Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Note where Fritz was stationed.
Bruce
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pretty ghoulish, Bruce
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Yes, I agree and I wonder if Fritz died in the war, survived and or was imprisoned?
Bruce
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I believe the addressee was executed by the SS for corruption. He apparently stole from the goods looted from captured Jews.
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That's very interesting. I'll have to do some more research. Do you have a link for this info?
Bruce
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AHermann_Florstedt
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-06-30 16:38:17)
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It is rather strange that the Canadian Jewish Heritage Network has a cover that is almost exactly the same as this one (only different in details like the angle at which the cancel was applied. It makes me think that this could be a philatelic fabrication.
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@ Nikki: your link is about a different Florstedt. Perhaps related, but definitely not the same guy.
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Why do you say that it is not the same guy Jan-Simon? Herman Florstedt was the only Florstedt or Flohrstedt assigned to Buchenwald.
Also Fritz is often used as a term of endearment and does not necessarily mean that is the name of the addressee.
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This is the first time I hear the name Fritz could be anything different than short for Friedrich.
I know it was used as a nickname for ALL German soldiers during WW1, but that's different, I suppose.
Besides that, I did not even notice the spelling difference at first. Hermann Florstedt vs. Fritz FloHrstedt.
Anyway, I have no access to records of officers serving in Buchenwald, so you might be right about Hermann working over there.
edit: this all depends on this letter being authentic. See my other message in this thread. What if this is just a fake cover?
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I once heard a story from a guy who'd been a POW in Germany in the closing days of the war. He'd accumulated a number of covers addressed to him and others with a lot of censorship markings and when the prisoners were being evacuated away from the Allied lines, he tried to take them with him. There were a group of SS in charge of inspecting their belongings before being allowed to board the train. One of them bellowed at this POW for trying to smuggle the covers out, took them and appeared to toss them away. This guy was sure he'd never see them again.
A few minutes later the same fierce looking SS officer walked up to him and slipped him back the envelope with the covers. He said he was also a philatelist and to keep the covers.
Not to say anything good about that organization but it just says something about how philately transcends deep divisions between people.
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Hi Jansimon,
Do you have a link that shows the cover you mention. That would be helpful.
Bruce
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Here is the list I found.
Buchenwald Camp Personnel
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http://www.cjhn.ca/en/permalink/cjhn59553
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@Smauggie: it still is strange. Hermann Florstedt was an officer in Buchenwald at the time this cover was supposedly sent. He had a sinister career, moving from Buchenwald to Sachsenhausen and back again. Then to Mauthausen, Majdanek and finally Buchenwald again. He was Standartenfuhrer at the time, colonel, like Fritz Flohrstedt.
Given the fact that there are at least two almost similar covers from the same date, almost identical, it could be that the maker tried to make it look more authentic by adding a familiar name, or at least almost that name, to the cover. It could also be a bit overdoing, like most of the fake covers are. Yes, I remain cynical.
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One postmark is Lublin and the other is Krakau?
Don
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And both dated 20 April 1941?
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Well spotted! Makes it even stranger.
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Two camps some 200 miles apart addressed to the same person on the same day...I know I am confused but something is obviously afoot/intentional.
It is hard to fake typewriters, they often have unique characteristics, these two covers appear to my untrained eye as coming from the same typewriter.
I only see two possibilities
A.) Both Contemporary Philatelic covers
B.) Both Non-Contemporary fakes
Don
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Actually I am an idiot, don’t listen to me.
The ‘s’ key on one of the typewriters is bent and shows a lower orientation as shown below. (All the 'S' are sitting lower in line compared to the rest of the letters on yellow cover.) So all theories are back on the table.
And there is also a typo.
So if one is a fake then they get bonus points for finding the same model typewriter but blew it with the typo. I am leaning toward both contemporary philatelic covers.
Don
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Also take note of the date, April 20, which is the birthday of Adolf Hitler, who was born on April 20, 1889. There are a lot of Nazi era covers, blocks, and stamps that are dated April 20th out there for Hitler's birthday.
