German Occupation Of Estonia Covers

Here's a selection of a nice lot I picked up recently and am in the process of researching and writing up. Anyone who has some knowledge of Estonian is welcome to help me with translation requests!

Cover, Tallinn (28 Nov 1939) to Herford (Westphalia, in Germany) with 30s 80 gramme overseas letter rate. The German army had invaded Poland on 17 September 1939, and Estonia had been under de facto Soviet occupation since the military blockade of 24-28 September 1939 (even though the full military occupation was not to happen until June 1940). Two purple cachets indicate close attention of the censors: the straight-line "Permitted by the Wehrmacht" and the circular cachet of the Königsberg foreign intelligence department.



Mixed franking (likely to be philatelic?) 50k and 9pf on registered cover from Wesenberg (aka Rakvere) to Lorch in Württemberg, posted 09 April 1942. With circular mark of Narva area commissioner office.



Multiple (philatelic) franking for Day of The Stamp, cancelled 11 January 1942 in Dorpat (aka Tartu) and addressed to Hamburg.



Multiple (philatelic) franking for Day of The Stamp, cancelled 11 January 1942 in Dorpat (aka Tartu) and addressed to Wietzen. Additional air mail and express etiquettes.



Soviet postal stationery card (unknown denomination, maybe 15k?) posted at Raasiku in northern Estonia 13 November 1942 to nearby Tallinn, with 6pf internal card rate. The Soviets had occupied Estonia for a year (June 1940 to June 1941) and this card is an interesting example of re-use by another invader. The rear of the card is in scribbly Estonian, and I can't read it! The caption is intriguing: "Leningrad and north-east RSFSR". My geography tells me Leningrad was in the NW! Can anyone shed any light on this?



Multiple commercial franking of 12pf within Reval (aka Tallinn), 21 December 1942. I'm not sure why the General Commissioner seems to be sending letters to himself. Am I missing something?



Multiple commercial franking (36pf) from Arensburg (aka Kuressaare) to the area commissioner of the employment office also in Kuressaare, 19 April 1943. The envelope appears to have been re-used. I wonder what contents demanded such a high cover value, as the post certainly isn't philatelic?



Multiple franking 75k (+75k) from Sonda in NE Estonia, 29 November 1941 (in manuscript) to Tallinn. It seems that the Sonda office didn't have a canceller stamp, and this MS cancellation is recorded throughout the German occupation. It's interesting to note the address. Clearly not an original Estonian name...!



Multiple franking 42pf registered cover from Petschur (Pechory in Russian, Petseri in Estonian) 01 June 1943 to Koblenz. Although Pechory is now in Russia, under German administration it was in Generalbezirk Estland. The Königsberg military censor's cachet (circled Aa.) is in violet.



Commercial cover 30k +30k from Vägeva 04 December (1941?) (in pencil manuscript) to Tallinn, with the negative postal agency stamp which was in use 1941/1942. Can anyone help me with the translation of the envelope?



Multiple franking (philatelic?) of 9pf and 30+30k within Narva, 7 January 1942.

Perhaps the General Commissioner sent a packet to someone and enclosed this envelope for a reply, which he got back, essentially a homemade reply envelope. Their office would certainly have a typewriter handy.

Your 36pf cover from Arensburg went through the mail only once. The thrifty sender crossed out the original pre-printed address to repurpose the envelope, rather than using a new one.

Thx for helpful comments John :-)

It seems to be correspondence between offices of Abteilung III--the receiving office has something to do with forestry. I don't know about the sending office Treu. The offices may have been in separate parts of the town.

Robert

Hi Tim,

This is quite old post but if you are still interested in Estonian postal history, here are some comments.



According to literature this commemorative postmark was never used in Estonia (Dorpat) but only in Germany. The cover has Ostland stamps that were not valid in Germany, so the letter has likely not passed through postal system.



At war time people used what they got their hands on to. This Soviet stationery is was not common in Estonia, so it may have some philatelic influence.



Commercial cover (pre-addressed cover of insurance company was used, printed address striked through) but the rate 36 rpf is not valid rate. Perhaps the sender was sending overweight letter and was not aware of rates. Since 12 rpf was standard rate they may have been thinking that 3rd weight class thus costs 36 rpf but actually it was 24 rpf for 21-250 grams and 40 for 251+ grams.



A nice cover with provisional "postmark". The postmark reads "Postal agency of Vägeva", it was likely originally used for wax seals. It is franked with 30 kopecks, Soviet rate, however from December 1 the rate was 12 rpf (1.20 roubles). According to inscription the letter was sent on December 4. The letter was sent to COOP by Tooma institute of swamps and grasslands (research base).



Yes, a philatelic item, although rate is correct 12 rpf.

Ahto, thanks for your helpful comments. Unfortunately, there are very many philatelic covers like these on the market and few covers which I would consider "genuine" postal usage. Never mind, they look attractive anyway!