20th April 1944 JB: Amsterdam 20th April 1944 JB: Amsterdam 1/1 Registered cover sent from 'Luftgaupostamt Amsterdam' to an address in Berlin. Featuring postage stamp Mi.887 (55th Birthday of Adolf Hitler) tied with special cancel JB:Amsterdam2/40. Ref: 20.04.1944 - 34/1 AMSTERDAM cancellations as featured in the Bochmann catalogues (1952) JB: Amsterdam2/40 - 'Deutschland wird siegen/ 20.4.1944'. Note: this cancel was only used in conjunction with postage stamp Mi.887. Ref: 20.04.1944 - 34/1 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

2nd March 1942 MHB 72 02.03.1942 MHB72 reverse.jpeg 02.03.1942 MHB72 reverse.jpeg 1/1 Registered cover sent from Berlin to Munich. Featuring a block of 4 stamps from MHB 72 and two from MHB 69. Ref: 02.03.1942 - 15/7 Stamp sequences from booket sheet MHB 72 Edge piece from MHB 72 (A17.2 + A15.2 + Mi.788) - A17.2, 'Unterstützt das Deutsche Rote Kreuz!' (Support the German Red Cross!); A15.2, 'Tretet in die NSV ein!' (Join the NSV!). Ref: 02.03.1942 - 15/7 KZ41 (Mi.788 + Z + Z + Mi.788) from MHB 72. Ref: 18.03.1942 W157 (A15.2 + Mi.788) from MHB 72. Ref: 18.03.1942 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

15th October 1943 Sign of the Times 15th October 1943 Sign of the Times 1/0 Amtsblatt des Reichspostministerium (Berlin), No.94, p.599, 15th October 1943. A part torn sheet stating, 'They gave their lives in loyalty to the Führer and the Reich', below which are identified employees of the Reichspost, their postal occupation alongside their military rank or reason for death. Also included are auxiliary occupation, i.e. Sophie Heinen, a cleaning lady killed during an air raid on Rheydt (in the Bomber Command War Diaries (Middlebrook,1990), it is noted that an air raid was launched by the RAF against Möchengladbach and Rheydt on 30th-31st August 1943. In the German report following the raid on Rheydt the only building mentioned by name was the town's telegraph office). Ref: 22/95 Amtsblatt des Reichspostministerium (Berlin), No.94, p.600, 15th October 1943. Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Mi.897 - 898 (1st July 1944) Mi.897 - 898 (1st July 1944) 1/1 Mi.897 (17.07.1944- 33/98) next stamp issue Mi.898 (Ref: 17.07.1944) Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

VIKTORIA! Germany VIKTORIA! Germany 1/1 Feldpost envelope featuring a large hand-stamp cachet with 'V/ VIKTORIA' design. Ref: 24.09.1941 - 17/82 'Viktoria!' Use of slogan during the German victory campaign of 1941 'Deutschland Siegt für Europa/ Viktoria'. ø57mm (dark violet). Ref: 24.09.1941 - 17/82 See 33/95 ('V' slogan in red. ø28mm) Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Mi.860 - 861 (01.10.1943) Goldsmith Mi.860 - 861 (01.10.1943) Goldsmith 1/0 Cover sent from Berlin featuring Mi.860 (together with Mi.830). Ref: 16.10.1943 - 13/28 Also see 33/95 next stamp issue Mi.860 (Ref: 16.10.1943 - 13/28) Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Mi.815 (14.07.1942) 1/1 Mi.815 (Ref: 26.07.1942 - 33/94) next stamp issue

ABP Berlin: Pass-Through (BD) 1/0 Links to - Hand Stamps - Machine Stamps - Pass-Through Stamps - Closures - Misc. Handdurchlaufstempel Maschinendurchlaufstempel BDM1.1 - unlisted variation - see 33/90 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

ABP Munich: Hand Stamp (DP) 07.10.1944 Bombay Censor DP4.7 reverse.jpeg 07.10.1944 Bombay Censor DP4.7 reverse.jpeg 1/1 Letter-sheet sent from Italy to Camp 26, Yol, India. Featuring the German hand-stamp reference HL:DP4.7 issued at ABP Munich. Ref: 07.10.1944 Links to - Hand Stamps - Machine Stamps - Pass-Through Stamps - Closures - Misc. ABP Munich Hand Stamps (Handprüfstempel) and variations DP2.1.1 - see 27.10.1943 - 33/88 DP2.3.1 - see 18.09.1940 - 33/32 DP2.3.3 - see 31.12.1940 - 30/27 DP2.3.7? (violet) - see 23.09.1942 - 33/70, 33/81 DP2.4.4 - see 27.03.1941 - 33/33 HL:DP4.7 - ø35mm - 'Geprüft/ Zensurstelle' - two diamonds either side of the wings. Ref: 07.10.1944 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Postal Stationery Other Countries Postal Stationery Other Countries Screenshot 2021-11-27 at 09.29.50.png Screenshot 2021-11-27 at 09.29.50.png 1/1 Postal Stationery - Other Countries Austria 'K.u.K. Feldpost' Austro-Hungarian Military Post, c.1917 . Ref: 04.08.1938 'Osterreich/ 700 Kronen' Early/mid 1920's. Ref: 25.07.1943 - 23/53 - Archive only Belgium 40c Coat of Arms Lion (lilac/purple) postcard with angled senders address text. Ref: 10.10.1942 - 33/89 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

