1 Reply Latest reply on Feb 21, 2019 10:48 AM by Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez

    Copyright of confiscated German WW2 railway photographs

    Don Hale Newbie
    Don Hale Feb 13, 2019 9:44 AM

      Hi,  I am writing a book about the German Railways pre-WW2 and would like to use some confiscated pictures taken by Henrich Hoffman and his colleagues. Hoffman was Hitler's personal photographer. The images are of the record breaking locomotives 05 001 and 05 002 and some German officers on the train.

       

      There seems to be some conflict over who owns the copyright of some images. The National Archive Records and Administration in Washington are said to be claiming the copyright of the railway photos, whilst the German Reichsbahn and Bavarian State Library in Munich, also claim copyright. I understand that the Washington organisation obtained the images during WW2 and that they are now free of copyright and in the public domain in America.

       

      Does anyone have any information or confirmation? If it is free to use in America, is it also free to use in the UK or Europe?

       

      Many thanks,

      Don Hale

        • Re: Copyright of confiscated German WW2 railway photographs
          Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez Newbie
          Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez Expert Feb 21, 2019 10:48 AM (in response to Don Hale)

          Dear Mr. Hale,


          First and foremost, it is very important to note           that the National Archives does not confirm the copyright status of photographs but we will provide any information filed with the photograph. In other words, if we are able to locate the image in our collection, we will let the researcher know what copyright information is filed with the photo, whether that means the photo does not have any known copyright restrictions, if it is under possible copyright, or if the copyright status is unknown to us.

           

          In terms of the Hoffman photographs, it is indeed a bit confusing when it comes to ownership and copyright concerns. It's our belief that any copyright on the items captured by the U.S. Army passed to the U.S. government at the time. Since the Hoffman photographs have been in the holdings of the National Archives, they have been treated as public domain material with no copyright restrictions.

           

          Now, in terms of Hoffman photos, researchers should be aware that there is not a 1:1 in terms of what the Bavarian State Library holds versus what we have in Still Pictures. Basically, the Bavarian State Library has Hoffman photographs that NARA does not have, and NARA Still Pictures holds Hoffman photographs that the Bavarian State Library does not have. Though, to complicate things further, it is possible that there is some duplication between what NARA holds and what the Bavarian State Library holds. So, really, the copyright status of any Hoffman image comes down to which institution the image(s) were obtained from.

           

          With all of that said, in order to determine if the locomotive images in question are under copyright, you would need to find out exactly where the photographs came from - NARA or the Bavarian State Library? NARA Still Picture staff can conduct a search within our records to see if we can locate the photographs. Should we locate the photographs, we will let you know what copyright information is filed with the images. Though, due to limitations on staff time and resources, we have to limit search requests to 3 specific images/topics/people/events per month, per researcher. You are more than welcome to send us 3 of the locomotive images and we can do a search. Our searches require 2 to 3 weeks to complete. You may submit your search request via email to stillpix@nara.gov

           

          Best,

           

          Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez

          Archives Specialist

          Still Picture Reference Team

          National Archives & Records Administration