Linus
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All interesting commentary.
I don't think it would be unusual to see more than one cover that is the same, particularly covers that were made up to be souvenirs like this one. One might order more than one cover that was the same during the egomaniacal times of the Third Reich, especially among believers--and the SS were believers---in order to hand out to friends.
This cover and the one from the Canadian Network appear to be philatelic covers likely prepared by Hennig. There are a number of other covers from his voluminous earlier stash that were mailed to SS members.
I did a little looking around on the internets regarding the name Fritz. Apparently, it was a nickname that could be applied to someone other than the named Friedrich. It also could be a stand alone name, too according to some.
The spelling of the SS man's name with the insertion of the letter "h" could just be a misspelling.
Bruce
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I am getting more and more convinced that these are philatelic "Mache", probably done by Karl Hennig and his associates. It remains to be seen if they have really been sent to this officer, or that these covers were fabricated using real cancels and stamps at some time after the war.
I found a number of Karl Hennig covers from Generalgouvernement, all addressed to Hennig in Hamburg.
Interesting to see that two of these were canceled on the very same date as the ones to the concentration camp commander.
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When I first saw the image, I thought 'Hennig'. I have several examples of his work and was expecting to see one of his address stickers on it.
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This is a fascinating thread. I do not even remotely collect this sort of material, but I find it extremely well thought out and researched. I do think that this is post-war philatelic material (fake mailings?). Of course, it is just a hunch. Too many of these covers were postmarked on the same date. I am waiting to see one addressed to Hitler himself! That would be morbidly bizarre... and tasteless. Congratulations to those involved in these postings.
On a different topic: I found the thread on Japanese illustrated covers from the 1920s equally interesting. Kudos.
I do have a few covers mailed from Cuba right after the Cuban Revolution: 1959-1962. Some, I hasten to say, were sent to folks, especially Church related individuals in the USA with hopes of seeking a way out of Cuba. What would be even more interesting are the missing autographed messages originally included, unfortunately, now gone.
I also wonder how many European covers from pre-, during and post-WWII were sent to folks in the USA and Canada seeking refuge in those nations. Anyone? It would make an interesting thread... N'est-ce pas?
Saludos.
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I must confess I am a little amused by any mention of covers postmarked on the same date, pointing to an affirmation of the assertion of doubt regarding covers' authenticity, philatelic or otherwise; in this case Hitler's birthday date.
This was a huge day in the Third Reich, celebrated with all sorts of fanfare on April 20.
Special cancels were prepared in many of the major cities of Germany. Occupied Poland was no exception: Krakau, Warsaw, Lublin all had special cancels over the occupied years.
Regarding Hennig as the origin of both of these covers, it would be interesting to
locate some of his typewritten-addressed covers and compare them with the typewritten address here.
Bruce
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I must admit I have been taking things at face value so to speak. I am happy to learn from those more familiar with this type of material.
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Lots of useful thinking in this thread.
I have nothing useful to say about the authenticity of these covers.
However, I would like to offer that a typo is often just a typo, and should not be taken as proof of anything.
Moreover, two covers addressed to the same person bearing the same day's postmark is hardly surprising. The earlier letter may have been written too late in the day to make it to the post office for that day's cancel.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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I agree with Bruce that 20 April was the Nazi equivalent of today in the USA (4th of July).
I do still think that these covers are philatelic creations, it is very unlikely that Mutti Flo(h)rstedt would write two letters at the same day telling her son to be careful, eat lots of veggies and wear his woolies. And even if that were the fact, she would not put 23 x too much postage on the letter.
So these letters were purposely created to be cancelled on that specific date. The only things that needs to be established is whether these are private creations or products from the "cover factory" Karl Hennig and if they were created in period, or after the war. Most of his stuff was sent back to him (see the examples).
Well, it is interesting to speculate about it anyway :-)
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It is indeed interesting for us to speculate as Jansimon stated. I also like his characterization of the "Hennig cover factory."
