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27th September 1941 Vienna 27.09.1941 Vienna reverse.jpeg 27.09.1941 Vienna reverse.jpeg 1/1 Postcard depicting a roof-top view of Vienna, with emphasis on a Hochhaus (tower block) located on the Herrengasse. Ref: 27.09.1941 Also see 28/40 (Rathaus) Vienna Link to map of Vienna (Herrengasse) Vienna (German: Wien) is the capital, most populous city, and one of nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. Its larger metropolitan area has a population of nearly 2.9 million, representing nearly one-third of the country's population. Vienna is the cultural, economic, and political center of the country, the fifth-largest city by population in the European Union, and the most-populous of the cities on the Danube river. The city of Vienna became the center of socialist politics from 1919 to 1934, a period referred to as Red Vienna ( Das rote Wien ). After a new breed of socialist politicians won the local elections they engaged in a brief but ambitious municipal experiment. Social democrats had won an absolute majority in the May 1919 municipal election and ruled the city council with 100 of the 165 seats. Jakob Reumann was appointed by the city council as city mayor. The theoretical foundations of so-called Austromarxism were established by Otto Bauer, Karl Renner, and Max Adler. In the Austrian Civil War of 1934 Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss sent the Austrian Armed Forces to shell civilian housing such as the Karl Marx-Hof occupied by the Republikanischer Schutzbund, the socialist militia. In 1938, after a triumphant entry into Austria, the Austrian-born German Chancellor Adolf Hitler spoke to Austrian Germans from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg at the Heldenplatz. In the ensuing days the new Nazi authorities oversaw the harassment of Viennese Jews, the looting of their homes, and their on-going deportation and murder. Between 1938 (after the Anschluss) and the end of the Second World War in 1945, Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin, because Austria ceased to exist and became part of Nazi Germany. During the November pogroms on 9th November 1938, 92 synagogues in Vienna were destroyed. Only the city temple in the 1st district was spared, as the data of all Jews in Vienna were collected in the adjacent archives. Adolf Eichmann held office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild and organised the expropriation and persecution of the Jews. Of the almost 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were driven to emigrate and around 65,000 were killed. After the end of the war, the Jewish population of Vienna was only about 5,000. Vienna was also the center of the important resistance group around Heinrich Maier, which provided the Allies with plans for V-1, V-2 rockets, Peenemünde, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and other aircraft. The information was important to Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, both preliminary missions for Operation Overlord. In addition, factory locations for war-essential products were communicated as targets for the Allied Air Force. The group was exposed and most of its members were executed after months of torture by the Gestapo in Vienna. The group around the later executed Karl Burian even tried to blow up the Gestapo headquarters in the Hotel Metropole. On 2nd April 1945, the Soviet Red Army launched the Vienna Offensive against the Germans holding the city and besieged it. British and American air-raids, as well as artillery duels between the Red Army and the SS and Wehrmacht, crippled infrastructure, such as tram services and water- and power-distribution, and destroyed or damaged thousands of public and private buildings. The Red Army was helped by an Austrian resistance group in the German Wehrmacht. The group tried under the code name Radetzky to prevent the destruction and fighting in the city. Vienna fell eleven days later. At the end of the war, Austria again became separated from Germany, and Vienna regained its status as the capital city of the Republic of Austria, but the Soviet hold on the city remained until 1955, when Austria regained full sovereignty. Source: Wikipedia Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page