10th February 1941 'Arkona' 1/1 Feldpost correspondence sent to Kapitanleutnant Otto L. von Spies. One of six envelopes containing letters from another member of the von Spies family. A prolific sequence dated between 10th February 1941 and 1st March 1941. All sent from Riezlern with a special date cancel (JB:Riezlern2/645). Ref: 10.02.1941 17/35 The first piece of correspondence is sent to an address in Wilhelmshaven, whilst subsequent envelopes are addressed to FPN 09200. FPN 092 00 relates to Schwimmende Flak-Batterie 'Arkona' ( Floating anti-aircraft battery ‘Arkona’). Correspondence dates: 10th February 1941 14th February 1941 16th February 1941 20th February 1941 23rd February 1941 27th February 1941 - 33/93 1st March 1941 'Arkona' (Arcona) The Arkona , floating anti-aircraft cruiser. Ref: 33/93 (from the estate of Erich Gröner Archiv für Marine. Erich Gröner (1901-1965), German historian of naval warfare and shipbuilding). Keel laying: 1901; Launched: 22nd April 1902; Commissioned: 12th May 1903 The light cruiser 'Arcona' is the ninth ship of the 'Gazelle' class. The ships of this class were the first modern small cruisers of the German Imperial Navy and were built as additional ships based on the first naval law of 1898. As a ship class, they had no predecessors, but were designed based on the avisos of the Meteor class (1890/92) and the single ship SMS Hela (1895). The general specifications and lines of the Hela were adopted and the hull was increased in width so that more powerful armament could be installed. The class is the forefather of a series of other classes of small cruisers, which culminated in the Kolberg class of 1910. The small cruiser 'Arcona' was commissioned on 12th May 1903. After the trial runs, the ship was integrated into the reconnaissance ship group on 18th July 1903. The small cruiser took part in several foreign voyages. In 1907, she was prepared for foreign voyages at the Imperial Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven. For this purpose, she was given a white coat of paint, among other things. The conversion was completed on 14th August 1907. The ship then undertook a voyage to East Asia. When she reached Singapore on 23rd October, the cruiser entered the area of the East Asian Station and the Cruiser Squadron. The small cruiser undertook further voyages here and visited the USA at the end of 1909. On 17th January 1910, the 'Arcona' set off for home and reached Wilhelmshaven on 24th March 1910, where the ship was decommissioned on 30th March 1910. The cruiser went to the Imperial Shipyard for basic repairs, where it was converted into a mine cruiser. The two middle 10.5 cm guns were removed and facilities were created to accommodate 200 mines. The stern was also flattened and the ship was given a second chimney. On 31st October 1912, the cruiser was recommissioned and assigned to the inspection of coastal artillery and mines. Training and maneuvering trips in the German Bight followed. With the outbreak of the First World War, the two removed 10.5 cm guns were reinstalled and the ship became the lead ship of the Ems coastal defence division there, from autumn 1915 coastal defence flotilla and from autumn 1917 outpost flotilla of the Ems. In spring 1919, the ship was converted and from then on served as the mother ship for UZ boats for the 5th Minesweeping Flotilla. During the conversion, all guns were removed from the ship except for the light forecastle guns for mine shooting. In February 1920, this task for 'Arcona' also ended and the small cruiser was dismantled. The ship was converted to a fleet cruiser, but no major conversion work was carried out. On 25th May 1921, the cruiser was recommissioned and joined the North Sea forces. On 1st December 1923, 'Arcona' was finally decommissioned and transferred to the reserve. On 15th January 1930, the ship was struck from the list of warships and used as a barracks for ship's crews, first in Wilhelmshaven, then in Swinemünde and Kiel. At the beginning of 1940, 