Somewhere around here, I have another Hennig cover that used a blue typewriter ribbon and addressed a similar cover to an SS man. If I find it, I can compare that typewritten address to the two in question here in order to possibly confirm it was the same typewriter. However given the status of Hennig and his "cover factory," it is likely that his office had more than one typewriter doing the work.
I am somewhat stumped at this point, wondering aloud as I have before: How many employees worked for Karl Hennig? His stock of covers must have been enormous and one would think he must have employed dozens during the war at least.
While there was speculation that Hennig manufactured covers after WWII from his
location in the Dominican Republic, it seems that has been put to rest by Linn's Stamp News who investigated and published an article on the subject. Controversy continues to swirl though. I believe Karl Hennig moved out of Germany because he was unable to offer his Third Reich voluminous stock under the WWII laws that were passed against Nazi propaganda. I am only speculating here though.
It does seem that Werner, Karl's son or perhaps the grandson(?) are reaching the end of their Third Reich stock via their stores on eBay and Delcampe. Think about that? Seventy-three years after the end of WWII, the Hennig clan still has Nazi material though much depleted from their heyday.
Bruce
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The Hennig Stamps company still exists, operating from the Dominican Republic. It still is a very active eBay seller. I just did a quick google search and saw that in the years just after the war the company still created covers from all the Soviet zone local areas sent to Hennig in Hamburg. I suppose that was without any risk of violating laws.
One can only admire the Hennigs for sensing that all these stamps from Meissen, Strausberg, Saulgau and whatever would become very desirable among collectors. They obviously still had a network in order to obtain the stamps, create the covers and collect them all in their Hamburg office/shop.
Then, in 1950 one sees letters from East Germany and Berlin being sent to Werner Hennig in Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic. So at a certain point between 1946 and 1950 at least Werner emigrated, taking with them tons of paper.
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In addition to the earlier message a news article from Santo Domingo, 2016 (I used Google Translate to translate from Spanish to English):
Santo Domingo.- Dr. Modesto Guzmán, general director of the Dominican Postal Institute (INPOSDOM), expressed his regret at the passing of Werner Hennig, a prominent member of national and international philately.
Werner Hennig, 86, died on October 31 in this city after staying for several months affected by health problems.
The general director of INPOSDOM said that "this is an irreparable loss, it was a great human being, dedicated full time to his passion for philately, his contributions have placed him in a privileged place, the history of philately can not be written without special mention of Werner Hennig and his family. "
Hennig was one of the founding members of the Dominican Philatelic Society, which he presided over three times, as well as being a member of the Dominican Philatelic Commission for more than 40 years.
His father, Karl Hennig, founded in 1894 Briefmarkenhaus, a company dedicated to the manufacture and commercialization of Postage stamps, which would later pass to Werner by the name of Hennig Stamps, in which he always maintained an innovative North (? this is probably a translating error; JS), preserving the essence of philately during its 100 years of existence in the world market.
Philately is the hobby for the collection and classification of stamps, envelopes and other objects related to the Post and its history.
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Thank you for the additional inforamation, Jansimon.
I had a very inconsequential communication with Werner around, I think, 2000. He sent me two articles from Linn's Stamp News: One article featured information on his father Karl and the questionable covers from the Third Reich period--the writer seemed to give the firm a clean bill of health for producing mostly philatelic items intended for collectors of the era, created during that wartime era not after the war had ended. The other article was about his postwar covers featuring many hard-to-find local stamps, etc. on cover.
I'm assuming now, after reading your post, that a grandchild is running the company now or perhaps a longtime employee.
Bruce
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Very interesting, and lots of diverse opinions. At the risk of repeating what has been repeated...
Here's what we know to be "true, likely, or highly plausible".
.Philately was alive and well even during these dark times (I've read of Nazis specifically arresting certain Jews in order to steal their art or stamp collections). So creating a cover at the time, that might be expected to have an enhanced value later, is more than plausible.
