OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
(1939)

This page was last updated
07-Apr-2024 03:40

P278/01 - /05
OFFICIAL POSTCARD
HITLER'S 50th BIRTHDAY

VALIDITY: 13th Apr 1939 until 31st Dec 1940

BACKGROUND: Issued 13th April 1939, one week before Hitler's 50th birthday on the 20th. This series of 5 postcards all have the same reverse which features a 6 Rpf + 19 Rpf Indicia stamp in Sepia. The 19 Rpf surcharge was a donation to Hitler's Cultural Fund. The front of each postcard shows a different image of Hitler, from photographs taken by Heinrich Hoffmann. These postcards depict Hitler as a man of the common people, an image he liked to portray, and they show him invariably greeting children and supporters all designed to show him as a benign, fatherly figure.

P278 / 01: Hitler without headgear
P278 / 02: Hitler in uniform
P278 / 03: Hitler meeting members of the BDM
P278 / 04: Hitler greeting small children
P278 / 05: Hitler greeting young girl

A closer look at the reverse of these postcards shows an interesting variation. Below the word 'POSTKARTE' is a diagonal design that appears on all cards. There are however, two variations of this design. One variant has the word 'ANTWORT' or 'ANSWER' written inside the diagonal lines and the other version does not. This would appear to indicate that the postcards were originally intended to be replycards and not postcards, one card with the word Antworte and an attached card without.



ABOVE LEFT: With ANTWORTE
ABOVE RIGHT: Without ANTWORTE

This leads to several questions: 1) if they were originally intended to be replycards why was this changed? 2) Do all five cards exist with and without the word 'ANTWORTE'? 3) If they were intended to be replycards were both of the cards the same or were there two different images on each reply card? So far in my collection I have P278/01 to /03 and /05 with 'ANTWORTE' and P278/04 without it. (REQUIRES ADDITIONAL RESEARCH).

SPECIAL CANCEL: There was of course a special handstamp used to commemorate such an important event in the Nazi calendar. Variations were used in 8 different towns and cities as follows: BERLIN, BRANAU, EGER, MEMEL, MÜNCHEN, NÜRNBERG, SAARBRÜCKEN and WIEN

VARIANTS TO COLLECT

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

1. Cancelled on first day of issue 13th Apr 1939
2. Cancelled with "Geburtstags" SST handstamp
3. As a domestic long-distance card without any special features
4. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to CSR
5. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to Hungary
6. As a foreign used card with 15 Rpf
7. As a Registered Delivery card
8. As a local delivery Express Delivery card
9. Cancelled as a Hamburg Straβenbahnpost
10. Used as a Rohrpost (pneumatic) card in BERLIN
11. Domestic Airmail usage
12. European Airmail usage
13. Airmail usage to the USA
14. As a Zeppelin post card
15. Postally unused
16. Domestic Bahnpost usage
17. Invalid Usage - either after expiration date or with incorrect postage applied
18. With additional private printing
19. With Special slogan cancels

POSTALLY UNUSED

CANCELLED on FIRST DAY of ISSUE

Cancelled on the official issue date 13th Apr 1939

CANCELLED WITH "Geburtstags" HANDSTAMP

1. This card features the special cancel used in VIENNA to commemorate Hitler's birthday on 20th Apr 1939. An additional 12Rpf stamp has been added which was not necessary to cover the local postage rate.




2. SAARBRÜCKEN had its own special cancel to commemorate Hitler's 50th birthday and this can be seen on the postcard below. This particular example was sent to RADEBEUL.




3. BERLIN's version of the special cancel can be seen on the example below that was sent locally to BERLIN-FRIEDENAU on Hitler's 50th birthday on 20th Apr 1939.




4. Below is another example of the BERLIN special cancel on a card that was sent to ZEHLENDORF

DOMESTIC LONG DISTANCE WITHOUT SPECIAL MARKINGS

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

GERMAN BAHNPOST

INVALID USAGE

SPECIAL SLOGAN CANCELS

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