the third reich study group news sheet · 2019-08-13 · svetosarov, leader of the russian national...

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In this issue :

DEAR MEMBER: A foreword by Steve Clark &

State of the Membership – page 2

ENQUIRIES: ‘New Enquiries’ and ‘Results of Enquiries’ – pages 3 & 4

ANOTHER STRANGE FRANKING:

A cover from the collection of Steve Clark – page 4

MEMBERS PUTTING FACES TO THE NAMES: A brief article on researching the names on the covers – page 5

HIDDEN TREASURES?:

A look at what can be found in dealer’s boxes by Bob Baltzell – page 6

THE 400th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF COPERNICUS: An article by Bob Jones – pages 7 thru 11

LUFTFELDPOST FROM DRESDEN TO CROATIA:

An article by Albert Jackson – page 12

GREAT DEALS ON SUPPLIES FOR MEMBERS & PRINTED COPIES OF THE NEWS SHEET: – page 13

THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPAIGN OF THE REICHSPOST :

Part 1 of an article by Bob Jones – pages 14 thru 18

EMBELLISHING A SOUVENIR CARD – DOES IT WORK?: an article by Bob Jones – page 19

DIARY DATES & EPILOGUE:

The schedule for upcoming local meetings of the G & C.P.S. around the regions and a brief note from the editor with upcoming articles planned for our June issue

of the News Sheet – page 20

The Third Reich Study Group

NEWS SHEETGroup Leader:

John Rawlings, 58 Crantock Road, Catford, London SE6 2QP

March 2019No. 176

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019

Dear Member We usually have a report (or two) from meetings held in the time between News Sheets. This time there are no reports to be had. I had asked our co-editor, Steve Clark if he could write a little something about the work done by members (of both the G&CPS and TRSG) that maybe some members here are not familiar with. I will let Steve explain: “Many of our fellow G&CPS members attend meetings at their local and/or regional philatelic society, which are usually held at regular intervals throughout the year and include displays by visiting collectors. As you may be aware, some of our TRSG members are willing to travel many miles to promote our hobby, and to hopefully encourage continued attendance at and membership of our group. Without such enthusiasm to share their philatelic knowledge, society meetings would probably be a rather dull experience. It is without doubt, therefore, that so many of our TRSG members owe so much to so few! I can only give you a few names of guest speakers who have given a display during the last few years at my local society (Royal Tunbridge Wells Philatelic Society). These include Tony Hickey, Tony and Lindy Bosworth, John Rawlings, Colin Tobitt (FRPSL), Mike Farrant, Birthe & Chris King (in March 2019) and Rex Dixon (in September 2019). Most are members of London philatelic societies. The subjects they display are numerous e.g. from 1936 Olympic Games, Third Reich propaganda postcards, Kraft Durch Freude cruises, Croatia during WW2, Communism in Nazi Germany, German East Africa, the Anschluss, Austro-Hungarian Naval Mail, etc, etc. As you know, all of these guys are long term members of the G&CPS and/or TRSG and regularly give displays all over the country. Such is their enthusiasm for our hobby, I believe that Tony Bosworth and Tony Hickey (and possibly others) have even travelled from London to the North East (a 500+ mile round trip), to give a display at a regional G&CPS meeting. However, giving a stand-up presentation to knowledgeable co-members of the G&CPS / TRSG may seem a daunting task. In this situation, perhaps, writing an article or even just sending a brief query for our News Sheet may prove less of a challenge to members. It was in ‘Dear Member’ of the first News Sheet (printed in the May 1974) that John Rawlings stated “We cannot continue indefinitely as a one-man band and I hope that..….the News Sheet will give everyone a chance to contribute”. Forty two magnificent years later (December 2016), John decided that it was finally time to retire as editor of the News Sheet, but thankfully he would continue as Group Leader. Bob Jones bravely stepped into John’s shoes and took on the role of editor. I think we can all agree that the content and quality of the News Sheet continues to excel. Furthermore, TRSG membership has now reached well over 100 again. On behalf of all the members, it therefore just remains for me to thank John and Bob for all their continued time and effort and, of course, for all the articles and other contributions sent by our members. Long may they continue.”