.These covers were definitely created by the same person(s). 51Studebaker's point about the same typewriter used for both was the first thing that caught my eye as well. And the same construction of the cover, and the same addressee (Fritz @ Buchenwald) cannot be a coincidence.
.These stamps were issued in March 1940 but the cover dates from April 1941. So the author had lots of time to prepare the covers in advance, to be mailed from different locations (Krakau & Lublin) on the same day (surely easy if one has amenable friends or colleagues in different cities).
So there is no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a probability of being genuine and contemporary.
Here's what we think is "suspicious" (excepting those noted above); all of which are more speculative/opinionated than proven/objective:
.The possible author was a potential scammer (but possibly a very forward thinking entrepreneur of the time?).
.The addressee "Fritz" is mysterious (good for Googling names and arguing about history and spelling, but I think overall a red herring).
.Back to "These covers were definitely created by the same person(s)" and 51Studebaker's subsequent retraction/rethinking...I've misspelled my own name, so a typo is meaningless...and finding little differences in individual letters are inconsequential as manual typewriters also could show such differences depending on things like how hard the key was struck or movements in the paper as it was being typed. The big (and consistent) clue is the "chattering" in the line under Thuringen. Same typewriter. End of story and no further analysis or over-thinking required.
So there is no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a possibility of being genuine and contemporary, but perhaps some questions as to provinence.
What I find extremely strange, and not yet mentioned (unless I've missed it):
.These letters were addressed to someone supposedly stationed at a concentration camp. Yet they are in great shape and have no markings from a Censor. "Things that make you go hmmm".
.While there may be inconsequential variations, the CDS cancellations are a little too perfectly similar - coming from different towns - to be coincidental.
So there is still no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a possibility of being genuine and contemporary, but perhaps some even greater questions as to being legitimate/contemporary.
Bottom line:
.From a "scientific" perspective (and the bulk of evidence/speculation/opinion presented) they have to be considered legitimate and contemporary until proven otherwise.
.Regardless, these covers are cool and worth having!
.I obviously have too much time on my hands waiting for the World Cup Semi-Finals to begin.
Cheers, Dave.
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There is an interesting parallel between this sort of material and Channel Islands wartime bisects etc.
Firstly philately is, was and always has been a big deal in Germany. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that after Stalingrad, most Germans, other than the fanatical faithful, could see that the war was lost, and began to turn their minds to immediate survival, followed by some thoughts about preparing for salvaging some sort of economic future.,- after all at that stage they could not see the lengths that the allies would go to to ensure that a second humiliation leading to a third world war would not happen. It is natural therefore that those with a philatelic bent and the knowledge to go with it would be creative in making desirable artefacts with an eye to the future. I have heard it said that almost all covers with (and most loose used) commemorative Nazi era stamps are philatelically inspired, even when they are not actually contrived, and even postally used Hitler heads are scarce compared with the swastika watermarked Hindenburgs. The vast majority of the former which have not been doctored as locals are mint. Of course during the period of the Hitler heads most of the infrastructure not connected to the war effort was breaking down, and mail requiring stamps probably light. After all the military on active service and presumably dependants mail in the opposite direction was free.
Precisely the same happened in Jersey particularly. Many of the inhabitants were deported for forced labour, and those that remained were in desperate straits towards the end of the war. Much effort was put into the manufacture of postal history which while legal and authorised was surely not necessary for the level of correspondence which could be expected in that situation.
In both cases some human ingenuity and forward planning, not forgetting some unlikely optimism was in play - in addition to the dealers creating their own futures.
Malcolm
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07:07:18pm
I was just wondering if any members had covers addressed to SS men (or women)? I have this one to show. Anybody else?
Note where Fritz was stationed.
Bruce
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re: Addressed To SS Man
pretty ghoulish, Bruce
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09:31:50pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
Yes, I agree and I wonder if Fritz died in the war, survived and or was imprisoned?
