Search Results

6th January 1944 Stalag III-C 6th January 1944 Stalag III-C 06.01.1944 Stalag IIIC Alt Drewitz reverse.jpeg 06.01.1944 Stalag IIIC Alt Drewitz reverse.jpeg 1/1 Italian POW postcard sent from Stalag III-C at Alt Drewitz to an address in Italy. Ref: 06.01.1944 Stalag III-C Contact Brief History to inform us of additonal information regarding this page

31st January 1941 31st January 1941 1/1 Cover featuring stamp Mi.752. Ref: 31.01.1941 - 9/21 View stamp issue details here

6th July 1942 Invalidenversicherung 06.07.1942 Invalidenversicherung reverse.jpeg 06.07.1942 Invalidenversicherung reverse.jpeg 1/1 Disability insurance supplemental form (1/43 50000 - T-0215) entitled 'Einlage zur Quittungskarte' (Insert for receipt card) with details of the receipt card holder, their period of employment and the institution to which the contributions were paid: Hulboj Ewald was employed at the 'Edelstahlwerk Baildonhütte' in Kattowitz from 6th July 1942 to 31 December 1943. With 'WAFFEN SS/ BERLIN' hand-stamp (there are numerous examples this hand-stamp for sale as a reproduction. The presence of the hand-stamp on this document needs further research to validate its use). Ref: 06.07.1942 Baildonhütte - Kattowitz The Baildonhütte iron works in the city of Katowice in the Upper Silesian Industrial Region. It was founded in 1823 by the Scottish engineer John Baildon as a pudding works. In the following century it was repeatedly expanded and modernised and was at times one of the most modern steelworks in Europe. As a result of the crisis in the Polish economy, it experienced a decline from the late 1970s, becoming bankrupt in 2001. During the Second World War, the Baildonhütte belonged to the Oberschlesische Hüttenwerke AG Gleiwitz and mainly produced armaments, including engines for Junkers. For this purpose, the steelworks were expanded and forced labor used. Until 1942, there was a work camp for around 2,000 forced labourers next to the complex. Arbeitskommando E750 - 66 POWs from Stalag VIII-B (Teschen - from December 1943 onwards). Source: Wikipedia Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

1st August 1946 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st

Commercial postcard sent from Willy Hesse (Shoe and Sports retailer) in Grossenhain (note the address of 'Adolf-Hitler-Platz') to the headgear manufacturing firm of Otto Dittmann (known for the brand 'Marke Odd') in Dresden. Featuring a 6 Pf postage stamp (Mi.569) issued to commemorate 'Hero Memorial Day for Soldier Killed in the First World War'. Ref: 19.03.1935 The correspondence reads, 'I expect to have a need for regulation uniform caps for technical emergency aid in the near future. Please send me an offer by return of post if possible.' (Note on the 'Technische Nothilfe' (TN); During the Nazi era, the TN concentrated on the technical service (to eliminate emergencies in vital operations) and the air raid service, and was also available for disaster protection . As part of the air raid and security and relief services, the TN provided the units of the LS repair service. From 1936, the Reich Office of the TN was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Main Office of the Order Police of the Office of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.) Source: Wikipedia Mi.569-570 (15.03.1935) Hero Memorial Day 1/1 Commercial postcard sent from Willy Hesse (Shoe and Sports retailer) in Grossenhain (note the address of 'Adolf-Hitler-Platz') to the headgear manufacturing firm of Otto Dittmann (known for the brand 'Marke Odd') in Dresden. Featuring a 6 Pf postage stamp (Mi.569) issued to commemorate 'Hero Memorial Day for Soldier Killed in the First World War'. Ref: 19.03.1935 The correspondence reads, 'I expect to have a need for regulation uniform caps for technical emergency aid in the near future. Please send me an offer by return of post if possible.' (Note on the 'Technische Nothilfe' (TN); During the Nazi era, the TN concentrated on the technical service (to eliminate emergencies in vital operations) and the air raid service, and was also available for disaster protection . As part of the air raid and security and relief services, the TN provided the units of the LS repair service. From 1936, the Reich Office of the TN was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Main Office of the Order Police of the Office of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.) Source: Wikipedia Mi.569 - 570 Hero Memorial Day for Soldiers Killed in the First World War Notes: Engraving: Hans Schweitzer . Photogravure printing. Sheets 10 x 10. Swastika watermark. Perf. 14. Quantity issued: unknown. Valid until 31.12.1936 Hans Schweitzer Hans Schweitzer (1901-1980), known as Mjölnir, or Mjoelnir was an artist who produced many posters for the Nazi Party (NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. In Teutonic mythology, Mjölnir is the name of Thor's hammer. He was recruited to produce Nazi propaganda posters by Joseph Goebbels. The posters depicted crude but memorable caricatures of the NSDAP's opponents. A recurring image was of a Sturmabteilung (SA) member side by side with a Heer soldier. Schweitzer was named a professor in 1937, and was named 'Reich Commissioner for Artistic Design' and chairman of the Reich Committee of Press Illustrators. After the war, Schweitzer remained in the western occupation zone. In the course of denazification, Schweitzer was fined 500 Deutschemarks in Hamburg-Bergedorf. He was boycotted as 'Goebbels' illustrator', but nonetheless found work designing posters for West German federal press and information office and as an illustrator in the far-right press. Source: Wikipedia Mi.569 (6 Pf - Soldier of the First World War). Ref: 19.03.1935 Mi.570 (12 Pf - Soldier of the First World War). Ref: 23.05.1935 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