'Arcona' was converted into a floating anti-aircraft battery. For this purpose, she received four 2-cm anti-aircraft guns, one 3.7-cm anti-aircraft gun and four 10.5-cm anti-aircraft guns. A fifth 10.5-cm anti-aircraft gun was installed in 1941. The five 10.5-cm guns were divided into two batteries. In order to achieve the greatest possible distance between the port and starboard guns, they had to be installed close to the ship's side. The bridge and part of the rear deck superstructure were converted into a control station and each received a 4-meter basic rangefinder. During a final conversion, the 'Arcona' was given a platform that extended over the stern, on which a 2 cm anti-aircraft gun was mounted. On 18th September 1940, she moved into her firing position on the Jade without her own propulsion. On 7th May 1942, the ship moved to its new position at 53° 39'8 north and 8° 9'33 east. At the end of the war, the ship was sunk in the second entrance to Wilhelmshaven on 3rd May 1945, and scrapped in 1948/49. Source: lexikon--der--wehrmacht-de (2025) NOTES ON OTTO L. VON SPIES Taken from an on-line catalogue selling items belonging to Otto von Spies (the same?): Extensive estate of the officer, travelled on His Majesty's ship ‘Emden’, among others. Military passport, officer's pay book and command book, numerous entries such as promotions and missions in the First World War (Flanders, sinking on ship ‘G 96’, time on board ‘Freya, Emden, Kaiserin Augusta’). Identity card from the harbour commandant's office in Bruges in Belgium, photos of a coastal battery on the beach in Flanders. Two large-format portrait photos of officers of the Emden. Document folder made of wine-red leather with applied insignia for deck officers. Enamelled badge ‘Deutscher Flottenverein’. Imperial war flag of the kaiserl. Navy made of printed flag fabric, dimensions 52 x 74 cm. Naval binoculars made by Carl Zeiss in Jena. Plus photos, postcards and other documents. Otto von Spies was born on 5 November 1898 in Würzburg. He served on the torpedo boat ‘G 96’, among others. The boat ran into a mine on 26 June 1917 and sank with the loss of four men. He also served on SMS Emden (1916), named after the well-known predecessor ship that sank near the Cocos Islands on 9 November 1914. The images accompanying the sale. It may well have been Spies was given the job of commander of the 'Acona'? At this time Spies would be aged 42. Was he in the reserve? (See below) Marineartilleriearsenalinspektion (Naval Artillery Arsenal Inspection) Formed in August 1943 from the re-naming of the Inspektion der Marineartilleriezeugämter (Z.J.). The Inspektion was based in Bad Segeberg until March 1945 when it was moved to Flensburg. It was subordinate to OKM for technical matters and to Stationskommando Nordsee for all other matters. The Inspektion had technical, troop servicing & admimistrative control of all Marineartilleriearsenale in Germany. For the Marineartilleriearsenale in occupied lands it only had technical and administrative control with troop servicing granted to the local Befehlshabern. After the surrender the Marineartilleriearsenale continued use under British control until 1946. Chef des Stabes Kapitän zur See Hermann Hansing (00 Jul 1943-00 Aug 1943)Kapitän zur See Karl Arthur Freiherr von Killinger (00 Apr 1944-00 May 1945) InspizientKapitän zur See (W) Bruno Woiczinski (00 Aug 1943-00 Feb 1944)Kapitän zur See (W) Emil Stegelmann (00 Feb 1944-00 May 1945) Stab Stabsoffizier beim Stabe: Fregattenkapitän der Reserve Ernst von Voigt (00 Aug 1943-00 May 1945) Militärische Referent: Korvettenkapitän der Reserve Dipl.Agr. Otto von Spies (00 Aug 1943-00 Apr 1944) etc., etc...... Source: axishistory-com Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

