GERMAN POSTAL HISTORY
ASSOCIATION FOR GERMANNESS ABROAD
THE VDA
The Verein für Deutsche Kulturbeziehungen im Ausland, "Association for German cultural relations abroad", was a German cultural organisation which started life in 1881. Its main purpose was to promote Germany's interests abroad, especially in the Colonies that Germany had acquired prior to the start of the First World War.
In 1908 it was renamed "Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland" (Association for Germanness Abroad), and the current abbreviation VDA, was adopted. During World War I, the VDA held collections on German streets where a small pin or postcard was given in exchange for a donation. The purpose of the donation was to raise money to benefit the wounded, displaced persons and the next of kin of soldiers who had died during the fighting.
During the period between the two world wars the organisation maintained a fairly low profile, until the rise of the Nazi's in 1933 when the organisation saw an opportunity to work with the new regime in furthering its own aims abroad. It was renamed Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland that same year and turned its energies to promoting Nazi political and racist ideas, particularly in schools and universities where it's racist ideals found fertile ground.
During the pre-war years and World War II, the VDA distributed over 1,200 different donation badges, postcards and other items to raise funds for its charity work. It was not alone in these endeavours, as the German Red Cross and Winterhilfswerk Organisation (WHW) all did their utmost to relieve the German population of every penny they could.
The number and variety of postcards sold on street corners and elsewhere, is a study unto itself, and these are the subject of the following pages. Finding the exact release date of many of these cards is problematic as the early cards did not have any indication of the publication date. In 1940 and 1941 the cards did have a publication date on the reverse.
Therefore, this section has been split into 3 parts:
1. Postcards without release date
2. Postcards published in 1940
3. Postcards published in 1941