Poland-> Portugal WWII Postal History Transit & Censor Marks

I need some help in understanding the WWII Routing of mails from Poland to Portugal; Portugal was a neutral country. "Why" did this mail appear to pass through Britain when it could/should have passed from France and Spain into Portugal?


Card 1: (below) Mailed in Lublin, Poland, May 20, 1942 to Lisbon, Portugal bears a black German "Wehrmacht" Censor Mark, with an adjoining Red British "PASSED" Clerk P94 Censor Mark. It also has an assorted Postal Clerk hand stamps (3112, 6, & 14 ) from various countries.





Card 2: (below) Registered from Warsaw, Poland on Mar 27, 1942 to Lisbon, Portugal. The card bears a black German "Wehrmacht" Censor Mark with an adjoining Red British "PASSED" Clerk P94 Censor Mark. It has a Red "3226" Postal Clerk stamp, a Black "6" Postal Clerk stamp with a Black "Lisbon Central" "R" (Registered) handstamp dated "10. (month ?) (19)42" receiving cancel.



Would someone knowledgeable in this area please shed some light on how mail travelled in Europe between Axis and Neutral countries during WWII.

Secondly, "Why" did this mail pass through Britain and bear British Censor Marks when mail could/should have passed from France and Spain into Portugal?

Last, could someone be able to translate or give me a rough translation of the contents of these cards, if I posted both side?

Thank you for your assistance in advance.

Hal

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

The only thing I can think of offhand is that mail from occupied territories was sent to certain addresses in Portugal (especially Lisboa) and would then be sent on to Britain. If I get free time anytime soon I`ll look into this in more depth.

Failing this `spy` angle, there may be a very mundane reason for these cancels.

THANKS! KGB… very much appreciated!

Hal

THANKS AGAIN, KGB!

Hello, Hal.

Here is the text on the first post card:

u Cioci Stefci?
with Aunt Stefca?
My I wszytcy w rodzinie
We and the whole family
jestesmy zdrowi. -
are in good health.
Tesknota tylka za Wamy
It is only the feeling of sadness about your absence
coraz bardziej nas trapi
that is tormenting us more and more all the time.
Jak sie miewa Tadeusz moj
How is my little Tadeusz
malenki a czy sie X dobrze
and is X making good progress
uczy? Irena wybiera sie do War-
at school? Irena is taking Jacek to
szawy z Jackiem maja mu wyci-
Warsaw, he should have his
nac trzeci migdal.
third tonsil out.
Pisz czesciej. Calujemy Ciebie
Write more often. Kissing you,
Ize I dziecei I tulimy do serc swoich
Iza and the children and hugging you tightly to our hearts
Wasi Rodzice
are your parents

Just post the other sides of the post cards.

Florian

Wonderful, florian! (Now you just have to decode it! Hahah!)

THANK YOU! Florian!!

Florian: The back of the two card plus a third card going to the Polish Catholic Relief Charity in Portugal (Card 3) assume looking for a person or family (List 17c/#305).

Florian, Thank you for your help in advance.

CARD 1 - BACK



CARD 2 - BACK



CARD 3

Hal - I´ll be back on Monday.

Hal - I use my grandchilren's computer between 6 and 15 hours GMT on weekdays but not at weekends. Calling at the local public library on Saturday morning I could see your post but was unable to concentrate on and get used to the handwriting during the two hours available, so I had the scans of the postcards copied so as to take a good look at them at home in the evening.

Your postcards are most interesting evidence of the days of WWII, which I distinctly remember even though still a child.

Thank you for posting the third card sharing one of the senders (Mrs. Bronislawa Rago) and thus shedding more light on the nature of the contacts. Posted by her from Lublin, the card formally acknowledges the receipt of two packets from the Polish Care Committee, Caldas da Rainha Branch as late as April 12, 1944.

The message reads:

Niniejszym potwierdzam odbior
Herewith I acknowledge receipt
dwuch paczek.
of two packets.
Z powazaniem
Respectfully
Br: Rago
Br(onislawa) Rago
dnia 12/4 1944 r.
on April 12, 1944.