Dr. Steve Clark

State of the Membership New Member We would like to welcome the following new member to our Study Group: George Haines - Harrow, Middlesex, HA2 9QL

Please tell your philatelic friends about our Group and encourage them to join!

They may thank you for the ‘heads-up’ on letting them know about us or they may be disappointed that you did not let them know sooner! So do it now!

Ed.

122 Our total membership now stands at:

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Enquiries New Enquiries Enq. 1/19 We start off this new year of enquiries with two enquiries from Tony Hickey. Tony writes:

“The first is two cards that I have acquired lately regarding “Der Bolschewismus Austellung” in Munich? The cards are mint, undated and numbered 7 (The Marine) and 9 (The Mother). On the reverse it states that these are paintings by Munich artists that were hung in the Honour Hall at the exhibition. I have ‘googled’ it but have found nothing.”

Enq. 2/19 “The next is from a page from my collection that I wrote up

recently. As you can see (right) its a signed photo card of A P Svetosarov, leader of the Russian National Socialists, albeit only for a short time. The small amount of information I have gleaned so far was from Bender’s book on the legions that fought for Hitler volume 4.”

Can anyone provide Tony with more information about either of

the cards in his first enquiry such as other cards in the series etc. or maybe can provide more information about Svetosarov then please get in touch.

Ed. Enq. 3/19 Our member in India, Sachin Joshi, has asked for information about fieldpost stamps and other Third

Reich study groups. Sachin writes: “I would like to get some information regarding fieldpost stamps, I shall be presenting a small presentation in a local philately club. I am covering fieldpost stamps issued, off course I will be referring your book. What other points should I cover and is there any other material which will help me to make my presentation interesting. I want to create interest about Third Reich philately in India. One more thing, what are other societies or clubs do you think I should be part of which would increase my knowledge base and contacts in the domain of German, especially Third Reich, philately? I am member of our Third Reich study circle groups, I am member of GPS USA, but what about BDPh or any other? I appreciate your help”.

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 New Enquiries (cont.) Enq. 4/19 The card shown below was sent in by our member Bob Holland. It has been produced for the

Ersatzkommando Waffen SS in Belgium. What Bob would like to know is if it is genuine. I know it is hard to rate such a card without having it in ones own hand but I have scanned the card at a high resolution and maybe one of our members can make a judgement from a close-up of the printing. The actual printing seems to be in vertical lines.

The illustration at right shows the ‘vertical’ lines of

the printing especially the red colour.

If any member has a card from the same series (if there is any ‘series’) please let me know so we can make a determination on whether or not it is genuine or a reprint. Ed.

Another Strange Franking A cover from our member Steve Clark is shown here as a very interesting piece. Steve had sent in a scan of one of his covers franked with a similar ‘bisected’ stamp in News Sheet No.169 (June 2017). This is another example of such a treatment which I believe was originally done to create a philatelic souvenir. Could this even be an example of a stamp vending machine that had become a little out-of-sync? If any members would like to share any ideas or thoughts on this cover, please get in touch. Ed.

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Members Putting Faces to the Names

by Bob Jones Our member Tony Quinn sent in illustrations including a cover (shown below) from his collection franked with a strip of three 40h stamps from Bohemia & Moravia (Mi.39) posted on 3rd October 1940 from the NSDAP Gau Sudetenland in Prague and addressed to ‘Herrn Oberbürgermeister von Stuttgart Dr. Strölin’ (Mayor of Stuttgart).

In 1933, among many other appointments, Strölin became Chairman of the Deutsches Ausland-Institut (DAI). This organisation, originally designed in 1917 for the care and documentation of ethnic Germans abroad, became deeply involved in Nazi Volkstum racial policies. During his tenure as mayor, Strölin travelled repeatedly to Berlin to promote his city to those in power. As a result, Stuttgart received the honorary title “City of the Volksdeutsche” from Adolf Hitler. Strölin rose up into the senior leadership of the Nazi Party. Dr. Strölin an early adherent to national socialism is principally remembered in history as a confidant and advisor to General Field Marshall Rommel in 1944 prior to the ‘20th July Plot’ on Hitler’s life. Strölin conferred with Rommel in February 1944 when he informed Rommel of the conspiracy to remove Hitler, with which Rommel concurred and incidentally sealed Rommel’s fate after the failure of the plot, when this became known to the Gestapo.

