Beschreibung:

Thirty-six photographs documenting the German and Ottoman armies during World War I in Palestine. Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tiberias, Nablus, Gaza and elsewhere, ca. 1916-1918. Presumably these photographs belonged to a soldier from the German unit Kraftwagen-Park 505, dispatched to the Middle East in 1916, which fought alongside the Ottoman Army in the battle for Palestine. The photographs show, among others: Ahmed Djemal Pasha and Ismail Enver Pasha (two of the "Three Pashas", leaders of the Ottoman Empire in World War I), on a visit to an army camp near Beersheba, in 1916; Ahmed Djemal Pasha watching an aerial demonstration by the German Air Force from a roof in Ramla, in the company of Turkish and German officers; two photographs of Erich von Falkenhayn, commander of the German forces in Palestine, reviewing a military formation; a British tank taken by Turkish soldiers during the second battle for Gaza in 1917; soldiers in a trench on the outskirts of Gaza; three photos of a military funeral parade held for two German officers in the streets of Jerusalem; a German orchestra in the ruins of Capernaum; German officers with Templer settlers and Arab laborers in an orchard of the Sharona colony; a formal dinner of the unit's officers at a casino; and photos of landscapes, local residents and scenes of Palestine – the Church of the Nativity in the snow, Tiberias beaches, a camel caravan, and more. The collection contains two photographs that were not taken in Palestine: one from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, and one from the village of Bozanti in Syria (apparently taken on the unit's way to Palestine). The photographs are mounted on thick paper leaves and titled in English and German on notes mounted on the leaves (some torn). Two of the photos are numbered in the plate. Photos: approx. 14X9.5 cm to 17X12 cm. Condition varies. Good overall condition. Stains and blemishes. A number of photographs are in fair condition, with tears and open tears to margins. Worming to two photographs.