Bruce
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I believe the addressee was executed by the SS for corruption. He apparently stole from the goods looted from captured Jews.
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12:57:20pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
That's very interesting. I'll have to do some more research. Do you have a link for this info?
Bruce
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re: Addressed To SS Man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AHermann_Florstedt
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-06-30 16:38:17)
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It is rather strange that the Canadian Jewish Heritage Network has a cover that is almost exactly the same as this one (only different in details like the angle at which the cancel was applied. It makes me think that this could be a philatelic fabrication.
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@ Nikki: your link is about a different Florstedt. Perhaps related, but definitely not the same guy.
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Why do you say that it is not the same guy Jan-Simon? Herman Florstedt was the only Florstedt or Flohrstedt assigned to Buchenwald.
Also Fritz is often used as a term of endearment and does not necessarily mean that is the name of the addressee.
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This is the first time I hear the name Fritz could be anything different than short for Friedrich.
I know it was used as a nickname for ALL German soldiers during WW1, but that's different, I suppose.
Besides that, I did not even notice the spelling difference at first. Hermann Florstedt vs. Fritz FloHrstedt.
Anyway, I have no access to records of officers serving in Buchenwald, so you might be right about Hermann working over there.
edit: this all depends on this letter being authentic. See my other message in this thread. What if this is just a fake cover?
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I once heard a story from a guy who'd been a POW in Germany in the closing days of the war. He'd accumulated a number of covers addressed to him and others with a lot of censorship markings and when the prisoners were being evacuated away from the Allied lines, he tried to take them with him. There were a group of SS in charge of inspecting their belongings before being allowed to board the train. One of them bellowed at this POW for trying to smuggle the covers out, took them and appeared to toss them away. This guy was sure he'd never see them again.
A few minutes later the same fierce looking SS officer walked up to him and slipped him back the envelope with the covers. He said he was also a philatelist and to keep the covers.
Not to say anything good about that organization but it just says something about how philately transcends deep divisions between people.
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12:14:22pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
Hi Jansimon,
Do you have a link that shows the cover you mention. That would be helpful.
Bruce
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re: Addressed To SS Man
Here is the list I found.
Buchenwald Camp Personnel
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http://www.cjhn.ca/en/permalink/cjhn59553
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@Smauggie: it still is strange. Hermann Florstedt was an officer in Buchenwald at the time this cover was supposedly sent. He had a sinister career, moving from Buchenwald to Sachsenhausen and back again. Then to Mauthausen, Majdanek and finally Buchenwald again. He was Standartenfuhrer at the time, colonel, like Fritz Flohrstedt.
Given the fact that there are at least two almost similar covers from the same date, almost identical, it could be that the maker tried to make it look more authentic by adding a familiar name, or at least almost that name, to the cover. It could also be a bit overdoing, like most of the fake covers are. Yes, I remain cynical.
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One postmark is Lublin and the other is Krakau?
Don
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And both dated 20 April 1941?
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Well spotted! Makes it even stranger.
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Two camps some 200 miles apart addressed to the same person on the same day...I know I am confused but something is obviously afoot/intentional.
It is hard to fake typewriters, they often have unique characteristics, these two covers appear to my untrained eye as coming from the same typewriter.
I only see two possibilities
A.) Both Contemporary Philatelic covers
B.) Both Non-Contemporary fakes
Don
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re: Addressed To SS Man
Actually I am an idiot, don’t listen to me.
The ‘s’ key on one of the typewriters is bent and shows a lower orientation as shown below. (All the 'S' are sitting lower in line compared to the rest of the letters on yellow cover.) So all theories are back on the table.
And there is also a typo.
So if one is a fake then they get bonus points for finding the same model typewriter but blew it with the typo. I am leaning toward both contemporary philatelic covers.
Don
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re: Addressed To SS Man
Also take note of the date, April 20, which is the birthday of Adolf Hitler, who was born on April 20, 1889. There are a lot of Nazi era covers, blocks, and stamps that are dated April 20th out there for Hitler's birthday.