Strölin managed to survive the war and was a witness against the defendants at the Nuremberg trials. Because Strölin was a prominent Nazi, he was imprisoned by the Allies and spent time in an internment camp at Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg. He was later released after denazification and classified as “less incriminated”. Strölin died on 21st January 1963 and is buried at the Waldfriedhof in Stuttgart. Our thanks go to Tony Quinn for sending in a copy of his interesting cover and pictures of Dr. Strölin. Ed.

Dr. Karl Strölin as Mayor of Stuttgart. Photographs of Karl Strölin taken from his detention report.

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Hidden Treasures? by

Bob Baltzell I attended a local stamp auction earlier this month and went early so I’d have time to examine some boxes of covers. From the auction catalog I identified 12 boxes that sounded like they could contain something of interest to me.

Having found nothing worth staying around for after searching through 11 boxes I was resigned to going home empty handed. In the 12th box there were a couple of items but nothing worth the opening bid of $25 to me. Then I saw some colorful pieces of paper buried deep among the covers and silently yelled “eureka”, not wanting to tip anyone else to what I found.

After the auction was over I discovered that another person had also found the leaflets but I was more determined than he was so I won the prize. What makes these very special is that a crew member of the aircraft made notations of where and when they were dropped. One even has the aircraft number included and another appears to be signed “Frank Wolfe Farley(?)”.

Below are illustrations from a propaganda booklet also in that box!

I have been looking to obtain a copy of the 6 page propaganda newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung produced by the British PWE, but I’ll settle for these until I find one. I took these to my stamp club meeting and passed out information about this Study Group. I highly recommended it to anyone interested in 3rd Reich philately. Great newsletter.

Above: Front and back of 1st leaflet. Left: Enlarged view of handwritten message on front of leaflet.

Above: Back of 2nd leaflet.

Right: Front of 2nd leaflet. Below: Enlarged view of handwritten message from front.

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The 400th Anniversary of the Death of Copernicus

by Bob Jones

Nicolaus Copernicus: (19th February 1473 – 24th May 1543). Born Mikołaj Kopernik in Thorn, Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland. He was the son of a wealthy merchant. After his father’s death, he was raised by his mother’s brother, a bishop in the Catholic Church. Copernicus studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Cracow. Through his uncle’s influence, Copernicus was appointed a canon (church official) of the Catholic Church. He used the income from the position to help pay for additional studies. Copernicus studied law and medicine at the universities of Bologna, Padua, and Ferrara in Italy. While he was studying at the University of Bologna, his interest in astronomy was stimulated. He lived in the home of a mathematics professor who influenced him to question the astronomy beliefs of the day. After his return to Poland, Copernicus lived in his uncle’s bishopric palace. While there he performed church duties, practiced medicine and studied astronomy. In Copernicus’ time most astronomers believed the theory the Greek astronomer Ptolomy had developed more than 1,000 years earlier. Ptolomy said the Earth was the centre of the universe and was motionless. He believed all other heavenly bodies moved in complicated patterns around the Earth. Copernicus felt that Ptolomy’s theory was incorrect. Sometime between 1507 and 1515, he first circulated the principles of his heliocentric or Sun-centred astronomy. Copernicus’ observations of the heavens were made with the naked eye. He died more than fifty years before Galileo became the first person to study the skies with a telescope. From his observations, Copernicus concluded that every planet, including Earth, revolved around the Sun. He also determined that the Earth rotates daily on its axis and that the Earth’s motion affected what people saw in the heavens. Copernicus did not have the tools to prove his theories. By the 1600s, astronomers such as Galileo would develop the physics that would prove he was correct. Note: The names of notable discoverers and people of the sciences were often ‘Latinized’ as a mark of respect in their field, hence, Mikołaj Kopernik became Nicolaus Copernicus.

The same image of Copernicus (albeit reversed) was also used on the 1975 to 1982 printings of the Polish 1000 Zloty note, shown at left, and used until December 1996.

