PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1939)

This page was last updated
18-Aug-2024 04:26

HITLER'S 50th BIRTHDAY
(20th Apr 1939)

BACKGROUND: As well as the official issue of postcards celebrating Hitler's 50th Birthday (above), there were many private issues as well. One series is referred to as the 'G' series ("Geburtstag" - birthday) and consists of 8 postcards, two of which are shown below. The card on the left is inscribed 'Unser Führer' - Our leader with a bust of Hitler and the number '50'. The cover on the right is more interesting and has a portrait of Hitler surrounded by a chronology of his 'achievements' since coming to power in Jan 1933.

SPECIAL CANCEL:

VERLAG PHOTO HOFFMANN - G-SERIES

VERLAG WALTER GOECKS, BERLIN

The next postcard celebrating Hitler's birthday was published by Walter Goecks of Berlin and features the official stamp issued for the event, a Michel 691. Surrounding the stamp are images of 8 cities, each one of which had some significance in Hitler's life. There were individual special cancels used in these 8 cities (Berlin, Braunau, Eger, Memel, München, Nürnberg, Saarbrücken and Wien) to accompany Hitler's birthday.

VERLAG O. STRUCK, BERLIN-LICHTERFELDE

The next two cards are identical except that the one below left was cancelled in the German occupied region of Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), the one below right in VIENNA. The card is inscribed "The creator of the Greater German Reich".

VERLAG TH. KÖNIG, BERLIN

The card below that is inscribed "GROSSDEUTSCHLAND | HITLER IST DEUTSCHLAND | DEUTSCHLAND IST HITLER" - 'GREATER GERMANY | HITLER IS GERMANY | GERMANY IS HITLER' and was produced by Verlag Th. König of Berlin.




Another series of three postcards was published by Verlag Th. König Berlin and are numbered 523, 525 and 529. They all feature the same image of Hitler but with various borders. No 523 (below left) and 525 (below right) are almost identical but 525 shows more of Hitler's shoulders and torso, both are portrait orientation. No. 529 has a different border and is landscape format.



ABOVE LEFT: No. 523 ABOVE RIGHT: No. 525



ABOVE: No. 529