CARD 1 - BACK: stream of words, sometimes without punctuation marks, occasionally non-standard orthography

Lublin d: 27/4 1942 r.
Kochana Stacho! Barzo dawno nie mielismy od Ciebie
Dear Stacha, it has been a very long time since we last heard
zadnej wiedomosci ostatni byl z zycjeniami dla otca. -
from you. The very last was a message with your best wishes to Father.-
Ludzilam sie ze na swiata cos napiszes. - Tymczasem cisza
I expected you to write a few lines for the holidays. Quiet, instead.
z Krakowa mialam wiadomosc ze umarl Zykmunt, zel nam
I have heard from Cracow that Zykmunt has died. We are so sorry
jej bardzo. - Wcoraj dostalismy karte od Marysi pisze mi ze
for him. - Yesterday we received a card from Marysia. She wrote to tell me that
namawian je aby znow z Toba zamieszkala - moze by to bylo
she was being persuaded into staying with you again. - It might be
dobre nie byly byscie takie osamotnione, zawsze we dwie razniej
all right. You would not feel so alone. Keeping each other company is always more fun.
Marysia, wujka Antosia, rozchorowala sie na tyfus przed samimi
Uncle Antos' Marysia went down with typhoid fever just before
swiatami I slub odlozany - juz jest podobno dobrze, ale jescze
the holidays and the wedding had to be put off - she will be all right by now but she is still
lezy. Jezdzilam na pare dni odwiedzic ciocie Manie, ktora
staying in bed. I used to visit Aunt Mania who
jest juz bardzo kiepska, nawet przes pokoj o wlasnych
has been very poorly, she is even unable to cross her room on
silach przejsc nie moze, cale szczescie, ze ma troskliwa opie-
her own, she is fortunate to be well looked
ke. Reginka B. troskliwie sie opiekuje ciocie I jak moze tak
after. Reginka B. looks after her aunt very solicitously trying
dogadza. Bedec tam I patrzac, bylam wzruszona ich opieke.
to oblige her in every respect. Being there and seeing it, I was moved by her nursing.
U nas nie sie nic zmienilo. Janek zajety jest svoim ogrodownic-
Things have not changed here. Janek is busy garden-
twem a Mozychna w domu a ja pomagam. - Czy Zosia jest jescze
ing and Mozychna looking after the household and I help them. Is Zosia still staying


To be continued on the front of the postcard posted previously.


Note the name of the sender: Br(onislawa) Rago, and her address: Lublin; the addressee's name: Irena Skolimowska, and her address: Lisbon; the name of the person addressed on the back of the card: Dear Stacha (short form of the feminine name Stanislawa); the card is signed by: Your parents.

Also note another Irena who is mentioned at the end of the message and is the writer of the next card (also addressed to Irena Skolimowska, Lisbon) whose sender is Irena Zakrzewska and whose address is Warsaw.

