OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
(1938)

This page was last updated
27-May-2024 07:17

P274 / 01
OKTOBER

VALIDITY: 14th Oct 1938 to 30th Jun 1939

BACKGROUND: The following series of 6 postcards was issued at various stages from 14th Oct 1983 through to 21st Feb 1939 with a valid date up until 30th Jun 1939. 4 Rpf of the proceeds from the sale of each card went towards the Winter Relief Fund.

The cards are labelled from Oct to Mar, with each card representing a different month. Each of the cards depicts a tradesperson going about their work. The official theme of the cards was "flowers from the Ostmarke" and the designs were from prolific artist von Axtler-Heudlass. The design of the cards closely matches the design of the door plaques that were being used during this period.

The pre-printed value stamp features two Eidelweiss flowers and 6 Rpf was for postage whilst the remaining 4 Rpf was donated to the WHW.

Similar sets of six cards with a different theme were also issued in 1939 and again in 1940.

The six cards are as follows:

P274/01: October - Issued 14th Oct 1938
P274/02: November - Issued 18th Nov 1938
P274/03: December - Issued 1st Dec 1938
P274/04: January - Issued 29h Dec 1938
P274/05: February - Issued 1st Feb 1939
P274/06: March - Issued 21st Feb 1939

In addition to the offical cards there were also several examples of privately printed cards as below

VARIANTS TO COLLECT

The following are suggested variants that might make good additions to a collection:

1. Cancelled on first day of issue 14th Oct 1938
2. Cancelled with "WHW" handstamp
3. Cancelled with "WHW Ein Volk hilft sich selbst" machine stamp
4. As a land or rural cancellation
5. As a domestic long-distance card without any special features
6. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to CSR
7. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to Hungary
8. As a foreign used card with 15 Rpf
9. As a Registered Delivery card
10. As a local delivery Express Delivery card
11. Cancelled as a Hamburg Straβenbahnpost
12. Used as a Rohrpost (pneumatic) card in BERLIN
13. Domestic Airmail usage
14. European Airmail usage
15. Airmail usage to the USA
16. As a Zeppelin post card
17. Postally unused
18. Domestic Bahnpost usage
19. Invalid Usage - either after expiration date or with incorrect postage applied
20. With additional private printing
21. With Special slogan cancels

POSTALLY UNUSED

CANCELLED on FIRST DAY of ISSUE

Cancelled on the official issue date 14th Oct 1938

CANCELLED WITH "WHW" HANDSTAMP

CANCELLED WITH "WHW Ein Volk hilft sich selbst" MACHINE STAMP

1. The following domestically used card was sent from BERLIN to RADEBEUL on 20th Nov 1938. In addition to the regular CDS stamp there is also the WHW slogan cancel used at the same time inscribed "WHW | Ein Volk | hilft sich selbst" - 'WHW A people helps itself".

AS A LAND OR RURAL CANCELLATION

DOMESTIC LONG DISTANCE WITHOUT SPECIAL MARKINGS

1. The next domestically used card was a local delivery in the town of REGENSBURG on 8th Jul 1938.




2. The following example was sent from INNSBRUCK 2 to BIELEFELD in Nov 1938




3. The following card was posted in the 1st Dec 1938 and was destined for FRANKFURT a.MAIN.




4. The postcard below was sent from NÜRNBERG to HAMBURG on 18th May 1939 and has two additional 1 Rpf self-adhesive stamps.

FOREIGN USE WITH 10 Rpf to CSR

FOREIGN USE WITH 10 Rpf to HUNGARY

FOREIGN USE WITH 15 Rpf

REGISTERED DELIVERY CARD

EXPRESS DELIVERY CARD

HAMBURG STRAβENBAHNPOST

Cancelled as a Hamburg Straβenbahnpost

POSTED AS ROHRPOST IN BERLIN

DOMESTIC AIRMAIL

EUROPEAN AIRMAIL

AIRMAIL TO USA

ZEPPELIN POST

SUDETENLANDFAHRT USAGE

1. This next serie of attractive cards were carried on board the airship GRAF ZEPPELIN's special "SUDETENFHART" or Sudetenland flight on 4th Dec 1938. By this date Germany had absorbed the SUDETENLAND region, even before the 4th Dec official vote, and was actively changing all the CZECH town and city names to their Germanic variants. In this case HORA SVATÉ KATERINY was renamed KATHERINABERG.

GERMAN BAHNPOST

INVALID USAGE

SPECIAL SLOGAN CANCELS

1. This next card was sent to NÜRNBERG on 25th Jun 1939 and has a special handstamp inscribed "WASSERTRÜDINGEN | Frankentag auf dem Hesselberg"- WASSERTRÜDINGEN is a town in Bavaria located between the "Hesselberg" Mountain and the foothills of the HAHNENKAMM.




2. The next card was sent from NÜRNBERG to DRESDEN on 13th Dec 1938 and features a special handstamp used to celebrate the Christmas market.




3. The card below has two very interesting cancellations (one red, one violet), depicting two clock faces that are set up to show the date, in this case 22nd Nov 1938. The card was sent from GROSSPOSTWITZ the day before and was destined for HANNOVER (probably).




4.

MAIN REFERENCE SOURCES

1. MICHEL GANZSACHEN DEUTSCHLAND 2018. ISBN: 978-3-95402-225-0
2. BOREK GANZSACHEN-SPEZIAL-KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND ab 1933. ISBN: 3-87091-060-7
3. MICHEL BILDPOSTKARTEN- UND MOTIVGANSACHEN KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND 1997. ISBN: 3-87858-631-0
4. GANZSACHEN-HANDBUCH DES "DITTEN REICHES" 1933-1945 by FRECH. ISBN: UNKNOWN