normal age discoloration.