Linus
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06:20:46pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
All interesting commentary.
I don't think it would be unusual to see more than one cover that is the same, particularly covers that were made up to be souvenirs like this one. One might order more than one cover that was the same during the egomaniacal times of the Third Reich, especially among believers--and the SS were believers---in order to hand out to friends.
This cover and the one from the Canadian Network appear to be philatelic covers likely prepared by Hennig. There are a number of other covers from his voluminous earlier stash that were mailed to SS members.
I did a little looking around on the internets regarding the name Fritz. Apparently, it was a nickname that could be applied to someone other than the named Friedrich. It also could be a stand alone name, too according to some.
The spelling of the SS man's name with the insertion of the letter "h" could just be a misspelling.
Bruce
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I am getting more and more convinced that these are philatelic "Mache", probably done by Karl Hennig and his associates. It remains to be seen if they have really been sent to this officer, or that these covers were fabricated using real cancels and stamps at some time after the war.
I found a number of Karl Hennig covers from Generalgouvernement, all addressed to Hennig in Hamburg.
Interesting to see that two of these were canceled on the very same date as the ones to the concentration camp commander.
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When I first saw the image, I thought 'Hennig'. I have several examples of his work and was expecting to see one of his address stickers on it.
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01:54:02pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
This is a fascinating thread. I do not even remotely collect this sort of material, but I find it extremely well thought out and researched. I do think that this is post-war philatelic material (fake mailings?). Of course, it is just a hunch. Too many of these covers were postmarked on the same date. I am waiting to see one addressed to Hitler himself! That would be morbidly bizarre... and tasteless. Congratulations to those involved in these postings.
On a different topic: I found the thread on Japanese illustrated covers from the 1920s equally interesting. Kudos.
I do have a few covers mailed from Cuba right after the Cuban Revolution: 1959-1962. Some, I hasten to say, were sent to folks, especially Church related individuals in the USA with hopes of seeking a way out of Cuba. What would be even more interesting are the missing autographed messages originally included, unfortunately, now gone.
I also wonder how many European covers from pre-, during and post-WWII were sent to folks in the USA and Canada seeking refuge in those nations. Anyone? It would make an interesting thread... N'est-ce pas?
Saludos.
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04:27:42pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
I must confess I am a little amused by any mention of covers postmarked on the same date, pointing to an affirmation of the assertion of doubt regarding covers' authenticity, philatelic or otherwise; in this case Hitler's birthday date.
This was a huge day in the Third Reich, celebrated with all sorts of fanfare on April 20.
Special cancels were prepared in many of the major cities of Germany. Occupied Poland was no exception: Krakau, Warsaw, Lublin all had special cancels over the occupied years.
Regarding Hennig as the origin of both of these covers, it would be interesting to
locate some of his typewritten-addressed covers and compare them with the typewritten address here.
Bruce
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re: Addressed To SS Man
I must admit I have been taking things at face value so to speak. I am happy to learn from those more familiar with this type of material.
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re: Addressed To SS Man
Lots of useful thinking in this thread.
I have nothing useful to say about the authenticity of these covers.
However, I would like to offer that a typo is often just a typo, and should not be taken as proof of anything.
Moreover, two covers addressed to the same person bearing the same day's postmark is hardly surprising. The earlier letter may have been written too late in the day to make it to the post office for that day's cancel.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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I agree with Bruce that 20 April was the Nazi equivalent of today in the USA (4th of July).
I do still think that these covers are philatelic creations, it is very unlikely that Mutti Flo(h)rstedt would write two letters at the same day telling her son to be careful, eat lots of veggies and wear his woolies. And even if that were the fact, she would not put 23 x too much postage on the letter.
So these letters were purposely created to be cancelled on that specific date. The only things that needs to be established is whether these are private creations or products from the "cover factory" Karl Hennig and if they were created in period, or after the war. Most of his stuff was sent back to him (see the examples).
