I think you need to find an elderly German, and ask them about the norms of photographing the deceased at the time. It was relatively common in Victorian England, for example, amongst those who could afford it, but fell into abeyance, and has undergone a quiet revival as part of the process of helping parents mourn still-born children.
Cultural norms can be surprisingly different – there are, for example, vast numbers of WW1-era postcards of German soldiers at latrines with their trousers round their ankles, whereas I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single British one – which is worth investigating further.
Possibly not that helpful, in the absence of said German, but…
Adrian
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