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Europe/Germany : Germany WWII POW hardship mail

 

Author
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pigdoc

10 Jan 2018
12:49:36pm
Hi Folks,
Can't resist sharing this one with you all.
For your interest, it's another item from my collection. I picked it up a couple of years ago for about $10.
Image Not Found
It's a cover addressed to L__h, Josef, prisoner number 6163, c/o the Kommandant, Stammlager (Stalag) XII F, which in June 1942 was located in Moselle, France, right on the German border.

It is posted from Tarnapol (District Galizien) which was apparently at that time considered to be part of Poland by the affixed stamp. The sender is Anna Leiko of Tarnapol. You have to wonder if that was Josef's sweetheart.

What's interesting about the cover to me is that it is handmade from a blank Russian form. As near as I can determine, this is a form that was used at an aircraft factory, possibly for accounting or inventory control. This makes me wonder if Josef was an aircraft factory worker (thus having access to these blank forms) and was impressed by the Nazis in a similar capacity.

Thanks.

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amsd
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Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

11 Jan 2018
08:05:09am

Auctions
re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

so, can you tell if this was a Pole captured and sent all the way to occupied France? or a Pole fighting with British forces? or something else? I love the history, but don't know much about German POW camps.

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Jansimon
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collector, seller, MT member

11 Jan 2018
08:51:40am

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re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

The letter came from Anna in Tarnopol, right? So that would imply Lech (I think that's his first name) Jozef could not have anything to do with the cover and where it was made of? My guess is that he was in the Free Polish forces in the West, because most Polish officers from the regular Polish army had been killed in Katyn.

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pigdoc

11 Jan 2018
09:16:35am
re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

I was working from the presumption that there was some kind of relationship between the sender (Anna) and the recipient (Josef). It's hard to tell which is the surname - both Josef and Lech are common Slavic given names. And, I remain unsure of the central two characters of L__h, but I agree that Lech is most likely, for a Pole. But, since they have different surnames in any case, the logical presumption is that Anna was Josef's sweetheart. Or, perhaps a married sibling.

So, *if* there was a relationship between Josef and Anna, *then* it is possible that the material of which the envelope is constructed may be connected to either of them, in terms of its source. For example, Josef could have pilfered the blank forms before being incarcerated, and left that material in Anna's care. Or, Anna herself could have been employed in a Russian aircraft factory, which would not have been unusual for an Eastern European female in 1942.

When I researched this earlier, I had determined rather definitively that the envelope material (a blank form) was associated with an aircraft production plant. I did this by punching the Cyrillic characters into Google Translate. I didn't record those results, but I could easily reproduce that research. You have to admit that "CCCP" is a pretty compelling label that shows up on the form! (That was the primary reason I snapped up this item when I found it.)

Was thinking last night that I need to do some research on the Soviet aircraft industry to understand if there is a connection with it and Galicia or Tarnapol that might explain either Anna's or Josef's access to that blank form that was used to make the envelope.

And, yes, it makes sense that it is more likely that Josef was a soldier, than an aircraft industry worker. However, I do not have much knowledge of the 'catchment' for the populations of the various Stalags. I do understand that the Nazis tended to put these populations to work in war industries, and I can imagine a situation where they would attempt to concentrate specialties within given camps and locate these camps near specific industrial complexes. Is that too far-fetched? It seems like a very 'German' thing to do!

To answer amsd's question, Stalag XII was moved at least twice during WWII, and, given Germany's vast railroad infrastructure, this would not have been too much of a problem, logistically, especially prior to 1943, before Allied bombing and air attack began to tear up the infrastructure.

Isn't philatelic history absolutely FASCINATING?!?!

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jmh67

11 Jan 2018
04:28:22pm
re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Just a note regarding the envelope: The cuts and the gum look too professionally done for a one-off. In times of short supply (such as during and after WW II), old forms, maps, printers' waste etc. has often been turned into envelopes, bags, or other packaging material. Also, making envelopes and paper bags is said to have been a common way to keep prison inmates busy.

-jmh

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pigdoc

11 Jan 2018
05:46:46pm
re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Thanks jmh,

I had considered what you comment on.

But now that you bring up gum, why is there no gum residue from the flap where it would have contacted the rest of the envelope??

looking at original item again: not even a SHADOW!
Looks like this one was never sealed!

Hmmmm.

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jmh67

12 Jan 2018
12:20:33am
re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Since Jozef Lech (I use the "Northern" way of ordering his name, in some regions it is the custom to put the family name first, in particular where Austrian influence was felt, such as in southern Poland) was a POW, I suppose that only open letters were allowed so that they could be checked for contraband. The flap of the envelope was probably just tucked in. As for the material of the envelope, it appears to have come from an uncut printers' sheet of forms that might have been part of the spoils of war. Tarnopol had become part of the USSR in 1939, hence forms in Russian would have been commonly used there.