Philatelic interest: On 20th November 1942, the Reichspost honoured Copernicus in a set of 5 stamps (Mi 96-100) issued to mark the 3rd anniversary of German occupation in Poland (General Government) shown below. The image used for this stamp design is the engraving by Jeremias Falck circa 1650 (above right).

Nicolaus Copernicus. From an engraving by

Jeremias Falck.

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 400th Anniversary of the Death of Copernicus (cont.)

The following year gave the Reichspost another reason to re-issue the Copernicus stamp in a special miniature sheet of 10 stamps marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the astronomer keeping the 1 + 1 Zloty value and changing only the colour of the stamp and adding an overprint. The full description of the stamp/sheet is shown below. Issued: 23rd May 1943.

Valid until: End of German occupation.

Design: Prof. W. Dachauer. Engraved by Prof. Ferdinand Lorber (same as Mi 100). Overprinted with ‘24. MAI 1543’ vertically from bottom to top on left side and ‘24. MAI 1943’vertically from top to bottom on right side.

Printing: Recess in dark lilac-purple on white medium weight paper at the State Printing Works, Vienna. Overprinted in black.

Format: Sheets of 10 (5 x 2). Overall sheet size: 185mm × 127mm.

Watermark: None.

Gum: Smooth white.

Perforation: Comb 14.

Value: (Mi 104) 1 + 1Zl dark lilac-purple: Nicolaus Copernicus

Varieties: (Mi 104 I) Without overprint. (Mi 104 II) Overprint without ‘full stop’ after ‘24’ on left side. (Mi 104 III) Impression of overprint without ink. (Mi 104/104 I) Sheet with and without overprint. (Mi 104 DD) Double overprint.

Overprint: Special postmarks:

A special postmark was created for use with this issue. It depicts a globe with NIKOLAUS / KOPERNIKUS across the centre with KRAKAU / 24.MAI / 1943 at bottom. Around the periphery reads: * 400. TODESTAG DES DEUTSCHEN ASTRONOMEN *

Type ‘r’ overprint shown full size.

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 400th Anniversary of the Death of Copernicus (cont.) Printing arrangement of sheets:

Each printing plate printed four sheets:

Plate number and position on sheet (see below).

Plate II – Position 1 Plate II – Position 2

Plate II – Position 3 Plate II – Position 4

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 400th Anniversary of the Death of Copernicus (cont.) Varieties: All the varieties listed in the Michel catalogue are from the overprinting stage. They are either; no overprint, shift upward, shift sideways, double impression or missing full stop. These are shown below.

The sheet shown above is a sheet with the overprint shifted vertically one complete stamp. This sheet produces the variety Mi 104/104 I (sheet with and without overprint) and the variety Mi 104 I (without overprint) from the bottom row of stamps (right).

The sheet shown below (and magnified at left) shows a major shift of the overprint to the right. This is caused by the improper loading of the sheet at the overprinting stage. No Michel numbers are designated for single ‘shifted’ overprints.

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 400th Anniversary of the Death of Copernicus (cont.) Other varieties mentioned in the Michel catalogue are: An error in the sheet design also exists. The globe featured in the design at centre in the top margin exists with a misaligned ‘axis’. The examples below show the correct globe at left and the misaligned axis at right. The misaligned axis sheets are all from position ‘4’ on the printed sheets thus all sheets of this type will bear either plate numbers I/4 or II/4 in the bottom centre margins.

There are many other very slight differences in the printing between the sheets and stamps that are known, but none that are obvious to the ordinary eye and only in-depth study can determine.

There are also many sheets with misplaced perforations, but these should be considered as printer’s waste. Summary: Ultimately, this was the German authorities failed attempt to change Copernicus’ nationality from Polish to German (see the special cancel issued for this stamp claiming the astronomer was German). If he was actually German, why did the Reichspost not issue a stamp in Germany for him? Acknowledgements: Michel Deutschland-Spezial 2003 - Band 1 catalogue. Arge Generalgouvernement 1939 – 1945 e.V. Handbuch #: H75. Die Sondermarke zum 400. Todestag des deutschen Astronomen Nikolaus Kopernikus (2013). The internet for background history on Kopernicus. Authors own collection for most of the images.

Mi 104 II Overprint without

‘full stop’ after ‘24’ on left side.

Mi 104 DD Double overprint.

