Historical photographs of Denmark during the WW1 period

This photographic collection administered by the National Library of Denmark offers circa 6616 pictures of the WW1 period. Incredible historical photographs showing the important Danish historical events and the particular role of the country during the war.

The collection gathers several unique pictures probably coming from the German Bild-und Filmamt (Bufa), which distributed movies and photos in Denmark for propaganda purposes. Germany’s interests were so dominant in Danish foreign policy that Denmark showed favorable neutrality towards Germany and was ready to risk contravening the concept of pure neutrality.

The collection includes photos illustrating the reality of the war: refugees, prisoners of war, soldier's life, etc. as well as cultural life and art, health care, daily Life (well represented by the family albums) in Denmark, untouched by the ravages of war. Worth mentioning are the photographs related to the Danish branch of the Women’s Peace Party, the Danish Women’s Peace Chain, the members of which devoted themselves to the duty of upholding the independence of their country. Many photographs show the events related to the reunion after the war: On 10 July 1920, Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was recovered by Denmark. Finally there are many portraits of political figures as Zahle, C. Th. (1866-1946), Rode, Ove (1867-1933) etc. The collection has also a small collection of postcards from Foreign Historic Pictures.