Censored, spoiled, unclaimed and returned

[#1109]

Note: Here are some interesting and strange pieces from yesteryear, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Above is an envelope sent in 1940 from Palestine to Chicago, USA, and censored by the British authorities. You'll note that the Palestine postage stamp is in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Jews, Muslims and Christians actually lived in relative peace until Israel's creation.

[Above: Reverse of envelope above.]

[Above: Airmail letter from 1944 sent from Palestine to the UK censored by the British authorities.]

[Above: Airmail letter reverse. Very strange 'I certify on my honour...' It was a different age for sure.]

[Above: The envelope unfolds to a letter. Pages 1&2.]

[Above: Page 3.]

[Above: 1944 Palestine airmail letter unfolded showing front, reverse and inside.]

[Above: Inside letter.]

[Above: 1944 Palestine envelope sent from Jerusalem to New York, censored by the British authorities and the USA.]

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: Israeli POW postcard. One cannot imagine how horrible it must be for an Arab to be imprisoned by Israel. The mistreatment must be off the scales.]

[Above: Israeli POW postcard - reverse.]

[Above: Israeli envelope postmarked May 10, 1948, this was just four days before the creation of Israel on May 14, 1948. I wonder why they needed an 'Emergency Post' stamp, they obviously knew it was going to happen and had other stamps printed (above right). I also wonder why they were using Israeli postage stamps before the creation of Israel?]

[Above: Close-up of Israeli Emergency Stamp.]

[Above: Since online translators make it very difficult to translate Hebrew, probably purposefully, I have no clue what era it is from, but the tape on the side is military censorship.]

[Above: This is dated 1956 in the corner of the censor tape. In 1956 there was the '2nd Arab-Israeli War' or the 'Suez Crisis' against Egypt over control of the canal.]

[Above: This is dated May 18, 1950 and sent from Tel Aviv to New York from the Ben-Yehuda Hotel. So what was happening in 1950 that would necessitate censorship? 'In the 1950s Israel maintained a vast military postal censorship apparatus-inherited directly from British Mandate... Operating from the founding of the state well into the decades following, military censors secretly intercepted, read, and copied private letters from soldiers, citizens, and Palestinians...' But how is this a secret if they are using censor tape to seal the letter after opening?!]

[Above: Reverse. The red tape says 'Military censorship'...]

[Above: This looks like it was sent from Mars. It is a 1950s envelope sent from the Smallholder Farmers Association in Jerusalem.]

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: This envelope was sent from occupied Germany, postmarked November 15, 1952 and returned to sender on December 4, 1952. It has official tape on the reverse which says 'Officially opened to determine sender', which you don't see very often.]

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: American airmail envelope postmarked October 16, 1953, sent to the 'French Sektor' of occupied Germany. On the reverse is a strip of customs tape used to reseal the letter when it was opened 'For currency monitoring'. Apparently this was done to monitor and control the sending of cash from country to country. I've seen examples of this from a variety of years and countries.]

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: From 1960, this was censored by Egypt and sent to Switzerland. The word 'Syria' is written in Arabic at the very bottom. It has a pair of United Arab Republic (U.A.R.) postage stamps from a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria.]

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: Here is a an envelope from 1983, Poland: 'This envelope was censored because it was mailed during martial law in Poland (Stan wojenny). To suppress the growing pro-democracy Solidarity trade union movement, the communist government under General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of military emergency that lasted from December 13, 1981, until July 22, 1983. During this period, the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON) suspended civil rights and strictly restricted daily life. Under the Emergency Decrees:All domestic and international mail was subject to systemic, forced opening and screening.The state checked letters to intercept anti-government propaganda, underground independent publications (bibu?a), and strikes coordination.Telephone networks were completely shut off or openly tapped, making letters the primary way people communicated.'.

Additionally:

'The Red Box Stamp: The large rectangular stamp on the left reads "OCENZUROWANO" (Censored), confirming the letter was opened, reviewed, and approved for delivery by the state apparatus.

The Censor's Mark: The circular stamp in the upper left reads "URZ?D CENZURY" (Censorship Office) with the specific inspector identification number 542.

The Military Address: The envelope is addressed to "Mroczko Wies?aw" at "JW 37-06 'T'". JW stands for Jednostka Wojskowa (Military Unit). Letters going to or from military installations received particularly intense scrutiny to ensure soldiers were not harboring anti-communist sentiments or communicating with dissidents.