Well, it is interesting to speculate about it anyway :-)
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07:37:39am
re: Addressed To SS Man
It is indeed interesting for us to speculate as Jansimon stated. I also like his characterization of the "Hennig cover factory."
Somewhere around here, I have another Hennig cover that used a blue typewriter ribbon and addressed a similar cover to an SS man. If I find it, I can compare that typewritten address to the two in question here in order to possibly confirm it was the same typewriter. However given the status of Hennig and his "cover factory," it is likely that his office had more than one typewriter doing the work.
I am somewhat stumped at this point, wondering aloud as I have before: How many employees worked for Karl Hennig? His stock of covers must have been enormous and one would think he must have employed dozens during the war at least.
While there was speculation that Hennig manufactured covers after WWII from his
location in the Dominican Republic, it seems that has been put to rest by Linn's Stamp News who investigated and published an article on the subject. Controversy continues to swirl though. I believe Karl Hennig moved out of Germany because he was unable to offer his Third Reich voluminous stock under the WWII laws that were passed against Nazi propaganda. I am only speculating here though.
It does seem that Werner, Karl's son or perhaps the grandson(?) are reaching the end of their Third Reich stock via their stores on eBay and Delcampe. Think about that? Seventy-three years after the end of WWII, the Hennig clan still has Nazi material though much depleted from their heyday.
Bruce
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The Hennig Stamps company still exists, operating from the Dominican Republic. It still is a very active eBay seller. I just did a quick google search and saw that in the years just after the war the company still created covers from all the Soviet zone local areas sent to Hennig in Hamburg. I suppose that was without any risk of violating laws.
One can only admire the Hennigs for sensing that all these stamps from Meissen, Strausberg, Saulgau and whatever would become very desirable among collectors. They obviously still had a network in order to obtain the stamps, create the covers and collect them all in their Hamburg office/shop.
Then, in 1950 one sees letters from East Germany and Berlin being sent to Werner Hennig in Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic. So at a certain point between 1946 and 1950 at least Werner emigrated, taking with them tons of paper.
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re: Addressed To SS Man
In addition to the earlier message a news article from Santo Domingo, 2016 (I used Google Translate to translate from Spanish to English):
Santo Domingo.- Dr. Modesto Guzmán, general director of the Dominican Postal Institute (INPOSDOM), expressed his regret at the passing of Werner Hennig, a prominent member of national and international philately.
Werner Hennig, 86, died on October 31 in this city after staying for several months affected by health problems.
The general director of INPOSDOM said that "this is an irreparable loss, it was a great human being, dedicated full time to his passion for philately, his contributions have placed him in a privileged place, the history of philately can not be written without special mention of Werner Hennig and his family. "
Hennig was one of the founding members of the Dominican Philatelic Society, which he presided over three times, as well as being a member of the Dominican Philatelic Commission for more than 40 years.
His father, Karl Hennig, founded in 1894 Briefmarkenhaus, a company dedicated to the manufacture and commercialization of Postage stamps, which would later pass to Werner by the name of Hennig Stamps, in which he always maintained an innovative North (? this is probably a translating error; JS), preserving the essence of philately during its 100 years of existence in the world market.
Philately is the hobby for the collection and classification of stamps, envelopes and other objects related to the Post and its history.
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11:55:51am
re: Addressed To SS Man
Thank you for the additional inforamation, Jansimon.
I had a very inconsequential communication with Werner around, I think, 2000. He sent me two articles from Linn's Stamp News: One article featured information on his father Karl and the questionable covers from the Third Reich period--the writer seemed to give the firm a clean bill of health for producing mostly philatelic items intended for collectors of the era, created during that wartime era not after the war had ended. The other article was about his postwar covers featuring many hard-to-find local stamps, etc. on cover.
I'm assuming now, after reading your post, that a grandchild is running the company now or perhaps a longtime employee.
Bruce
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re: Addressed To SS Man
Very interesting, and lots of diverse opinions. At the risk of repeating what has been repeated...
