(C) Mourning the Ancient

[Below: This was official government envelope was sent registered and was postmarked on October 29, 1941. It says: Unopened. It says: 'Do your national duty by paying your tax on time. This is how you'll support the economy and you yourself'. The cherry on top is this is unopened! Like they saw it was from the tax man and didn't even bother opening it. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Close-up. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: This says: 'Adolf Hitler - Koog Über Marne'. This was actually a place called Adolf Hitler-Koog. I'm not sure what 'Koog' means, but the place was located near the North Sea and was mostly farmland. It was a massive project to reclaim land, turning swamps and other unusable land into rich farmland. There was a huge celebration on August 29, 1935 when Adolf Hitler himself visited it. This envelope was postmarked several years later on January 30, 1938. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Close-up. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: The gateway to Adolf Hitler-Koog! Beautiful. Circa 1935.]

[Below: Adolf Hitler-Koog postcard. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Reverse. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Close-up. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: This is a cool and rare postcard. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: We see here that it is called 'Fahnenkompanie' (Flag Company). Click to enlarge.]

[Below: This is a strange-looking postcard from the Bayer company, long before they became the evil monster that they are today. Did you know that Bayer bought Monsanto, the evil company that poisoned the world with glyphosate? A massive $63 billion acquisition on June 7, 2018. The purchase was one of the largest in history. This postcard is telling wine growers to use an arsenic pesticide from Bayer. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Here are two envelopes from Third Reich newspapers. The first is from the 'Mülhauser Tagblatt - Amtliche Tagezeitung für das Oberelsass' (Official Daily Newspaper for Upper Alsace), June 23, 1944.]

[Below: Eagle close-up.]

[Below: Inside of envelope.]

[Below: Inside of envelope - with receipt flap on left pulled aside.]

[Below: The second of the two envelopes from Third Reich newspapers. This one is from the Metzer Zeitung (Metzer Newspaper). This is from Metz, a city in northeast France, located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany and Luxembourg. You'll notice the normal German Hindenburg postage stamp is overprinted with the word 'Lothringen' (Lorraine), the hotly contested area of two world wars. This was postmarked on June 18, 1941.]

[Below: Postage stamp close-up.]

[Below: Eagle close-up.]

[Below: This was canceled on September 7, 1936. Hmm... this is a strange cancel. It is oval like the train cancels above... It says 'Kraftkurspost', but I can't seem to translate it. Researching it doesn't help, there is very little information, and the information says that it is from the WWI era, which obviously it is not. It says 'Versuchsfahrt', which translates as 'test drive'. It is some sort of test mailing.]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Reverse.]

[Below: Another 'Kraftkurspost', this time canceled on May 12, 1938. This was sent from Braunschweig to Leipzig (approximately 101 miles (163.27 kilometers). As you can see below, this was received in Leipzig on the same day. One day mail for 12 cents (Pfennig), not bad!]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Reverse.]

[Below: Here is a very common postcard of the series 'Lernt Deutschland Kennen!' (Get to Know Germany!). This idea began in the 1920s and carried on after the Third Reich. There is a large set with an Adolf Hitler stamp on the pre-paid postcard as well. Each postcard pictured a different locale around Germany. I'm not sure exactly how many different postcards were released of each set, but I've seen well over 100 of the Hitler ones. But what makes this special is the 'DRUCKPROBE' which means 'print test', which signifies it is an example used by the postal service to test certain things like ink, paper, etc.]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Here is another 'Lernt Deutschland Kennen!' postcard with the rare 'DRUCKPROBE' stamp. Note that the 'DRUCKPROBE' is in another position, a little bit bigger and in a different font, for whatever reason. ]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Reverse.]

[Below: Another DRUCKPROBE! This one uses the word 'MUSTER' which means 'SAMPLE'. This is a pre-paid envelope from the German territory of Württemberg. The stamp used here, printed on the envelope, was used from 1881-1919.]

[Below: Envelope reverse. Note the printing is upside down, perhaps it was meant to be seen from the front of the envelope. This is something they would fix on the released version, I'm guessing.]

[Below: Okay, here is a kinda funny one. Note the huge address... it says 'if the addressee is not at home this can be handed to Eichhorn'. Neugersdorf is a small town in Saxony, Germany, with under six thousand residents. It seems like a place to hide away from the world for a while... "It has many wooded areas and country trails."]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Reverse. Receival stamp dated February 18, 1944.]

[Below: Okay, here is an updated envelope, with a more modern twist...]

[Below: Wait! Before we leave Neugersdorf, look at these photos of it. This is a tomb.]

[Below: WOW! This is beautiful, whatever it is. Stuff like this is rare in the United States. They have a church in Neugersdorf from the 1700s, practically older than the USA. Neugersdorf, I'm coming home!]