CARD 2 - BACK

Kochana Stacho! Bardzo serdecznie dziekuje Ci za karte, piszesz
Dear Stacha, a lot of thanks for your card. You write to say
ze nie otrzymujesz od nas viadomosci - a tymczasem my wszyscy
that you do not hear from us - and yet all of us
pisujemy do Vas czesto. Ja 2 tygodnie tomu napiszlam do Ciebie dzie-
often write to you. I wrote to you two weeks ago to thank
kujac za ... - ale zastalam swoje karte jeszsze w W(arsa)wie. Pisze wiec drugi
you for your ... - but I stumbled on that card of mine while still in Warsaw. So I am writing once
raz. Za tydzien swieta. Przesylamy ... Vam wszystkim najser-
more. The holidays are in a week's time. We send our best wishes to all of you
deczniejsie zyczenia - mozliwie weselo spedzenie tych dni, a
hoping you will have a happy time under the circumstances and
moze Pan Bog da ze z Rodzina zobaczuje sie bedziecie mogli nie-
I wish to God you could meet the rest of your family before
dlugo. Pania Fila: dziewczynki calujemy mocno I rowniez przesylamy
long. To Mrs. Fila: lots of kisses to your little daughters and our
najserdeczniejsze zyczenia. - Ja obecnie jestem w W(arsza)wie - przyjechalam
best wishes to them, too. - I am in Warsaw at the moment - I have come to see
do lekarza - chorowalem na zapalenie oskrzeli - 7 tyg(odni) lezalam, ale
the doctor - I have been down with bronchitis - I have been bedridden for 7 weeks but
dzieki Bogu juz czuje sie zupelnie dobrze. Jestem tu z Jackiem
thank God I have completely recovered from it now. I am here with Jacek
z ktorym bylam rovniez you doktora. Okazuje sie ze ma 3-ci mi-
taking him to see the doctor, too. He seems to be suffering from his third ton-
dal I skrzywienie kanalu nosowego. Po swietach mam s Nim
sil and a deformity of the nasal passage. After the holidays I am to bring him
przyjechac na zabieg. - Jacek dopytuje sie czy Zedrus otrzymal
for a minor operation. Jacek would like to know if Zedrus received
od niego karte I prosi aby On rowniez do Niego napisal. -
his card and would like him to write back. -
Bylam w szkole you Basi aby Je tam umiescic, ale niestety
I called at the school for Basia's sake to find a place for her there but unfortunately
kolezanki jej sa juz tak zaangazovanie, ze Ona nie moglaby
her mates had already made so many reservations that she would not be able
razem isc. - Dyrektorka wiec poradzila jednak Basie i
to go there now. - So the headmistress advised me to let both Basia and
Jacek beda razem uczyc na miejscu t.j. w Smardzewie. -
Jacek attend school locally, that is at Smardzewo. -
Co porabia Iza? I jak se czuje - Czy zadovolona ze swej pracy?
How is Iza doing? Is she OK? Is she happy with her job?
Cioci Curkanowej z upragnieniem nie wyczekujemy. - Bo z cho-
We are not biding our time as far as Aunt Curkanowa's desire is concerned. Because having a pa-
ra zawsze w domu jest klopot, a przecez ... viera jakie nasze
tient at home all the time causes problems and nevertheless ... belief in what our
mieszkanie. - Od Stefana B. czensto listy odbieraje. - Podobna olysal i
flat is like. - I often receive letters from Stefan B. He will have grown bald and
osivial ale czuje sie dobrze; nic Mu nie brak. Za to Jadwiga narzeka
and grey but he is feeling well and lacks for nothing. But Jadwiga keeps complaining
i czuje sie zle. - Calujemy Was wszystkich mocno I serdecznie Irena(?) Z...
and is feeling ill. Lots of kisses and love to all of you from Irena(?) Z...

Upside down:

Marysi ... od nas najserdeczniejsze zyczenia I ... : jej ... ...
To Marysia ... our best wishes and ... : her ... ...

On the left-hand side:

... . Iza sprobuj napisac do nas na wies.
... . Iza, try writing to us at our village address.

Florian - Thank you very much. I normally try to use the on-line computer translators, which work very well, but I find as I am getting older it is getting increasingly harder to read peoples' script handwriting; so your help is greatly appreciated when it came to these cards. Now, the final work begins -- tracking down "why" two cards passed through British censors. Were these "coded intelligence messages"-- as who has "3 tonsils"?!? Or, are they what they appear to be -- correspondence between relatives. I may never learn the answer but that is what I love about postal history; it is the researching information, attempting to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together, learning something new, and meeting a few nice people -- like you and KGB -- who help me along the way. Thank you again, Florian!

My Best Regards,
Hal

Hal - My pleasure.

In my opinion, the addressees (Emilja Langnet and Irena Skolimowska) passed on the cards to places enabling them to reach their true destinations, which accounts for the British censorship marks and the the Polish Care Committee rubber stamp.

For the "third tonsil", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenoid .

Florian - Interesting reason for the British Censorship and also a "third tonsil." - Like I said, love to learn something new every day. Thank you, again!

Best,
Hal