20th March 1943 NS- Volkswohlfahrt 20th March 1943 NS- Volkswohlfahrt 1/1 Official envelope of the Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes featuring an advertising slogan to the reverse flap stating, 'Werde Mitglied!/ NS- VOLKSWOHLFAHRT' (Become a member!). With Naumburg cancel tied to a 3 Pf Official (Mi.156). Ref: 20.03.1939 Also see 30.03.1941 - 33/91 (NSV postcard) NS- Volkswohlfahrt The National Socialist People's Welfare (German: Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt , NSV) was a social welfare organisation during the Third Reich. The NSV was originally established in 1931 as a small Nazi Party-affiliated charity, which was active locally in the city of Berlin. On 3rd May 1933, shortly after the Nazi Party took power in Weimar Germany, Adolf Hitler turned it into a party organisation that was to be active throughout the country. The structure of the NSV was based on the Nazi Party model, with local ( Ort ), county ( Kreis ) and district ( Gau ) administrations. While the Nazi Party had existed since 1920, it did not initially set up its own social welfare department as several other German political parties had done. Nazi ideology was in principle unfavourable to the idea of social welfare. Writing in Mein Kampf about his time spent among the poor in Vienna, Hitler expressed indignation against social welfare for helping the degenerate and the feeble. The Nazis believed that the German race had to be strengthened through a process of natural selection, which required weeding out its weakest elements, so they condemned the goals of charity and philanthropy. They opposed the extensive welfare system of the Weimar Republic for being wasteful, bureaucratic, and helping the wrong people, since it distributed welfare benefits indiscriminately without regard for race and often assisted people that the Nazis considered inferior. By the 1930s, however, the Great Depression had caused mass unemployment in Germany, and it had become politically untenable for the Nazis to write off the destitute as not worth helping. In 1931, Joseph Goebbels, the Gauleiter (regional Nazi Party leader) of Berlin, realised the propaganda potential of a small Nazi People's Welfare Association founded by one of the Berlin party branches, and sought to expand it.[4] Goebbels placed Erich Hilgenfeldt in charge of this association, after Hilgenfeldt had organised a successful charity drive to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday on 20 April 1931. Two years later, after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, the NSV became established as the single Nazi Party welfare organ on 3rd May 1933. On 21st September in the same year, Hilgenfeldt was appointed as Reich Commissioner for the Winterhilfswerk (Winter Support Programme). Hitler directed Hilgenfeldt to 'see to the disbanding of all private welfare institutions' and to 'take charge of the Caritas organisation and the Inner Mission,' so as to exclude Jews, non-Germans, opponents of the Nazi regime, and other 'racially inferior' persons from receiving aid. Before the Nazi seizure of power, there had been seven main charitable networks in Germany: two socialist welfare organisations (one run by the SPD and the other by the KPD), the Christian workers' welfare association, the national Jewish charitable agency, the Roman Catholic Caritas, the Protestant Inner Mission, and the German Red Cross. The Nazis disbanded the socialist and Christian workers' associations and seized their assets, restricted the activities of the Jewish agency to helping ethnic Jews, and sought to 'coordinate' the remaining three agencies under the control of the NSV. The non-Nazi charities were forced to accept the principles of eugenics and refrain from helping those deemed biologically unfit, while the German Red Cross was compelled to appoint Nazis to prominent positions. The NSV was the second largest Nazi group organisation by 1935, second only to the German Labour Front. It had 4.7 million members and 520,000 volunteer workers. Nazi Party members who were active in communal welfare professionally or as volunteers had to be NSV members. The NSV restricted its assistance from the very beginning to individuals of 'Aryan descent' who met a range of conditions to be deemed worthy of support, officially stating that its aim was to promote 'the living, healthy forces of the German people.' The list of those excluded from NSV benefits was composed of 'alcoholics, tramps, homosexuals, prostitutes, the 'work-shy' or the 'asocial', habitual criminals, the hereditarily ill (a widely defined category) and members of races other than the Aryan.' Within these limitations, 17 million Germans received assistance under the auspices of NSV by 1939, and the agency