Vertical double overprint (left) and horizontal double overprint (right).

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GERMANY

Adriatic Sea

ITALY

HUNGARY AUSTRIA

SLOVAKIA

POLAND

Sarajevo

Zagreb

Vienna

Prague

SERBIA

Dresden

■

■

■

■

■

■

BOHEMIA & MORAVIA

CROATIA


Luftfeldpost from Dresden to Croatia

by Albert Jackson

The German campaign to invade Russia in 1941 stretched supply lines to the limit. The demands made on services, including the Feldpost (field post) organization, called for additional measures to cope with the vast distances that had to be covered, sometimes in extreme weather conditions. Transport by air was the only practical solution and in March 1942 a Luftfeldpost (Field-post airmail service) was established to carry mail to and from the Eastern Front.

In September 1943, new airmail routes were opened to handle mail to and from troops serving with the 20th Mountain Army, operating in Northern Scandinavia. This mail was flown on the regular flights operated by the civilian airline, Lufthansa, from Berlin to their terminus in Helsinki. From there, the mail was flown on to Tornio, Finland. Two aircraft carrying field-post mail made twice-weekly trips in both directions

In late 1943, with the war deteriorating for the Germans on every front, it was decided to initiate an airmail field-post service to the Aegean islands of Crete and Rhodes. The service was similar to those operating on the Eastern Front and in Scandinavia, but in this case the mail was accommodated on scheduled civilian flights on the Berlin–Salonika route before being transported to the islands.

In late summer 1944, the Allies liberated the Greek mainland, making it impossible to send mail by sea to the thousands of German troops stationed on the Aegean Islands. The only solution was to create an Inselpost (Island Post) service by expanding and reorganizing the airmail routes already operating to Crete and Rhodes.

Mail from any of these services can be found to and from countries under German control or occupation, but recently a very different route has come to light. It would appear that a Croatian pilot being trained by the Luftwaffe at Dresden airport was able to take advantage of the Luftfeldpost service when sending mail to his home in Zagreb. Personnel based at Dresden may have been permitted to take advantage of the regular route Berlin–Prague–Vienna– Zagreb–Sarajevo, flown by Lufthansa since 1944. Most likely, the mail would have been carried by rail from Dresden to Prague, where it would have been transferred to the Lufthansa service, thus speeding the airmen’s mail on its way.

Two covers enclosing letters written in Croatian (shown below) from a volunteer being trained to fly by the Luftwaffe at Dresden. Each cover carries Luftfeldpost concession labels and was opened and resealed by the German censor in Vienna. A handwritten instruction on both covers reads: ‘Flugpost Eilbote’ (Airmail Courier). With thanks to David Taylor

Berlin

The Lufthansa route intercepted by rail at Prague.

SLOVENIA

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WHILE SUPPLIES LAST !

Here is your chance to get all 4 of last years News Sheets in printed A4 format for one low

price!

I have a small quantity of copies of the News Sheets from March, June, September and December last year (2018) left over from the

printer after our members that receive the printed copy were catered for.

These News Sheets are professionally printed on A3 paper, folded

in half (to A4 size) and stapled to form a ‘booklet’.

Anyone who would like a full set of these (4 copies) please get in touch with me via email, letter or a phone call to reserve your set as

soon as possible as supplies are very limited.

The total cost for the 4 issues sent to a U.K. address is £13.20.

Payment can be made by personal cheque (drawn on a U.K. bank) made out to me personally (Robert Jones) and sent to my home

address: 45, Durham Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside, L30 1RE

or by Paypal to: [email protected] There are no fees if you use Paypal!

SAVE MONEY – 20% DISCOUNT – SAVE MONEY

In addition to the Michel or SG range of catalogues of German stamps we can supply many others. For example:

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Michel Zeppelin- und Flugpost- Spezial 2017/18; Michel Handbuch Deutsche Feldpost 1937-1945 (5th ed.)

Michel Atlas zur Deutschland-Philatelie (3rd ed.) Michel Österreich Spezial 2018 (incl Ganzsachen); Saar Spezial 2017;

Stanley Gibbons Germany 12th edition.

UP TO 20% DISCOUNT ON CATALOGUES/ALBUMS/LEAVES/MOUNTS ETC.

