Gallery

THE POLISH POST OFFICE IN DANZIG 1920-1925

The first Polish post office facility in Danzig harbor was opened in March 3, 1920. It was at first located on the island of Holm in the middle of the river but ‘s soon moved to a building on the waterfront in Nowy Port, or Neufahrwasser. (Fig. 2). This facility was called “Urzd Ekspedycji Poscztowej Gdansk - Nowy Port” or, ”Posta Forwarding Office, Danzig - Neufahrwasser”. It was subordinate to the Postal Direction of Bydgoszczy, but was later made into a separate Direction.

To begin with, this office handled only parcel post; specifically, all parcels to or from North and South America, Great Britain and the British Empire. It later expanded to handle letter mail to and from these areas as well. This mail was routed by sea via Danzig; mail to and from all other countries went by rail.

A second facility was opened, only after much acrimonious dispute with the authorities of the Free City, in the main railroad station (Fig. 3). This was also a sorting office, necessitated by the increased volume of mail. This office was named “Polski Urz;d Pocztowy Gdansk 2”, while the original office became Polish Post Office Gdanisk 1. (It is interesting to note that the Polish authorities evidently intended to have more than one office from an early period; the handstamp on the parcel card (Fig. 1) discussed later, provides a space for the number of the office, although it was left blank at that time.)

Neither of these two post offices was open to the public, nor did they accept any mail originating in Danzig. (With one exception, to be discussed later.) The first post office open to the public was opened on January 5, 1925. It was located at Nr. 1/2 Heveliusplatz in the Old City (Fig. 4). This building had been allocated for use as the headquarters of the Polish Post Office as early as 1920, but the Free City had, for some reason, delayed handing it over. With the opening of this office, which became “Gdansk 1”, the original office became Gdansk 3, while the office in ¿the railroad station retained its Nr. 2 designation.

With the opening of the Heveliusplatz facility and the simultaneous affair of the mailboxes, a new chapter of the story of the Polish offices in Danzig began, the chapter most philatelists are familiar with because of the special stamps issued then.

The earlier period is equally interesting as a collecting area, and even more challenging. As shown in Fig. 1, ordinary Polish parcel forms were used; only the handstamp identifies the item as passing through the Polish post offices in Gdaìisk. Other than transit markings, however, there is one other possible area of interest; namely, official mail.

* By R.K.Mickey, Box 2458, Sta. A, Champaign, IL 61820

Danzig Report  Nr. 29 - October - November - December - 1980, Page 2.