Here's what we know to be "true, likely, or highly plausible".
.Philately was alive and well even during these dark times (I've read of Nazis specifically arresting certain Jews in order to steal their art or stamp collections). So creating a cover at the time, that might be expected to have an enhanced value later, is more than plausible.
.These covers were definitely created by the same person(s). 51Studebaker's point about the same typewriter used for both was the first thing that caught my eye as well. And the same construction of the cover, and the same addressee (Fritz @ Buchenwald) cannot be a coincidence.
.These stamps were issued in March 1940 but the cover dates from April 1941. So the author had lots of time to prepare the covers in advance, to be mailed from different locations (Krakau & Lublin) on the same day (surely easy if one has amenable friends or colleagues in different cities).
So there is no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a probability of being genuine and contemporary.
Here's what we think is "suspicious" (excepting those noted above); all of which are more speculative/opinionated than proven/objective:
.The possible author was a potential scammer (but possibly a very forward thinking entrepreneur of the time?).
.The addressee "Fritz" is mysterious (good for Googling names and arguing about history and spelling, but I think overall a red herring).
.Back to "These covers were definitely created by the same person(s)" and 51Studebaker's subsequent retraction/rethinking...I've misspelled my own name, so a typo is meaningless...and finding little differences in individual letters are inconsequential as manual typewriters also could show such differences depending on things like how hard the key was struck or movements in the paper as it was being typed. The big (and consistent) clue is the "chattering" in the line under Thuringen. Same typewriter. End of story and no further analysis or over-thinking required.
So there is no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a possibility of being genuine and contemporary, but perhaps some questions as to provinence.
What I find extremely strange, and not yet mentioned (unless I've missed it):
.These letters were addressed to someone supposedly stationed at a concentration camp. Yet they are in great shape and have no markings from a Censor. "Things that make you go hmmm".
.While there may be inconsequential variations, the CDS cancellations are a little too perfectly similar - coming from different towns - to be coincidental.
So there is still no definitive evidence to say "fake", and a possibility of being genuine and contemporary, but perhaps some even greater questions as to being legitimate/contemporary.
Bottom line:
.From a "scientific" perspective (and the bulk of evidence/speculation/opinion presented) they have to be considered legitimate and contemporary until proven otherwise.
.Regardless, these covers are cool and worth having!
.I obviously have too much time on my hands waiting for the World Cup Semi-Finals to begin.
Cheers, Dave.
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05:11:54pm
re: Addressed To SS Man
There is an interesting parallel between this sort of material and Channel Islands wartime bisects etc.
Firstly philately is, was and always has been a big deal in Germany. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that after Stalingrad, most Germans, other than the fanatical faithful, could see that the war was lost, and began to turn their minds to immediate survival, followed by some thoughts about preparing for salvaging some sort of economic future.,- after all at that stage they could not see the lengths that the allies would go to to ensure that a second humiliation leading to a third world war would not happen. It is natural therefore that those with a philatelic bent and the knowledge to go with it would be creative in making desirable artefacts with an eye to the future. I have heard it said that almost all covers with (and most loose used) commemorative Nazi era stamps are philatelically inspired, even when they are not actually contrived, and even postally used Hitler heads are scarce compared with the swastika watermarked Hindenburgs. The vast majority of the former which have not been doctored as locals are mint. Of course during the period of the Hitler heads most of the infrastructure not connected to the war effort was breaking down, and mail requiring stamps probably light. After all the military on active service and presumably dependants mail in the opposite direction was free.
Precisely the same happened in Jersey particularly. Many of the inhabitants were deported for forced labour, and those that remained were in desperate straits towards the end of the war. Much effort was put into the manufacture of postal history which while legal and authorised was surely not necessary for the level of correspondence which could be expected in that situation.
In both cases some human ingenuity and forward planning, not forgetting some unlikely optimism was in play - in addition to the dealers creating their own futures.
Malcolm
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