The oldest letter in my Deutsches Reich collection, this is dated 16th April 1873
The first two stamps are taken from the 1889 issue and the third one is from about 1900 and comes under "Private Post", a subject not covered in the UK catalogues as far as I know.
Three States that continued to issue their own stamps after the formation of the German Reich in 1871. The first stamp is Bavarian and they issued their own stamps until 1920. The second stamp is Helgoland and the third is Württemberg, who issued stamps for public use until 1900, but continued to issue "Official Stamps" until 1923.
Helgoland (Heligoland in English) issued stamps for the island between 1867 and 1879 and printed at the Prussian State Printing works in Berlin. The stamps were printed in two languages because it was under British control, although the British swapped the island for Zanzibar and from August 1890 only German Reich stamps were valid. This was also the onlöy German stamps that featured the head of Queen Victoria on its stamps and postcards.
After World War Two, the British authorities evacuated the inhabitants from the island, and in the late forties, dropped tons of wartime bombs on Helgoland to dispose of unwanted stock piles. The island of Helgoland is made from a soft red stone and the constant bombing was doing untold damage to the island. A group of patriotic German youths occupied the island and the bombing had to be stopped. It should be remembered that the island of Helgoland was the place where von Fallersleben wrote the German national anthem in 1841.
The origins of German philately or stamp collecting, really began with the introduction of stamps into the different German States, begining with Bavaria in 1849. The postal authorities were centralised in a postal directive in Berlin in 1871, although Bavaria and Württemberg continued to produce their own issues until after the First World War. Included in this period of German history are also the issues of the German Colonies and the 1914-1918 occupations.
The Germania issue, served Germany from 1900 until 1922, the middle stamp is from the German colonies which continued to issue stamps until 1919, long after the colonies had been lost to Germany. The colonial issues were on sale at the philatelic counter in Berlin. The stamp on the right is from the International Commission set up after Germany´s defeat in 1918.
There are those collectors that will delight in the Weimar Republic, with its inflation issues that make an interesting collection in themselves. There are the stamps that mirror the troubled times during the early twenties that almost plunged Germany into a civil-war, plebiscite territories, Danzig and Memel etc. By the late 1920s things had quietened down, but the country was poor and like all collecting hobbies in times of financial crisis, hunger had priority.
The first stamp carries an overprint from the "Peoples State of Bavaria" and the second stamp from the revolution in Württemburg 1919. The third stamp is from the inflation period in the early 1920s, in November 1923 there would be a stamp with the highest value, 50 Billion Reichsmark!
The late 20s and early 30s produced a meagre number of new stamp issues, some years little more than one set of containing four stamps, most of the new stamps during this time were charity stamps, with huge surcharges that few hungry unemployed collectors could afford. Then came the Third Reich and by summer 1934 at the latest all this was to change.
A typical pre-paid postcard from the late 1920s
Mobile Post Office set up for the Nuremberg Rallies 1933, on the board can be seen one of the large Telegram forms used throughout the 12 years.
INTRODUCTION TO THIRD REICH PHILATELY
The Third Reich was to produce more stamp issues in the twelve years between 1933 to 1945 than the whole 60 years of the German postal history 1871 to 1932. Not noticeable in the first 18 months of the Third Reich ( with the exception of Postcards) the German postal authorities came increasingly under political control. The Post Office became a very important tool in the German propaganda drive and was to firmly remain so until the last day of the war.
The postal authorities played a very large role in the political aims of Germany before the war and later a major role illustrating the war aims too. Every major event was mirrored in the stamp issues or at the very least in the issue of a special cancellation using existing stamps. Never before had a country mirrored its political or war aims in its stamp issues as Germany did, with perhaps the exception of the Soviet Union. Although with the volume of issues and the striking designs, the Germans went further than the Russians ever could.
German philatelic associations came quickly under the control of the NS Regime as part of the KdF Collector Groups ( the Strength through Joy Movement). Hitler Youth and BDM groups were encouraged to join or start their own philatelic groups. For anyone today collecting the postal history of the Third Reich, it was a real "historical window" on the times it represents. Be it a postcard from the Olympic Games or a Field Post letter from Stalingrad, everything that happened is represented. I have often heard non-collectors say that they are not interested in collecting Third Reich because Hitlers head was to be seen on all the stamps. This is far from the truth, as will be seen if you read my further articles on Bills-Bunker, which will follow shortly.
Part of a sheet of 50 stamps issued on 9th November 1944, each issue was symbolic of the times. This stamp illustrates three serpents fighting an eagle, Germany against Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, issued for the 21st anniv. of the Munich Putsch (9th November 1923).
WHAT TO COLLECT?
1/ Postage stamps.
These can come in many forms and not just single stamps in a catalogue listing mint or used stamps. You could collect complete sheets, booklets, stamps from automatic machines. For the more advanced collector there are colour changes, proofs, errors, issues that were recalled and not put on sale, in truth a multitude of different forms.
"Two peoples one fight" Every opportunity was used to get a political meesage accross, in this case the "Pact of Steel" on a stamp issued January 1941
There are also the various occupation issues, which cover everything from the standard Czech or Polish issues, to the more exotic local occupation issues for Russia or the Concentration camp issues, showing the really grim side to postal history. Field Post is another area which can be a collection all of its own. Not just the standard Field Post issues, but the special local issues, some only in use for a number of days.
A pre-paid postcard from 1941.
2/ Postcards.
There were hundreds, if not thousands, of pre-paid postcards and envelopes. These have the image of the stamp in the corner printed on them. It was also common for these pre-paid postal items to be part of a stamp issue with a design along the same theme. Postcards can be a collection unto themselves without stamps even being considered. See the German Postcard Gallery on this website.
Special cancellation showing a Focke-Wolf 190
3/Cancellations.
A lot of German collectors in the Third Reich collected the special cancellations. There was not always a stamp issue to go with the cancellation and sometimes a very common stamp worth almost nothing could be franked with a very rare cancellation! The cancellations were obtained by the collectors at the post offices in the cities or towns where the event was being celebrated. Sometimes the event would be covered by mobile post offices or even post office tents like those used at the Nuremburg Rallies of the 30s. These cancellations are worth considerably more. Cancellations seem to be overlooked by collectors who only collect the postage stamp, which is a shame.
A small unused Field Post packet
4/ Postal history.
Postal history covers all of the other items not listed above, the huge telegrams, the records containing messages sent through the field post. The parcel boxes, original books, old catalogues and the equipment and franking stamps found on the post office counters. Even post office savings books, in fact anything that does not fit into a normal stamp album.
Conclusion
As philatelists we are in charge of our own collections and they are a very personal thing, no one in a philatelic club can tell you what you shouls or should not collect, just go where your heart takes you. I collect 1871-1945 simply because I am interested in this period of history and secondly because I find the issues from 1849 to 1870 too expensive due to the fact that I collect each stamp three times! Mint condition, Used condition and cancelled on a postcard/letter.
There are however much more to collecting German Reich philately and it is difficult to do the subject justice in the few lines that I have written. A collection is as simple or as complicated as one makes it……. Enjoy and good hunting.