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Author/Postings
pigdoc

10 Jan 2018
12:49:36pm

Hi Folks,
Can't resist sharing this one with you all.
For your interest, it's another item from my collection. I picked it up a couple of years ago for about $10.
Image Not Found
It's a cover addressed to L__h, Josef, prisoner number 6163, c/o the Kommandant, Stammlager (Stalag) XII F, which in June 1942 was located in Moselle, France, right on the German border.

It is posted from Tarnapol (District Galizien) which was apparently at that time considered to be part of Poland by the affixed stamp. The sender is Anna Leiko of Tarnapol. You have to wonder if that was Josef's sweetheart.

What's interesting about the cover to me is that it is handmade from a blank Russian form. As near as I can determine, this is a form that was used at an aircraft factory, possibly for accounting or inventory control. This makes me wonder if Josef was an aircraft factory worker (thus having access to these blank forms) and was impressed by the Nazis in a similar capacity.

Thanks.

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like this post.
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amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
11 Jan 2018
08:05:09am

Auctions

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

so, can you tell if this was a Pole captured and sent all the way to occupied France? or a Pole fighting with British forces? or something else? I love the history, but don't know much about German POW camps.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
Jansimon

collector, seller, MT member
11 Jan 2018
08:51:40am

Approvals

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

The letter came from Anna in Tarnopol, right? So that would imply Lech (I think that's his first name) Jozef could not have anything to do with the cover and where it was made of? My guess is that he was in the Free Polish forces in the West, because most Polish officers from the regular Polish army had been killed in Katyn.

Like
Login to Like
this post

www.etsy.com/nl/shop ...
pigdoc

11 Jan 2018
09:16:35am

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

I was working from the presumption that there was some kind of relationship between the sender (Anna) and the recipient (Josef). It's hard to tell which is the surname - both Josef and Lech are common Slavic given names. And, I remain unsure of the central two characters of L__h, but I agree that Lech is most likely, for a Pole. But, since they have different surnames in any case, the logical presumption is that Anna was Josef's sweetheart. Or, perhaps a married sibling.

So, *if* there was a relationship between Josef and Anna, *then* it is possible that the material of which the envelope is constructed may be connected to either of them, in terms of its source. For example, Josef could have pilfered the blank forms before being incarcerated, and left that material in Anna's care. Or, Anna herself could have been employed in a Russian aircraft factory, which would not have been unusual for an Eastern European female in 1942.

When I researched this earlier, I had determined rather definitively that the envelope material (a blank form) was associated with an aircraft production plant. I did this by punching the Cyrillic characters into Google Translate. I didn't record those results, but I could easily reproduce that research. You have to admit that "CCCP" is a pretty compelling label that shows up on the form! (That was the primary reason I snapped up this item when I found it.)

Was thinking last night that I need to do some research on the Soviet aircraft industry to understand if there is a connection with it and Galicia or Tarnapol that might explain either Anna's or Josef's access to that blank form that was used to make the envelope.

And, yes, it makes sense that it is more likely that Josef was a soldier, than an aircraft industry worker. However, I do not have much knowledge of the 'catchment' for the populations of the various Stalags. I do understand that the Nazis tended to put these populations to work in war industries, and I can imagine a situation where they would attempt to concentrate specialties within given camps and locate these camps near specific industrial complexes. Is that too far-fetched? It seems like a very 'German' thing to do!

To answer amsd's question, Stalag XII was moved at least twice during WWII, and, given Germany's vast railroad infrastructure, this would not have been too much of a problem, logistically, especially prior to 1943, before Allied bombing and air attack began to tear up the infrastructure.

Isn't philatelic history absolutely FASCINATING?!?!

Like
Login to Like
this post
jmh67

11 Jan 2018
04:28:22pm

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Just a note regarding the envelope: The cuts and the gum look too professionally done for a one-off. In times of short supply (such as during and after WW II), old forms, maps, printers' waste etc. has often been turned into envelopes, bags, or other packaging material. Also, making envelopes and paper bags is said to have been a common way to keep prison inmates busy.

-jmh

Like
Login to Like
this post
pigdoc

11 Jan 2018
05:46:46pm

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Thanks jmh,

I had considered what you comment on.

But now that you bring up gum, why is there no gum residue from the flap where it would have contacted the rest of the envelope??

looking at original item again: not even a SHADOW!
Looks like this one was never sealed!

Hmmmm.

Like
Login to Like
this post
jmh67

12 Jan 2018
12:20:33am

re: Germany WWII POW hardship mail

Since Jozef Lech (I use the "Northern" way of ordering his name, in some regions it is the custom to put the family name first, in particular where Austrian influence was felt, such as in southern Poland) was a POW, I suppose that only open letters were allowed so that they could be checked for contraband. The flap of the envelope was probably just tucked in. As for the material of the envelope, it appears to have come from an uncut printers' sheet of forms that might have been part of the spoils of war. Tarnopol had become part of the USSR in 1939, hence forms in Russian would have been commonly used there.

Like
Login to Like
this post
        

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