F10_P08: Holocaust Aftermath: Delayed Delivery of Mail
1945 March 3, Front side - Envelope from French Red Cross at Geneva, Switzerland to honored internee at Neuengamme.
Tan envelope with cursive and printed handwriting in French and German using black ink and German using red pencil. English is present at the center in pencil. At the left side is a "Geöffnet" or "Open" adhesive sticker printed in purple ink depicting the Reichsadler. At the right side is a US military censorship adhesive sticker. At the top right corner are two Helvetia, Switzerland stamps. One stamp is a 20-franc red stamp depicting an island off of a coast. The other is a brown/red 10-franc stamp depicting a mountain range.
Name/Title
F10_P08: Holocaust Aftermath: Delayed Delivery of MailEntry/Object ID
2007.10.8.aScope and Content
1945 March 3, envelope from French Red Cross at Geneva, Switzerland to honored internee at Neuengamme.Context
Above: An April 27, 1940, letter from Edinburgh, Scotland, to a Royal Air Force man, forwarded from Uxbridge on May 8, and received at British Field Post Office No. 45 in France on May 23. When France fell and British forces evacuated the continent, the letter had not been delivered. French postal workers hid it for the duration of the war. After the German defeat, it received a boxed purple backstamp, "DETAINED IN FRANCE DURING THE GERMAN OCCUPATION," and was returned to Britain. Lacking a sender's return address, it was opened, resealed, and returned. Below: A March 3, 1945, letter from the French Red Cross at Geneva, Switzerland, to an honored internee at the Neuengamme internment camp (a Vichy official who had fled with the retreating German army) was censored by Germany at Munich, but then was overtaken by Germany's collapse and surrender. After U.S. military censorship, attempted delivery failed at two Neuengamme camp locations, so it was returned to the sender. The German term überroller denotes cards and letters mailed before but delivered after World War II ended.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Cover
Philatelic Material