The Destination: The letter was sent to the town of Stupsk, marked with the postal code 06-203.']

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: From Germany, this envelope is from Mainz, Germany, postmarked on December 11, 1981, and was sent to Katowice, Poland — just two days before Poland declared martial law and completely shut down its borders and communication lines. The pink text stamped in the lower-left corner reads "OCENZUROWANO" (Censored).]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: This envelope was sent from New York to Reims, France, postmarked April 13, 1933. Imagine that, five whole cents to send an international letter.]

[Above: This was damaged in transit and says 'Received in bad condition...' and resealed with an official post office stamp. The irony is this was damaged before it even left New York, not on its way across the ocean and into France.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Another envelope damaged in transit, this one sent within New York, postmarked November 26, 1983.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Another envelope damaged in transit, this one sent within Washington D.C., postmarked February 1974.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Wow, someone went crazy with the stamper.]

[Above: This is a piece cut off a package, postmarked June 24, 1944. It was returned for postage and 'SPOILED'.]

[Above: This envelope was sent from Woodstock, Virginia, postmarked on March 2, 1928. It was returned 'Unclaimed'. Note on the 'Reason for non-delivery' is an option to check 'Deceased', imagine finding out your loved one was dead through a returned letter.]

[Above: Irish postcard. If this were a modern picture everyone would be black.]

[Above: This was sent from Ireland to New South Wales. The postmark says 'Teach your children to brush their teeth' and is dated July 6, 1961. The red stamp is from the 'dead letter office', a term I've seen a variety of countries use. I guess Mrs. Good wasn't surprised to get this postcard from Ireland afterall.]

[Above: Close-up.]

[Above: Another postcard from Ireland. A quite vivid view of Kylemore Abbey.]

[Above: Reverse. Again, this was sent to New South Wales, but to and from entirely different people, in 1969. This was returned to sender all the way back across the ocean because 'Unknown at address'.]

[Above: Close-up. This has a place to check 'Deceased' too. I don't think any country does this anymore, and imagine if they somehow got it wrong!]

[Above: This is strange. It was sent from a nonprofit church postage paid (did their permit expire?) in 1964, was unclaimed, and returned postage due, where someone paid 80 cents! Why would it be so expensive to send a letter? It was five cents per ounce to send a letter ground mail. So this would have to have weighed 16 ounces to cost 80 cents?!... okay, I had to ask AI about this one. Here is the response:

' In 1964, a standard, individual First-Class letter did indeed cost exactly 5 cents per ounce. The reason this envelope bypassed that 5-cent rule and ended up with an 80-cent fee comes down to the strict rules governing Bulk Third-Class Mail weighing over a single ounce.

1. It Was a Heavy Piece of Mail: While you can see it is a standard paper envelope, it likely contained a heavy multi-page parish booklet, a multi-sheet newsletter, or a church directory. This was not a light 1-ounce letter.

2. The Math Behind the 80 Cents: Under U.S. postal regulations at the time, when a sender utilized a "Return Requested" service on Third-Class bulk mail, they were not charged the cheap First-Class rate upon its return. Instead, they were legally required to pay a specialized, significantly higher Third-Class individual piece weight rate or a fixed statutory minimum fee per returned item to cover the manual dead-letter handling. For this specific transaction, the post office calculated the penalty based on the total bulk weight bracket of the item being sent backward through the system: The Return Formula: The standard return rate for undeliverable third-class items requiring a return address correction notice was heavily penalized to discourage companies from cluttering the mail system with bad addresses.

The Exact Stamps: The postal clerk specifically weighed the package and hand-affixed a heavy-denominator 50˘ stamp paired with three 10˘ stamps directly to the front to account for the exact bulk-return ledger fee.

Had it been a normal 1-ounce letter, it simply would have been forwarded or returned for a nickel. Because it was sent via Permit No. 44 as bulk third-class data, it triggered a completely separate premium pricing tier the second it failed delivery and had to be routed home.']

[Above: Reverse.]

[Above: This was postmarked in Philadelphia on October 21, 1964 and 'Returned to writer', which seems like strange wording, why not the common 'Return to sender'? I like the threatening message 'Do not use this envelope or wrapper again'!]

[Above: Another one from Philadelphia, this one says 'Return to writer' for an insuffient address. It is postmarked April 23, 1959.]

Note: Click on either image to view the PDFs of each 'zine.

[Above: Satanist Tunes #1 - English version]