Between Liberec and Jablonec lies the small town of VratislavicenadNisou. The small industrial town was famous for the production of textiles, carpets and ceramics, and for being the birthplace of Konrad Heinlein, the leader of the SdP. Today Vratislavice is a municipal district of Liberec.
The Czech authorities left Vratislavice for good only on 7 October 1938 around 4:00 and took most of the postal valuables with them. The SdP took over the operation of all offices, including the post office, and became the legislative body in the area. The SdP immediately appointed as its formal representative Consul Dr. Lierau from Liberec, the highest Reich official in the area. A detailed protocol for the overprinting of the Czech stamps was drawn up at the German consulate and stamped with the official seal, and a contract for the production of an overprint stamp was awarded to the firm of Alfred Elstner, Rosenthall. Due to the Czechs taking most of the postage stamps with them, the stamps for overprinting were collected from newsagents and shops in the area. Some no longer had postal validity.
The overprint stamp was delivered in the evening of 8 October 1938 and the overprinting started immediately. The overprints were made until 14 October 1938. Between 8 and 9 October 1938, the commemorative postmark was also valid. When buying an overprinted stamp there was a surcharge of 5 CZK. This surcharge was used to finance the SdP, to run the post office, to produce flags, and to help returning Sudeten and German refugees from the surrounding forests.
The SdP commissioned several officials to check the number of stamps sold and overprinted and to make a list of them. Thanks to these measures, the exact number of stamps sold and overprinted is known. The Vratislavice overprint was thus recognized by the Reich as official.
As Dr. Horr describes in his book “Die Postwerzeichnen des Sudetenlandes”, about 90% of all stamps were immediately stamped or marked with a celebratory postmark. Individual unstamped stamps are hard to find.
Vratislavice nad Nisou provisional issue
The postal validity of the overprints from Vratislavice is from 8 – 16 October 1938. Up to 138 types of Czech stamps were overprinted. There are a small number of rotated orshifted overprints and double overprints and therefore they are very rare. Stamp coupons were not always overprinted and only one rubber stamp was used for overprinting. There is only one type of overprint.
The exclamation mark after the word “frei” is under the word “sind” exactly between the letters “i” and “n”. The overprint is black-brown to black and the shape of the exclamation mark is thin and rounded at the top. The swastika is tilted slightly to the left, so when we draw a straight line that runs along the upper right side of the swastika it bisects the letter “W”in half. With the frequent use of the stamp, the overprint became less and less clear, so when authenticating we draw a straight linethat should be adjacent to the original upper edge of the swastika.
After the arrival of German troops, the Reich stamps began to be used freely at the same time. Postal tariffs were converted at the rate of 1 CZK => 10Pf. The mixed franking appeared most often in combination with the Hitler and Hindenburg stamps. These stamps were brought by German troops and people combined them with overprints to show that they were part of the Reich.
National emblem
Portraits
Landscape, castles, cities
Aviation stamps
Delivery stamps
20th Anniversary Battle of Arras
Newspaper stamps - falcon in flight
Newspaper stamps - dove
Karel Hynek Mácha, 100th Death Anniversary
20th anniversary of the Battle of Zborov
Small agreement
150th anniversary of J.E.Purkyně
BIT 1937
Sokol Winter Games
For Children
Legion stamps
X. All-Sokol Gathering in Prague (Fügner)
Exhibitions in Pilsen and Košice
Blocks
Postal integral issues
Zdroje:
Handbuch der Sudetenphilatelie, Gerhard A. Späth (2021)
Die Postwerzeichnen des Sudetenlandes, J. Hugo Hörr (1941/1963)
Michel – Deutschland-Spezial (2021)
Sudeten-Deutsche Befreiungs-Stempel, Julius Bochmann (1939)
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