Mi.73-74 (25.08.1941) B&M Antonín Dvorák 02.09.1941 Mi.73-74 Dvorak reverse.jpeg 02.09.1941 Mi.73-74 Dvorak reverse.jpeg 1/1 CTO cover sent from stamp dealer Paul Kuhrt in Prague (featuring one of his 'Viktoria!' cachets). Featuring stamp sequences W Zd 20 (Zf+Mi.73) and W Zd 21 (Mi.74+Zf) from the Bohemia and Moravia Antonín Dvorák issue. Ref: 02.09.1941 - 8/50 Mi.73-74 100th Birthday of Antonín Dvorák W Zd 20 (Zf + Mi.73) Ref: 02.09.1941 - 8/50 W Zd 21 (Mi.74 + Zf) Ref: 02.09.1941 - 08/50 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page
12.08.1941 Incorrect FPN 12.08.1941 Feldpost Zuruck Wrong FPN reverse.jpeg 12.08.1941 Feldpost Zuruck Wrong FPN letter (part).jpeg 12.08.1941 Feldpost Zuruck Wrong FPN reverse.jpeg 1/2 Example of feldpost being returned due to incorrect FPN. The hand-stamped label states that the envelope should be returned to L 26004 as the unit L 38424 does not match. It appears that the new FPN L 34824 has then been written in red crayon. Ref: 12.08.1941 - 14/15, MFP p.100 onwards. Further examples of returned correspondence due to incorrect FPN 'Nicht 45909 - zurück an Absender'. Ref: 16.10.1944, MFP p.100 onwards. Contact Brief History to inform us of additonal information regarding this page
Mi.781 - 798 (01.08.1941) Definitive: Adolf Hitler 23.07.1942 Kolonien reverse.jpeg 23.07.1942 Kolonien reverse.jpeg 1/1 Commercial cover sent from the Capitol Cinema in Heidelberg to the Deutsche Filmvertriebes Gesellschaft (German Film Distribution Company). Featuring a propaganda vignette to the reverse stating 'Großdeutschland Deine Kolonien!' (Greater Germany Your Colonies!). With printing error (?) on the 6pf stamp Mi.785. Ref: 23.07.1942 next stamp issue Mi.781 (1 Pf). Ref: 17.10.1941 Mi.782 (3 Pf). Ref: 19.11.1941 Mi.783 (4 Pf). Ref: 26.03.1942 Mi.784 (5 Pf). Ref: 29.12.1941 Mi.785 (6 Pf). Ref: 06.09.41 6 Pf variations Plate error? Ref: 23.07.1942 Mi.786 (8 Pf). Ref: 05.01.1942 Mi.787 (10Pf).Ref: 05.09.1941) Mi.788 Engraved (12 Pf). Ref: 05.11.1941 Mi.827 Letterpress (12 Pf - Dec. 1942). Ref: 07.03.1943 Mi.789 (15 Pf). Ref: 18.09.1941 Mi.790 (16 Pf). Ref: 28.05.1942 - 9/58 Mi.791 (20 Pf). Ref: 18.09.1941 Mi.792 (24 Pf). Ref: 22.05.1943 Mi.793 (25 Pf). Ref: 13.06.1942 Mi.794 (30 Pf). Ref: 17.10.1942 Mi.795 (40 Pf). Ref: 02.12.1942 Mi.796 (50 Pf). Ref: 23.11.1943 Mi.797 (60 Pf). Ref: 07.09.1942 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page
14th September 1941 JB: Hoppegarten 1/1 Collectors cover featuring Mi.803 (depicting the Brandenburg Gate) issued to commemorate the horse race, 'Grand Prix of the German Capital'. Tied by special postmark JB:Hoppegarten3/395. Note: this cancel was only used on 14th September 1941. Ref: 14.09.1941 HOPPEGARTEN cancellations as featured in the Bochmann catalogues (1952) JB:Hoppegarten2/394 as below but with 'Grosser' depicted as 'Großer' JB:Hoppegarten3/395 - 'Grosser Preis der Reichshauptstadt'. Ref: 14.09.1941 Note : JB:Hoppegarten 2 and 3 were only used on the 14th September 1941 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page
16th January 1941 1/0 Commercial cover sent from Genoa to Freiburg in Germany. Featuring German censor hand stamps originating in ABP Munich and Italian postage stamp Mi. 309X. Ref: 16.01.1941 Variations of Munich durchlaufstempel censor handstamp 'Ad' 'Ad' (ø19-20mm) with broken circle to the right - HLDD1.1.9/139. Reference16.01.1941 - 10/20