Giles du Boulay, 8 Malvern Road, AYLESBURY, Bucks., HP20 1QF

Tel: 01296 488703 E-mail: [email protected]

G &CPS: www.germanphilately.org

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Above left is the symbol with which the Deutsche Reichsbahn wished to make its employees aware, especially at work, that they themselves could contribute to the prevention of accidents through thought and prudence. True, the sign - a white battle shield, symbolizing the defense, found its way onto the green circular area with the striking inscription “My own attention is the best accident protection” – had the widest distribution in the Third Reich, but it had been introduced in 1927.

These enamel shields had been attached to work places in numerous towns and cities. Today they are offered on the Internet, even as a replica and certainly, in some dark workshops, an original shield has asserted its place against all the desires of collectors today. The symbol appeared so significant that the idea was to create a veritable “monument” at the entrance to the workplaces. “May many workplaces follow this example”, wrote the magazine “Die Reichsbahn”.

The private railway, the tram and the narrow-gauge railway trade association were also allowed to use the symbol for accident prevention with the approval of the Reichsbahn. However, since November 1936, when also adopted by the Reichspost, it was considered particularly significant. The symbol even appeared as an advertising image next to the cds (circular date stamp) at post offices from November 1937.

According to the Bochmann catalogue these advertisements (serienstempel) lasted from 24.11.37 to 1954 in 24 towns and cities.

These advertisements came in 2 distinct types (not recognised in the Bochmann catalogue). Type 1 has the box around the symbol unbroken and measuring 37.5mm × 21mm with the dark area around the shield 14mm in diameter. Type 2 has the box around the symbol broken at top and bottom and measuring 34mm × 20mm with the dark area around the shield 11.5mm in diameter.

The Bochmann catalogue says that these serienstempel are also found as ‘roller cancels’. I have not seen any to date to illustrate.

The Health and Safety Campaign of the Reichspost

by

Bob Jones Part 1

Figs.1 & 2 above: Type 1 advertisements shown to the right and left sides of the cds.

Figs. 3 & 4 below: Type 2 advertisements shown to the right and left sides of the cds.

Fig.1 Fig.2

Fig.3 Fig.4

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 The Health and Safety Campaign of the Reichspost – Part 1 (cont.) There was also a lot of posters to display on the walls of the workplace produced by the Reichspost as early as 1928 (see below). As from November 1936 after joining this ‘Health and Safety’ initiative the Reichspost also printed many postal stationery cards along with letter ‘seals’ etc. to get the message across to the public in general.

Five of the workplace safety posters are shown below.

Fig.1 DR Post No.31 (1934) Do not step between the vehicle and the ramp

when in reverse!

Fig.3 DR Post No.33 (1935) Do not jump on the moving delivery van!

Fig.2 DR Post No.39 (1934) Your motto is: workplace accident-free!

Fig.4 DR Post No.43 (1935) Only in this way do you work with less accidents!

Inset: not this!

Fig.5 DR Post No.50 (1936)

First secure against rolling otherwise:

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 The Health and Safety Campaign of the Reichspost – Part 1 (cont.) Below is shown a small booklet of vignettes (103mm × 42mm folded) ‘exploded’ to show the different designs on each of the 5 leaves inside. The date of issue of this booklet is shown on the front cover as ‘RPZ. Januar 1942’.

Also known are booklets from December 1940 and June 1941 (covers shown below).

Above: Outside cover. Below: Inside cover.

Page 1 Page 2

Page 3 Page 4

Page 5

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 The Health and Safety Campaign of the Reichspost – Part 1 (cont.)

Here we have 2 sheets of vignettes. I do not know if the first sheet is complete with its 15 vignettes as there are no margins at the sides or bottom remaining.

The sheet below is a full sheet of 10 vignettes dedicated to the ‘health’ part of the initiative.

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News Sheet No.176 March 2019 The Health and Safety Campaign of the Reichspost – Part 1 (cont.) There was also many different vignettes concerning this initiative. Some focused on the ‘accident prevention’ side and some more on the health side. Below is a complete sheet of 10 vignettes with ‘safety’ advice.

Below is another sheet but with 12 vignettes. It is impossible to say if this sheet is complete as it has no margins around the outside.

