Page Title

OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
(1933)

This page was last updated
24-Aug-2024 02:15

P248 - NEW REICHSTAG BUILDING POTSDAM
6Rpf FREDERICK THE GREAT

Following the arson attack and subsequent destruction of the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27th Feb 1933, the German parliament was moved to The Kroll Opera House where it remained until the end of the Second World War in 1945.

Issued 12th April 1933 and valid through 31st December 1935 this postcard commemorates the re-opening of the Reichstag. Inscribed "Zur erinnerung an die feier in der Garnisonkirche zu Potsdam aus unlass der eröffnung des Reichstags 21. Marz 1933" - To commemorate the celebration in the Garnifon Church in Potsdam, from the opening of the Reichstag on 21 Mar 1933.

This postcard features the outside of the Garnifon Church in Potsdam where Hitler made the opening speech and has a 6RpF dark green indicia Frederick the Great stamp.

As well as the regular official card, there were a number with additional private printing.

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ABOVE: P248

VARIANTS TO COLLECT

Frech [3] suggests the following variants might make good additions to a collection:

1. Postally used on the official issue date of 12th Apr 1933
2. As a domestic long-distance card without any special features
3. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to CSR
4. As a foreign used card with 10Rpf to Hungary
5. As a foreign used card with 15 Rpf
6. As a Registered card
7. As a local delivery Express card
8. Cancelled at the HAMBURG tram post office
9. As a Rohrpost card in Berlin
10. Domestic Armail usage
11. European Airmail usage
12. Airmail usage to the USA from Bodensee (Lake Constance)
13. Zeppelin usage

I would also add the following:

1. Postally unused
2. Land use
3. Domestic Bahnpost usage
4. Invalid Usage - either after expiration date or with incorrect postage applied
5. With additional private printing
6. Other slogan cancels

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EXAMPLES FROM MY COLLECTION

POSTALLY UNUSED

The following indentical P248 cards are postally unused.

FIRST DAY of ISSUE
12th Apr 1933

1. This card has a slogan cancel urging the people to buy German made goods and it was cancelled in HANNOVER on Wed 12th Apr 1933. Incidentally this was the same day that the Reichs Statistics Office announced a nationwide census, the main aim of which was to identify every Jewish or non-Aryan German in the country. Information that would later be used to persecute millions of innocent people.

2. The following card was another first day issue on 12th Apr 1933, this one was sent from HALLE (SALLE).

DOMESTIC LONG DISTANCE

1. This domestically used P248 card was cancelled on Tuesday, 27th Jun 1933 and I have no idea where the destination was. The reverse of the card has an oval shaped company stamp used by "JOSEF POHL" of BERZDORF, a general goods and coal shop. The reverse side also has a receiving stamp inscribed "EINGEGANGEN | am 28 Jun 1933", indicating that the card arrived the following day.

2. This next card was a regular CDS cancel used in BLUMENTHAL (UNTERWESER) on Saturday 22nd Apr 1933 and sent to LIPPE in North Rhine-Westphalia by a company named "Eide Johanns". Incidentally this was the same day that Henry Royce, co-founder of the motor company Rolls-Royce, died at age 70.

3. The next example was a local use in BERLIN cancelled on 13th Apr 1933, the second day that this card was on sale.

4. The next card was posted in SUNTHAUSEN, BAVARIA on 20th May 1933 and was destined for KONSTANZ, approx. 65 Km to the south east.

5. Posted on 17th Jun 1933 this next domestic long-distance usage was from PILLNITZ to BERLIN-WILMERSDORF approx. 200 Km to the North.

6. The following example was cancelled on Hitler's birthday 20th Apr 1933 in LIPPSTADT and was destined for KÖLN.

FOREIGN USE TO CSR

FOREIGN USE TO HUNGARY

1. The card below was sent from SCHORNDORF, Württemburg to CSENGOD a town in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary, on 13th Apr 1933, the day after this card was officially issued. With postage of 10 Rpf the card was correctly franked.

FOREIGN USE WITH 15 Rpf

The examples below all feature cards used as foreign postage with 15 Rpf postage

BELGIUM

1. The P248 card below was cancelled in TUNINGEN on 20th Mar 1933 and was sent to BRUGES, BELGIUM. It was correctly franked with 15 Rpf of postage.

DENMARK

1. The P248 card below was cancelled in GIEβEN on 14th Apr 1933 and was sent to DENMARK. The card was over-franked by 1 Rpf.

HOLLAND

1. This card was cancelled in BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG on 27th Apr 1933 and was destined for the town of Bloemendaal near Haarlen in North Holland. The card was over-franked by 4 Rpf (Only 15 Rpf was required) by the use of one of the three commemorative Freidrick the Great stamps issued to celebrate the opening of the Reichstag.

ITALY

1. The following card was sent from ZITTAU to MILAN, ITALY on 29th Apr 1933. The card was correctly franked at 15Rpf. The slogan on this card reminds the public to always use the house and street number on their mail.

SWITZERLAND

1. Destined for BASEL in SWiTZERLAND on 31st May 1933 this card was posted in BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG and features the slogan cancel reminding the public to always add the house and street number to their mail. The card was over-franked by 1 Rpf.

2. Another example sent to SWITZERLAND, this time to DAVOS. The card was posted in HAMBURG on 22nd Apr 1933 and was correctly fraqnked.

UNITED STATES of AMERICA

1. This slightly worn example of a foreign used P248 postcard was sent from FREIBURG (BREISGAU) to GREENVILLE, OHIO, USA on 25th Jul 1933. This card has way more postage than was required: only 15 Rpf was needed to cover the postage, but this card has a total of 22 Rpf of stamps applied.