22nd July 1941 1/1 Feldpost cover with a few anomalies: Bochmann - JB:Unterschondorf1/737 is not listed (skips from 1937 to 1944); feldpost stempel states FPN 14783, though address to reverse states FPN 01133. Reply via Twitter (07.02.2023), '14783 belongs to HQ, 01183 to HQ Co, Schützenregiment 2, attached to 2.Panzerdivision. That fits. It's not unusual that the Bochmann does not list all years of usage of a cancellation.' Ref: 22.07.1941
16th June 1941 Neugersdorf 16.06.1941 Neugersdorf reverse.jpeg 16.06.1941 Neugersdorf reverse.jpeg 1/1 Postcard depicting a view of Neugersdorf (looking down Hauptstrasse). Ref: 16.06.1941 Neugersdorf From Wikipedia: Neugersdorf is a town in the district Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the border with the Czech Republic, 4 km south of Ebersbach, and 17 km northwest of Zittau. Since 1st January 2011, it has been a part of the Ebersbach-Neugersdorf municipality for administrative purposes. It has many wooded areas and country trails. Born in Neugersdorf: Margot Dreschel (1908–1945), Nazi concentration camp guard executed for war crimes. Margot Elisabeth Dreschel, also spelled Drechsler, or Drexler (17th May 1908 – May/June 1945), was a prison guard at Nazi concentration camps during World War II . For her role in the Holocaust , she was sentenced to death and hanged. Before her enlistment as an SS auxiliary, she worked at an office in Berlin . On 31st January 1941, Dreschel arrived at Ravensbrück concentration camp to receive guard training. At first she was an Aufseherin , a lower-ranking female guard at Ravensbrück camp in charge of interned women. She trained under Oberaufseherin (Senior Overseer) Johanna Langefeld in 1941, and quickly became an SS-Rapportführerin (Report Overseer), a higher-ranked guard. On 27th April 1942, Dreschel was selected for transfer to the newly opened Auschwitz II – Birkenau concentration camp in occupied Poland . Dreschel began her duties at Birkenau in August 1942 as soon as the women's camp was established there, with women transferred from Auschwitz to Birkenau during expansion. She served under Maria Mandel and worked as an associate of Dr Mengele . Dreschel was head of all camp offices in Auschwitz. Her appearance was reportedly repellent, as one female Auschwitz prisoner recounted: 'camp leader Dreschel was there, her buck teeth sticking out, even when her mouth is closed.' Inmates described her as vulgar, thin and ugly. After the war, many survivors testified of her notoriously brutal beatings. She carried out indoor selections wearing a white coat and white gloves, disguised as a doctor. 'Once Mrs Drechaler [Dreschler] came, with her huge bloodhound, undressed everybody, took away even our shoes, and we had to stand for hours completely naked, none of us were thinking of life any more, the gas chamber seemed unavoidable.' — War Crimes Trials. Protocol 3309 , SS Female Overseers in Auschwitz. Dreschel regularly moved between the Auschwitz I camp and Birkenau , and involved herself in selections of women and children to be either exploited as slave labor, or murdered in the gas chambers . On 1st November 1944, she went to Flossenbürg concentration camp as an Oberaufseherin and as a trainer of enlisted overseers. In January 1945, she was moved back to the Ravensbrück subcamp at Neustadt-Glewe . Dreschel fled from Ravensbrück in April 1945 as Nazi Germany surrendered. In May 1945, several former Auschwitz prisoners recognised her on a road from Pirna to Bautzen in the Soviet zone, and took her to the Soviet Military Police. The Soviets condemned her to death and executed her in May or June 1945 by hanging in Bautzen . 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 1st March 1941 'Arkona' (Arcona) 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 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