For the postcard collector there are many cards available from this ‘Health & Safety’ initiative. I have some in my own collection that are quite varied. One of the first variations to consider will be the different fronts on the cards. The ‘front’ of a card being the address side. Starting in the next News Sheet I will try to list these variations. I have noted 19 variations in the postcards used so far plus a ‘blank’ front. Acknowledgements: The two booklet covers at the bottom of page 3 and the four full sheets of labels are from the collection of our Danish member Jens Monrad.

To be continued…..

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Embellishing a Souvenir Card Does it Work?

by Bob Jones

Since first starting to up-date our Souvenir Sheet CD some years ago, I have often wondered why some of the items, particularly those shown below, ended up in the catalogue at all. The souvenir cards shown below from the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games are some of those cards. The cards have been produced marking the ‘Olympic Torch Relay’ from Olympia to Berlin. The cards are both designed with two stamp illustrations at top of an Olympic Torch relay (one German and one Greek), and the only actual stamps on the cards are Greek.

The two stamps illustrated on the cards are the 1936 German 12 + 6Rpf brown-red (Mi.613) and the 1906 Greek 1 Drachma deep slate (Mi.154). Both stamps were depicted as blue in colour probably to save on printing costs.

The souvenir sheet shown above has had the German 12 + 6Rpf stamp covered by applying a real example over it and had it favour cancelled by the official cancel used at the ‘Germany Exhibition’ (held from 18th July to 16th August 1936).

I think the addition of this stamp and cancel raises the collectability of the souvenir card. What do you all think?

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Diary Dates for Regional Meetings The following dates have been arranged for G & C.P.S. regional meetings with intended displays for the coming weeks. Please show your support and try to attend your local meeting. For location of venues and regional organisers, please go to the G & C.P.S. website at: www.germanphilatley.org London Group 2nd Mar.

1st Jun.

“German East Africa up to 1914”, a display by Mike Farrant.

“1938-1939: Two fateful years”, a display by Tony Hickey.

Tyne-Tees Group 9th Mar.

13th Apr.

18th May

“WWII on the Eastern Front”, a display by Gary Eden.

“Bohemia & Moravia, the inside story”, a display by Martin Snowdon.

“Danzig, the propaganda war”, a display by Giles du Boulay.

TRSG (London) 30th Mar. “The Hitler Youth”, a display by Tony Hickey.

Scottish Group 6th Apr. AGM; Members’ 9 sheets; Bring & buy sale.

South East Group 6th Apr. “Berlin & beyond”, a display by Peter Tristram.

South West Group 13th Apr. “South West Africa”, a display by Malcolm Roberts.

South Central Group 4th May “A DDR miscellany”, a display by Rex Dixon. & “Mecklenburg-Schwerin” 1811 – 67”, a display by John Campbell.

Dates, times, venues and speakers correct at the time of going to press (17th February 2019). However, please contact the regional organiser(s) for confirmation of the above details.

EPILOGUE Well that has been the first edition for 2019 done and dusted. I will start on our June issue straight away as there are not many articles coming in as I would like to see. I hope that our members like the article about the ‘Health & Safety Campaign’ by the Reichspost. It will last for at least a couple more issues with sorting out the different ‘fronts’ of the postcards that the Reichspost used for the printing of the health and safety aspects presented to the public and then as many different illustrations shown on these cards as possible from my own and other members’ collections. If any members have any ideas on a new subject that they would like to see in ‘article’ form, then please let me know and we will see what we can do for you. I am open to all suggestions. There are, of course, areas of our hobby that I know little or nothing about. Feldpost, maritime mail, W.H.W., are just 3 examples of my ignorance, and believe me, there are many more. I still try to provide interesting stuff for our members with my limited knowledge but imagine what we could produce with more input by those members that have some understanding in areas not usually represented here in our News Sheet. I will, however, try to keep up what I am doing and hope that the membership will find our News Sheet remains interesting enough to retain your continued support in 2019. Cheers, Editor

LET’S KEEP THE PRESSES ROLLING!

Please send us your articles and Enquiries

NOW!

the third reich study group news sheet · 2019-08-13 · svetosarov, leader of the russian national...

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