13th April 1939 Mitläufer (acceptable ČSR) 13th April 1939 Mitläufer (acceptable ČSR) 25.11.1939 Der Reichsprotecktor Mitlaufer reverse.jpeg 25.11.1939 Der Reichsprotecktor Mitlaufer reverse.jpeg 1/1 Official cover of the Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren. Sent from Prague to an address in the city. Featuring 'mitläufer' stamps Mi.M278 and Mi.M355. Ref: 25.11.1939 - 1/86 Mitläufer Note: Michel list the use of Czechoslovak stamps between 15th March and the 12th April 1939 as 'Vorläufer' (forerunners - after the creation of the Protectorate and before the first issue Mi.A1 - definitive depicting President Masaryk) and 'Mitläufer' (co-runners - used after Mi.A1 and before 15th December 1939). Coat of Arms 1929 Mi.M277. Ref: 21.11.1939 Mi.M278. Ref: 25.11.1939 - 1/86 Mi.M280. Ref: 28.07.1939 - 17/23 Mi.M28. Ref: 07.06.1939 Stefánik 1936 Mi.M349 (Stefánik 1936). Ref: 04.06.1939 Scenery series 1936 Mi.M355 (Scenery series 1936). Ref: 25.11.1939 - 1/86 Postage due stamp numerals Mi.MP61 (60 H). Ref: 03.06.1939 - 4/39 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

