Germany 1941 Judaica Cover With Hitler Stamps

I bought this cover last week on stamps2go. This cover identifies the sender as being a Jew. The Nazi's instituted a law for Jews, making it compulsory to use "Sara" for women or "Israel" for men on all correspondence. I haven't yet studied the genealogy on this one yet but it may be tied to the "Wenzlick" cover sent in care of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst worked out a deal with Hitler and the Nazi's to portray them in a positive light. He was widely condemned for this. I would think it is relatively rare to see the use of Hitler stamps on Judaica covers. I have two from this person and about 50 others that use just Hindenburg stamps.

The use of Hitler stamps is likely just a matter of timing. The Hitler Head definitives were first issued in August 1941, or about 2 months prior to this letter (if I'm reading the date on the cancel correctly).

Though the Hindenburg Medallion definitives were still valid until war's end, they would not have been as easy to get after the introduction of the Hitler Head definitives.

Got you. It is a 1941 cancel. I'm just thinking you don't honor the guy that has it out for you but when you go to the post office and that is all they have...

Very interesting. Do you know when Nazi Germany made it a law for Jews to mark mail as from Sara or Israel. I bought a large box lot of covers from 1920's-40's Germany that is on it's way. I'll see if I can find any.

Interesting. This was 3 years after Kristallnacht, but just shortly before the Wannsee Conference when the ultimate fate of Europe's Jews was decided. It would be interesting to know more about the sender. Large numbers of Jews had already been sent to labor camps by then, although the death camps weren't really up and running yet. Unless he was married to an "Aryan" or went into hiding (or was already in a camp), he was likely deported not long after sending this. I don't think there were many Jews living "freely" in Germany much past the start of 1942, except in rare circumstances.

I'm not certain, but it was likely part of the Nuremburg Laws (September 1935). The laws were updated over the years, so it could have been added after then, but it's doubtful it was a law before then.

I have another cover in another thread. It was sent to Lee Wenzlick C/O William Randolph Hearst in San Simeon. Read up on Hearst and his dealing with the Nazi's. It could be that Jews that worked for him may have had relatives in Germany with protected status. Most of the Judaica covers I have are from 1941. I also noticed on the lower left of the front of the cover there are a series of numbers. I'm guessing these are the different censor personnel and the numbers on the back in blocks are the personnel that opened and closed the covers. Just a guess, does anyone know?

The handwritten numbers on the front and the stamped numbers on the back identify the employees that censored the letter.

The censor tape and handstamps indicate your letter was censored at the Frankfurt ABP station (letter "e").

A decree was issued on August 17, 1938 that as of January 1, 1939 would Jews have to start using Israel and Sara in their names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-J...ristallnacht