OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
(1939)
This page was last updated
07-Apr-2024 03:11
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.
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
ABOVE: P278/01 - Click here for more information.
ABOVE LEFT: P278/02 - Click here for more information.
ABOVE RIGHT: P278/03 - Click here for more information.
ABOVE LEFT: P278/04 - Click here for more information.
ABOVE RIGHT: P278/05 - Click here for more information.
MAIN REFERENCE SOURCES
1. MICHEL GANZSACHEN DEUTSCHLAND 2018. ISBN: 978-3-95402-225-02. 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