1st January 1941 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st

British POW Camps North Africa British POW Camps North Africa Italian Red Cross letter-sheet correspondence sent from Milan to a POW at Camp 211, Algeria. Reverse. Italian Red Cross letter-sheet correspondence sent from Milan to a POW at Camp 211, Algeria. Reverse. 1/1 Italian Red Cross letter-sheet correspondence sent from Milan to a POW at Camp 211, Algeria. Ref 10.10.1945 POW Camps in North Africa Algeria Camp 211 , The Cap Matifou, Rouïba, Algeria. Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Mi.908 (February 1945) 'The Volksstrum' Mi.908 (February 1945) 'The Volksstrum' 1/1 Cover featuring a strongly off centered Mi.908. Ref: 26.02.1945 Mi.908 Party militia 'The Volksstrum' Mi.908. Ref: 16.05.1946 - 13/4 Invalid use of Mi.908 or collector created cover? Ref: 16.05.1946 - 13/4 Cover on which Mi.908 (Ref:13/4) is shown. The stamp became invalid after May 1945. However, the cover appears genuine and there may be numerous reasons why the postal system allowed the stamp to be used. The image, whilst being 'aggressive' in nature, doesn't show iconography or personalities of the former regime. This may have something to do with its use. The Volksstrum (also see War Directive No.69 'Employment of the Volkssturm') Report on the German Volkssturm, a German national militia organized in the last months of WWII, from Intelligence Bulletin , February 1945. Of the measures taken to mobilise speedily the last manpower resources of the German nation, the most extreme is the creation of the Volkssturm , a national militia designed to supplement the defence of the homeland. The call to arms, which was issued on 18th October 1944, was literally a dragnet, sweeping into a single organisation virtually all German males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not already members of the German Armed Forces. The creation of the Volkssturm serves a double purpose, as far as the Nazi Party is concerned: first, to strengthen the defence of the Reich, and, second, to keep a large part of the population so thoroughly under military control that any incipient revolt against the Party will have a hard time thriving. It is the enemy's intention to have a strong hard core of Nazi fanatics dominating the Volkssturm at all levels. In announcing the formation of the new militia, Hitler designated the Chief of the Storm Troopers, Schepmann, as Inspector of Weapons Training, and the Chief of the Nazi Motor Corps, Kraus, as Inspector of Technical Training. Himmler is charged with ordering the actual employment of the Volkssturm for local defense. However, it must be remembered that the militia is currently in the training stage, with its members continuing their ordinary jobs. When the Volkssturm is operating on a full-time basis, its employment may be directed by the Army. The Volkssturm is definitely a bottom-of-the-barrel organisation. Although it may succeed in mustering more than ten million men for local defence inside the Reich, a conservative estimate indicates that less than half of these will be physically fit. In one capacity or another, many of the Volkssturm personnel already were contributing their services to the German war effort when the call to arms was issued. It will be recalled that dozens of Nazi semi-military, service, and political organisations, regimenting practically every walk of German life, had been in existence for some time. Because of these organisations, and because Nazi Party officialdom itself is so extensive that it even includes city 'block leaders', the Nazi authorities long had had a very fair knowledge of the military and service possibilities of every male in Germans. Much had been done to exploit German manpower on a part-time basis wherever full-time service could not be performed. Thus service in the Volkssturm becomes merely an added duty for men who already have part-time jobs in other defence organisations or who work in war industries. As the Germans envisage it, a man who performs ARP tasks during an air raid, who has a route to patrol as a member of the Stadtwacht (City Guard), or who is a skilled labourer in a Messerschmidt plant will take his post in a Volkssturm squad and fight as an infantryman when his home area is attacked by Allied ground forces. It is logical to infer that, as Volkssturm units are being formed, the abilities, physical fitness, and war work of the recruits will be taken into account. Limited-service personnel will be given local or static defence missions. Invalids and cripples, it is reported, will be reserved for headquarters work. Although youths of 16 are to be included in the Volkssturm , the lower age brackets in general are likely not to be represented very generously, in view of the fact that the German Armed Forces increasingly are drafting men younger than 18. Also, if a Volkssturmmann is drafted into the Armed Forces, his membership in the militia automatically terminates. Despite the fact that the Volkssturm is inducting by age classes, an appeal for 'volunteers' is being conducted in the usual Nazi manner. Working through the factory cells of the German Labor Front organisation and other groups directly supervised by the Party, Nazi leaders have induced the entire personnel of certain factories and businesses to 'volunteer' in a body, with the result that recruits pour in as fast