2. This second example was sent from GORLITZ to BROOKLYN, NEW YORK on 5th May 1933 and was over franked by 1 Rpf for a total of 16Rpf.

REGISTERED CARD

The example below is a registered mail item

EXPRESS DELIVERY CARD

The following example is a local delivery Express card

HAMBURG TRAM POST OFFICE

The following example was cancelled at the HAMBURG tram post office

ROHRPOST in BERLIN

The following example was used in BERLIN as a pnuematic mail item

DOMESTIC AIRMAIL

1. The following P248 postcard was cancelled at DRESDEN FLUGHAFEN on 1st May 1933 and was carried on the GRAF ZEPPELIN tour of Germany flights.

EUROPEAN AIRMAIL

The card below is an example of European Airmail usage

AIRMAIL TO USA FROM LAKE CONSTANCE

The card below is an example of International Airmail usage to the US from BODENSEE (Lake Constance)

ZEPPELIN USAGE

1. The example below was cancelled at FRIEDRICHSHAFEN and carried by Zeppelin to DRESDEN on May Day, 1st May 1933. The card has the special green souvenir cancellation used aboard the airship during the DEUTSCHLANDFAHRT. On 1 May 1933, the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) made a 2,200 km flight around Germany, leaving from FRIEDRICHSHAFEN at just after midnight and landing at just after 10 P.M. A single mail drop was made at the Dresden airport. Mail dropped there bears a Dresden Flughafen arrival cancel with a time of 17-18, but examples do exist with an incorrect time, 16-17. All mail carried on this flight had a green confirmation stamp.

LAND / RURAL POST

1. This first example of a rural or LAND use was a local delivery posted in GOMMERN near MAGDEBURG on 9th May 1933.

2. This next example, like the one above was posted in GOMMERN, this time on the 23rd Apr 1933.

GERMAN BAHNPOST

The following is an example of domestic Bahnpost usage cancelled on the ERFURT-THEMAR train no. Z.1869 on 16th May 1933

INVALID USAGE

The following are examples of invalid usage: insufficient postage, undelivered mail and cards used after the expiration date

OTHER SLOGAN CANCELS

The following four examples feature the same special slogan inscribed "Bekämpft Arbeitsnot, kauft Deutsche Waren!" - 'Fight the labor shortage, buy German goods!', a very common and popular slogan at the time.

1. Posted in BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG on 14th Jul 1933 this first example was sent to PILLNITZ.

2. The next example was posted in HAMBURG and was sent to HANNOVER on 18th May 1933

3. Below is another card with a special slogan cancellation, this one inscribed "Bekämpft | die | Arbeitsnot. kauft | Deutsche Waren!" - 'Fight the labor shortage, buys German goods!'. This particular example was posted in HAMBURG on 6th May 1933 and was sent to Hannover.

4. The next postcard was cancelled on Thur 13th Apr 1933, a day after the first issue day, and was sent from WIESBADEN to ESCHELBRONN. This card has a slogan cancel inscribed "WIESBADEN | das Heilbad für | Rheuma und. Gicht | die schöne | Wohn u. Bertenstadt" - 'WIESBADEN | the spa for | rheumatism and gout | the beautiful | Residential and Bertenstadt' [Requires a better translation], which was used to promote tourism to the town.

5. This 4th card was a local use in POTSDAM and has a sonderstempel used to promote the "Kyffhäuserbund" or Prussian National Warrior Association, a veterans organisation. It was cancelled on Sunday 2nd July 1933.

6. Below is another locally used card, this time in STUTTGART on Wed, 19h Apr 933. This card has a special slogan inscribed "BESUCHET DAS | STUTTGART PLANETARIUM | AM HAUPTBAHNHOF" - 'VISIT THE | STUTTGART PLANETARIUM | AT THE CENTRAL STATION'.

7. The following P248 card was sent from DRESDEN to ASCHERSLEBEN on Sat, 15th Apr 1933. This example has the special handstamp used to commemorate the STAMP SHOW held at the DRESDEN Exhibition.

8. The P248 postcard below was cancelled on 5th Apr 1935 in BERLIN and sent to ESSEN. This particular example has a popular slogan cancellation inscribed "Werdet | Mitglied | in | Reichsluftschutzbund" - 'Become a member of the Reich Air Defense Association'

9. The following P248 postcard has an interesting Type 'C' hand roller cancellation applied in MÜLHEIM (RUHR) on 27th May 1933, with a destination of ESSEN. The text on the slogan reads "Luftpost | bringt Zeitgewinn" - 'Airmail saves time', a slogan that was used in 18 cities.

10. The Annual Reichsparteitag (Nazi Party Rally) was held in NÜRNBERG and this year the rally was named "THE RALLY of VICTORY" and ran from 30th Aug until 3rd Sep 1933. This example features the special Type 'B' cancellation used at the rally on 1st Sep 1933. The final destination was the city of HEIDELBERG.

11. The slogan cancel on this example is not very commonly found and was used to commemorate the Römerberg Festival held from July to September in Frankfurt am Main.

REFERENCES

1. MICHEL GANZSACHEN DEUTSCHLAND 2021/2022. 23 Auflage ISBN 978-95402-374-5
2. KATALOG der DEUTSCHEN GELEGENHEITSSTEMPEL by JULIUS BOCHMANN.
3. GANZSACHEN-HANDBUCH DES "DRITTEN REICHES" by Hans Peter Frech. 2014 Edition

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OFFICIAL POSTCARDS (1933)

This page was last updated 24-Aug-2024 02:15

P248 - NEW REICHSTAG BUILDING POTSDAM 6Rpf FREDERICK THE GREAT