Here is an interesting historical tidbit about a relatively common West German stamp: Scott #993 issued in 1969.
The stamp depicts one of the work horse aircraft of the Lufthansa, the Junkers JU-52. Covers sent to Russia, East Germany and other Iron Curtain countries were returned to sender. The stamp was blacked out by the postal authorities. I believe there were additional auxiliary markings indicating the mailing was a propaganda piece.
When the stamp was designed, the aircraft picked for the honor clearly shows the serial number on the side. The serial number matches the aircraft Hitler used to tour Germany on his many whirlwind visits to various festivals and events.
Do you suppose this was just a coincidence? I would like to find one of these covers some day while looking through a box at a stamp show. Any member have one with the stamp smudged out and returned to sender?
BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 300 categories 02 Mar 2014 08:25:09pm
re: Hitler Flies Again: Accident or Not?
An interesting topic that brings up some stuff worthy of exploration.
Firstly, a correction:
"The serial number matches the aircraft Hitler used to tour Germany on his many whirlwind visits to various festivals and events."
Yes, Hitler adopted the JU-52 as a personal aircraft, and eventually established a fleet of about 50 of them for himself and his staff. However, D-2201 was not one of them. The reason this specific airplane is on the stamp is that it is the first JU-52 delivered to Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) in 1932. It was involved in a mid-air collision with a training aircraft on July 29, 1932, but the aircraft was such a flying tank that, even though heavily damaged, the pilot managed to make a successful emergency landing in a field. The airplane subsequently returned to service as D-ADOM. DLH had a habit of naming their aircraft after WW1 aces. D-2201 was the Oswald Boelke
A Ju-52 painted as D-2201 on display in Munich.
Hitler's main private aircraft was D-2600. Here is a picture of the replica used in the movie Valkyrie about the attempted bombing assassination attempt in 1944. Hitler's D-2600 was named Immelman II.
Now on to the philatelic topic.
The area of philatelic interest that Bruce is raising is known in German as Postkrieg, or Postal War. The Michel Briefe-Katalog (Cover Catalog) has a section on the subject. It does show that this stamp was rejected by the USSR, but does not show a listing for rejection by any other countries, including DDR. For this stamp, there are three listings,
1) Return to Sender with a BRD notice affixed
2) handwritten Retour
3) hand stamp Retour
There is no listing for this stamp of a blacked out stamp.
Here is an example from my collection of a rejection by the DDR of the 1965 issue of BRD which Scott labels as "German expatriation". The German Vertreibung actually translates to "expulsion".
This is the variety that Michel describes as a black lacquer-like paint. There are many listings for this stamp, with varying colours and even matte black to differentiate it from the glossy black.
Roy
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I have apparently been misinformed for 30 years on this. I recalled reading in the Scott Catalogue for Germany or perhaps in a stamp magazine that the stamp as issued caused an uproar in Eastern Europe because the number on the side was the same as Hitler's plane.
Bruce
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re: Hitler Flies Again: Accident or Not?
So Roy - why was THIS stamp refused? What made it part of the postal war?
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BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 300 categories 03 Mar 2014 11:26:45am
re: Hitler Flies Again: Accident or Not?
I have no definite information on the WHY Russia took exception, but I suspect Nigel is correct. It is possible that this aircraft took part in some of the 1932 campaigning, in some obscure way, but it definitely was not Hitler's private aircraft. The 1932 crash landing actually carried the State Secretary for Air, General Erhard Milch. This was prior to Hitler's rise to power in January 1933.
The idea that D-2201 was used in propaganda flights is also promulgated in this German language philatelic article (page 4 and 5). Also see this article for excellent illustrations of the return markings from Russia.
Roy
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This reminds me of what happned to me a few years ago. I sold some Hummels on eBay to a buyer in Germany. On the Customs forms I put country of manufacture as West Germany as the markings on them stated ( I didn't know if it mattered if I just put Germany). They were returned with a note that basically stated no such country of manufacture.
I can only surmise that the German govt. takes offence to lots of things!
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