as the training facilities can handle them, and faster than if they all had been drafted formally. With the Nazi Party in charge of organising the Volkssturm , the early stages in the development of this national militia have been expedited. Although each Gauleiter , or Nazi District Leader, is charged with the leadership, enrolment, and organisation of the Volkssturm in his district, the largest Volkssturm unit seems to correspond to the next smaller territorial subdivision of the Nazi Party organisation—the Kreis . Not only each Gauleiter , but each Kreisleiter , has a Volkssturm Chief of Staff to assist in handling militia problems. Although differentials may be introduced in the selection and assignment of personnel, Nazi leaders assert that all Volkssturm members will be given the same instruction. This is to consist of infantry training, with special emphasis on close combat. The rifle is the basic weapon. It is to be supplemented by submachine guns and light machine guns. Since there is almost no limit to the number of models of such weapons taken over by the Germans from conquered nations, it would be difficult to state exactly which small-arms models the Volkssturm will use. German, Czech, and Polish Mauser rifles already are in service, and use will be made of the many thousands of captured Russian rifles and machine guns. Other equipment includes egg hand grenades and potato-masher hand grenades. For antitank defense, the Panzerfaust hollow-charge launchers have been promised to the Volkssturm . (The latest of these recoilless weapons has a range of 88 yards; earlier models have a range of only 33 yards.) German bazookas also may be furnished. Instruction in the handling of antitank and antipersonnel mines already is being given. At present any turnout of the Volkssturm is likely to present a rag-tag-and-bobtail appearance, in dress as well as armament. The only item of clothing or insignia currently issued is a black arm band with the lettering ' Deutscher Volkssturm ' in a light color and with the word ' Wehrmacht ' directly underneath this. The Nazis have asserted that this arm band officially makes the Volkssturm members a part of the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces). It is left to the individual to provide the rest of the clothing. Uniforms of the Storm Troopers, Hitler Youth, and Party territorial leaders will be encountered. Many men will simply wear civilian clothes. Already the lack of complete official uniform has caused a great deal of disgruntlement throughout the new militia. Many members feel that they are assuming the duties of soldiers, with none of the privileges. (Incidentally, there is no remuneration for service in Volkssturm , except when a member is taking part in actual combat.) The effectiveness of the Volkssturm remains to be tested. In the past, organised defence of urban and rural areas by the local populace fighting in support of regular troops has indicated that a people defending their homes under such conditions are capable of putting up a most determined defence. Volkssturm elements were used in combat near Metz, but the poor showing that they made must be attributed primarily to the fact that they had only recently been mustered and that most of their brief time in the militia had been spent in digging fortifications. In future months the Nazis will discover and try to correct the outstanding defects of the Volkssturm , and their unquestioned talent for organisation and military training must be expected to show at least a few tangible results. Just how much success the Nazis will have in using Volkssturm members as guerrilla fighters after local areas have been overrun by the Allies cannot be predicted. Much would seem to depend on how hard a core of Nazi fanatics each element contains. [Note: As the Intelligence Bulletin goes to press, it is reported that rank insignia worn by the Volkssturm consist of silver stars worn on the lapel or on the collar. One star will indicate a squad leader, two a platoon leader, three a company commander, and four a battalion commander.] Source: lonesentry.com Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Commemorative postcard celebrating the 'Postage Stamps of Saxony' (in conjunction with 'Saxony at Work' annual show). Featuring a speial cancellation (ref: JB:Dresden85/232). Ref: 07.09.1938, BV2203 7th September 1938 07.09.1938 Saxon Phila reverse.jpeg 07.09.1938 Saxon Phila reverse.jpeg 1/1 Commemorative postcard celebrating the 'Postage Stamps of Saxony' (in conjunction with 'Saxony at Work' annual show). Featuring a speial cancellation (ref: JB:Dresden85/232). Ref: 07.09.1938, BV2203 Contact Brief History to inform us of additonal information regarding this page

19th January 1942 H-Pane 119 19.01.1942 reverse 24.10.1946 'Equator' 24.10.1946 'Equator' reverse 19.01.1942 reverse 1/3 Philatelic cover sent by the firm 'Equator' in Berlin to an address in Schweinfurt. Featuring various stamps including the six-stamp block - H-Pane 119. Ref: 19.01.1942 H-Pane 119 H-Pane 119 - with Mi.783 x 4, Mi.786 x 2, plus slogans A13.3 & A16.3 Slogans A13.3 - 'Spare bei/ der Post/ sparkasse!' (Save with P.O. Savings Bank!) A16.3 - 'Werde/ Postscheck/ teilnehmer!' (Use a P.O. Account!) Contact Brief History to inform us of additonal information regarding this page

October 1936 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st