Postage stamps issued in 1945 by the Deutsche Reichspost

| 6 + 14 Pf.

600 years of the city of Oldenburg

The postage stamp year 1945 of the Deutsche Reichspost comprised four  special stamps , two more were in preparation, but were no longer issued, all of them had a surcharge . Definitive stamps were not issued this year. There is no reliable information on the circulation of the stamps . All stamps of this year were valid until the surrender in May of that year . For this year, the use of a collector's pass for the special stamp purchase is proven.

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In the Official Gazette No. 10 of January 30th, Reichspostminister Wilhelm Ohnesorge ordered the issue of four special surcharge stamps with “symbolic representations of the party structures ” plus the “Volkssturm” stamp. The original issue date was March 15th. The “Volkssturm” brand was however brought forward to February a short time later. For this, the other two values ​​“Party formations SA and SS” should appear on the so-called Führer birthday .

As early as April, large areas of the German Reich were occupied by Allied troops and the German authorities, including the Reichspost, were no longer fully operational. All stamps were produced in the Vienna State Printing House. How the stamps got to the Berlin post offices after the Vienna operation is still unclear. In any case, air transport was no longer possible. As a result, the last two stamps still issued have only been used very rarely for franking in free postal traffic. A few registered letters are known that were sold at individual post offices in Berlin a few days before the armistice (→ Battle of Berlin ), so that there was the possibility of regular mail delivery or post office cancellation. These values ​​on letters that have actually been sent count as a "small highlight" in philately; however, there are almost exclusively forged stamps, even with forged certificates and certification marks. These pieces are currently not checked by the Association of Philatelic Examiners . The marks “Party Formations SA and SS ” exist both perforated and imperforate. The only (recognized) pieces that have been canceled as genuine so far bear the stamp of the Berlin C post office and are dated April 23, 1945. The aforementioned post office counter was open until the end of April 1945. However, it cannot be ruled out that the postal officials there canceled an unknown number of stamps themselves and later put them into circulation. In view of the high Michel value for stamped items, there are currently a lot of postmarked stamps of Michel numbers 909 and 910 in circulation. The easiest way to recognize a stamp forgery in this issue is the stamp cut off exactly in the middle (at 12 o'clock position), the date just above the lower row of perforations.

Caution is advised with documents franked with both stamps and canceled with Berlin post office stamps. Often these letters also bear unapproved NSDAP seals or additions typed in typewriter such as "NSDAP" or " Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ". The imprinted imperial eagle with the swastika in its claws also appears on such letters. These pieces have turned out to be crude forgeries from the hand of one and the same plagiarist . Especially since these departments had their own badges .

The last two stamps that had already been printed were no longer officially issued, but individual stamps have been saved , possibly by printers or post office officials, and have thus been preserved for philately. Really sent letters, that is, canceled stamps, cannot exist with these stamps.

From May 1945 the Allied Control Council took over the administration of Germany and thus also sovereignty over the post . Initially with Reichspost stamps, whose sovereign symbols such as the swastika and Hitler portrait were overprinted. But then the post in Germany was reactivated again with its own new brands.

List of issues and motives

Legend

• Image: An edited image of the brand mentioned. The ratio of the size of the stamps to each other is shown approximately to scale in this article.
• Description: A brief description of the motif and / or the reason for the issue. In the case of issued series or blocks , the descriptions that belong together are indented with a marker.
• Value: The face value of the individual stamp in pfennigs . A "+" means that it is an additional stamp (= postage value + donation).
• Issue Date: The date this stamp was first sold.
• Edition: As far as known, the number of this edition offered for sale is given here.
• Design: As far as is known, it is stated here who designed this brand.
• Mi.-No .: This stamp is listed in the Michel catalog under the corresponding number.

Special stamps
image	description	Values in pennies	Issue date (1945)	Edition	draft	MiNr.
	600th anniversary of the granting of city ​​rights to Oldenburg Count Anton Günther on his gray apple crane	6 + 14	6th January		Ernst Rudolf Vogenauer	907
	Volkssturm Soldiers of the Volkssturm under an eagle	12 + 8	February		Erich Meerwald	908
	Party formations SA and SS SA soldier	12 + 38	20th of April		René Ahrlé	909
	SS soldier	12 + 38	20th of April		Erich Meerwald	910
	Paramilitary support forces National Socialist Motor Corps	12 + 38	was no longer issued		Theo Matejko	X
	National Socialist Air Corps	12 + 38	was no longer issued		H. Zeiler	XI

literature

• Michel catalog Germany 2006/2007 (paperback), Schwaneberger Verlag GmbH (2006), ISBN 3-87858-035-5

See also

• Collector's pass

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Commentary on 909 and 910 in the Michel Briefe-Katalog Deutschland 1991, as well as Michel Deutschland-Spezial 1999
2. ↑ Proof of collection (postmark) is available for this issue on the collector cards used by the Reichspost since 1943 . For the next edition of April 20, 1945 these are missing so far.
3. ↑ The issue of these two stamps almost coincided with the capitulation of the German Reich, so real mail items are extremely rare, if they exist at all. The Association of Philatelic Auditors does not currently consider them to be auditable.

Web links

Commons : Postage stamps of Germany from 1945  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Postage stamps from other countries 1945  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files