NAZI GERMANY
My COVERS
1940
COVER from NÜRNBURG to ROMANIA
10th Jan 1940
This cover was sent from Nürnburg to Romania on 10th Jan 1940. The cover has five stamps from the 1939 Michel 730 to 738 issue, released to raise funds for the Winter Relief Fund. The reverse of the cover has the usual 'Gepruft' or 'checked' censor tape used for mail being sent abroad and also a receiver's cancel from the town of PREJMER in Transylvania, Romania.
Cover from Nürnburg
12th Feb 1940
This cover has a special slogan postmark inscribed 'Ein volk hilftsich selbst kriegs-whw' or 'A people help themselves war-whw', which was a slogan used to generate attention for the War Relief Fund in 1940. The cover has a 1933 Michel 487 12Pf Hindenburg Medallion stamp and was sent by a Dr. Hermann Keller to a local address.
Cover from Berlin
COVER from VIENNA
17th Mar 1940
Cover from Vienna
8th Apr 1940
This cover is cancelled 'WITZENHAUSEN' with a special cancel inscribed 'WITZENHAUSEN | Luftkurort | im Werratal | kurheffen | heilfasten und Dintkuren' roughly translated as 'WITZENHAUSEN | Climatic health resort | in the Werra Valley | kurheffen | therapeutic fasting and diet cures'. The stamps are a mixture of 1939 Michel 730 3Pf Winter Relief Fund stamp, a single 1939 issue Michel 716 3Pf Danzig stamp overprinted 'Rpf | Deutsches | Reich | Rpf' and finally two 1940 issue Michel 739 3Pf stamps issued to commemorate the 1940 Leipzig Spring Fair.
Cover from Witzenhausen
6th May 1940
Posted in Munich on 6th May 1940 this machine cancelled cover features two 1940 issue Michel 745 stamps issued on 30th Apr to commemorate May Day. The stamps are a pair from the top right-hand side of the sheet.
Cover from Munich
AIRMAIL to U.S.A
25th May 1940
30th Jun 1940
This Registered cover was sent from the German Derby horse Racing event in Hamburg on 30th Jun 1940 and was destined for Berlin-Charlottenburg. The special cancel was only available at the venue and only for 5 days. The stamps are a mixture of the special stamp used to commemorate the event, the 1940 issue Michel 746 a rather stunning E. Stahl designed stamp, depicting a horse jumping over a fence, made up of the denomination (25Pf) and charity donation (100Pf) in a shield. There is also a 1939 issue Michel 709 15Pf stamp from the German Postal Workers issue stamps. And finally there are two 1Pf, 1933 issue Michel 512 Hindenburg Medallion stamps.Two things to note here: 1. There are very few examples of the blue Michel 746 that have a cancel other than the one shown above, the vast majority of cancelled stamps have this cancel. 2. The 1Pf Michel 512 Hindenburg Medallion stamp is never found as a single stamp on a cover, they were released to be used to accompany other stamps for the correct franking.
Registered Cover from Hamburg
COVER from HAMBURG
30th Jun 1940
Cover from Vienna
LUFTWAFFE COVER
8th Jul 1940
This Luftwaffe cover was sent from Westerland to Hamburg on 8th Jul 1940. This is an official cover (hence no stamps), with a special slogan cancel accompanying the CDS cancel from Westerland. The slogan reads 'Visit the North Seaside Resort of Westerland (Sylt) | Surf Beach'.
Official Cover to Hamburg
BROWN RIBBON RACE (I)
21st Jul 1940
This registered cover features a 1940 issue Michel 747, Brown Ribbon stamp designed by Richard Klein. The stamp is valued at 42Pf with a 108Pf donation to charity. Domestic covers featuring this stamp should always have a 'R', registered label, as this one does, (42Pf was the Registered letter fee). The special postmark is one of two different designs used at the event and is inscribed 'MÜNCHEN-RIEM | TAG DES | INTERNATIONALEN | HINDERNISSPORTES | 21.7.40' or 'Day of international obstacle sports' (referring to the hurdles over which the horses jumped as the race was a steeplechase).
Registered Cover from Munich
BROWN RIBBON RACE (II)
28th Jul 1940
This Registered cover was almost certainly destined for a stamp collector in Berlin and like the cover above it features the special stamp issued to celebrate the Brown Ribbon Event in Munich. This time the cancel is the second special cancel that was used at the venue earlier in the week.
Registered Cover from Munich
Registered Cover from Munich
SPECIAL HELGOLAND CANCEL
30th Jul 1940
This philatelically inspired cover was sent from Helgoland to Karlsruhe on 30th Jul 1940. Two of the stamp are 1940 issue Michel 748 and 749 stamps commemorating the reintegration of Eupen, Malmedy and Moresnet with Germany. The third stamp is the special 1940 issue Michel 750 stamp issued to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the return of Helgoland to Germany. The special cancel was also used only to commemorate the anniversary.
Cover from Helgoland
RED CROSS CANCEL (I)
10th Aug 1940
The stamp on this windowed cover is a 1933 issue Michel 482 3Pf Hindenburg Medallion stamp. The cover itself is unremarkable, however the special cancel is a Red Cross themed cancel, inscribed 'Kreigs Hilfswerk | Opfere aush Du | für des Deutsche Rote Kreuz' - 'War Aid | You too sacrifice | for the German Red Cross'. The CDS cancel is from Berlin SW 11, dated 16th Aug 1940.
Cover from Berlin
RED CROSS CANCEL (II)
19th Aug 1940
This busy cover was sent from Köln on 19th Aug 1940. The machine cancel is a tourism inspired cancel inscribed 'Besucht | die schone Damstadt Köln und den herrlichen Rhein' or 'Visit the beautiful Damstadt Köln and the wonderful Rhine'. There is a second slogan cancel which is not obvious at first sight, but it is behind the red cancel and is a second version of the Red Cross slogan cancel seen above. This time the slogan text is different and i think it reads 'The front fight - The home front | military aid | for the German Red Cross.'
Cover from Köln
METZ to FRANKFURT
26th Sep 1940
POLICE COVER to INGOLSTADT
14th Nov 1940
COVER to KÖLN
11th Dec 1940
This simple Registered cover was sent from the town of Merchweiler in the Saar to Köln on 11th Dec 1940. The stamps are both 1933 issue Michel 487 and Michel 490 Hindenburg Medallion stamps.
Registered Cover from Merchweiler-Saar
GABLONZ (SUDETENLAND) to WERNIGERODE
21st Dec 1940
This cover was sent from Gablonz (also known as 'Jablonec' or 'Jablonec nad Nisou') in the Sudetenland to a Doctor R. Herr in Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, in central Germany, on 21st Dec 1940. The stamps are a 1933 pair of Michel 512, 1Pf Hindenburg Medallion stamps, a single 1939 Michel 717 overprinted Danzig 4Pf on 35Pf stamp and a single 1940 issue Michel 760 6Pf + 4Pf Emil von Behring stamp issued to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Diptheria serum.
The special cancel features the new town hall building built in 1931/32 in the city of Gablonz.
Cover from Gablonz