operated 8,000 day-nurseries, funded holiday homes for mothers, distributed additional food for large families and was involved with a wide variety of other facilities. It 'projected a powerful image of caring and support' for those who were seen as full members of the German racial community, while also inspiring fear through its intrusive questioning and the threat of opening a Gestapo investigation on those who did not fulfill the criteria for support. Under the NSV, German social welfare and voluntary charity were thoroughly restructured to follow the racial and ideological goals of the Nazi state. The Nazi government declared that in the future, welfare and charitable aid would be granted only to individuals who were 'racially superior' and could prove their value to the Volksgemeinschaft . The criteria for receiving aid were both racial and political, as individuals could be denied assistance for being Jewish and also for being Communists, Social Democrats, or other political opponents of the regime. The NSV sought to apply these principles to all areas of public and private assistance and charitable work, by extending its competence and control as broadly as possible. Thus, for example, one of the NSV branches, the Office of Institutional and Special Welfare, asserted its authority over all activities related to 'travellers' aid at railway stations; relief for ex-convicts; support for re-migrants from abroad; assistance for the physically disabled, hard-of-hearing, deaf, mute, and blind; relief for the elderly, homeless and alcoholics; and the fight against illicit drugs and epidemics.' Another branch, the Office of Youth Relief, which had 30,000 offices by 1941, took the job of supervising "social workers, corrective training, mediation assistance" and dealing with judicial authorities to prevent juvenile delinquency. One of the NSV's main activities was the Winter Relief of the German People ( Winterhilfswerk ), which coordinated an annual drive to collect charity for the poor to provide them with heating and food over the winter months. Goebbels claimed that this was neither state welfare nor charity, but rather a new type of 'racial self-help run by the German people for the German people.' The Winter Relief program officially relied on voluntary donations, but in practice those donations were often collected by armed members of the Nazi Party going door to door in uniform, or by Hitler Youth members who were keeping lists of who had or had not contributed. A law was passed in 1934 that allowed the Interior Minister and the Nazi Party Treasurer to suspend any charities that competed with the Winterhilfswerk ; this was used to force the other charities to limit their collection drives to the summer months. In 1939, the NSV was also involved in the distribution of soup to the citizens of Warsaw after the city's surrender. Jews were excluded from the effort, which focused on the propaganda value. During World War II, the NSV took over more and more governmental responsibilities, especially in the fields of child and youth labor. The NSV budget routinely ran a deficit and had to be subsidized with funds from the central government, and these subsidies increased significantly just before and after the outbreak of war, more than doubling in three budgetary years from 640.4 million Reichsmarks in 1938 to 1.395 billion Reichsmarks by 1941. The Nazi government did not wish to increase taxes on German citizens to pay for the NSV's expenses, so an alternative solution was found: theft of benefits and wages from forced laborers and the populations of conquered territories. The forced labor of non-Germans and the confiscation of Jewish assets were used to provide the necessary subsidies for the NSV during the war, especially after 1941. In 1945, after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the Allied Military Government issued a special law outlawing the Nazi Party and all of its branches. Known as Law number five , this denazification decree disbanded the NSV, like all organizations linked to the Nazi Party. New social welfare organizations were established during the postwar reconstruction of both West and East Germany. Source: Wikipedia Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page