:: Hermann Plocher

[sheriffof0]

I recently acquired a large cache of photographic negative spools - several dozen - which were taken by a seemingly high-ranking German officer (or functionary) throughout 1937 and possibly earlier and later.

I have (rather primitively) scanned and inverted the negatives in order to view them and identify locations, people and events. There are several hundred photos in total.

In doing so I can see that some include images of the battle for Belchite, time spent in Palma, Majorca, locations in Avila, Spanish enclaves in Morocco and various other towns and cities which I am still attempting to identify.

A number of the Germans in the shots are fairly high-ranking and I believe the photographer was close/adjacent to Hermann Plocher. There are a number of images of an officer with his rank insignia who very clearly strongly resembles Plocher. Indeed there are a couple that show him meeting Kindelan (possibly in Palma). I attach this to give you a flavour. There are many photos of training locations, shots taken from and inside J-52s &c. I'm confident none of these have ever been seen before.

I purchased these spool along with many dozens more (which are the later post-war family holidays of the photographer) from a young woman at a car boot sale in Chiswick, West London. She told me that they belonged to her grandfather whose name was Hans-Henning Erdmann. He had a successful career as a European banker. I believe it was his father who took these photographs and who may have been a Luftwaffe Officer in the Condor Legion.

I also have a picture of the house in Berlin where the family lived before the outbreak of WWII. I was able to track this house down using the street sign shown in the photograph. Incredibly the actual street sign is still there!

I have offered this archive gratis to Spanish academics specialising in this period but I am very keen to identify some of the figures in the images.

I will post some here to give a flavour and see if they ring any bells....

Could IMG_5283 be v. Richthofen?

I have hundreds more....

[Hanneke]

Hi there,

I am researching Hermann Plocher for family archives. He was occupied our family home from in the last days of WW2 in Hilversum Holland. Any information you might be able to share would be gratefully received. If you were able to share a contact for the lady you bought the photos from or a means of getting in touch with her - I would be very grateful.

Best