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SITZ IM LEBEN - 1932

The economic and political climate of 1932 was unstable, since Danzig was feeling the full effects of the Great Depression and was being pressured by the NSDAP to support hitler’s party. Also, cooperation between Danzig’s German business community and their Polish counterparts was almost non-existent. Widespread unemployment reached 39,000 in the Free City, exacerbated by the drop of Polish import-export trade in favor of their port of Gdynia. The depression was felt more in Danzig than in Gdynia, and the Nazis took the initiative. SA troops battled in the streets with the Communists and with the Social Democratic Arschufo. National Socialism demonstrated its growing influence on Danzig’s public life when, on 9 April 1932, Hitler stopped briefly at the Danzig Langfulir airport on his way to a rally in East Prussia. Thousands of cheering Danzigers, masses of SA troops and a high-ranking Danzig police official at the head of a company of his men made quite a spectacle. Out of this mixed and unsettled background, plans for the gala festivities at Luposta were being developed.

SPECIAL STAMPS

On the 11th of July 1932, the first sets of Luposta stamps were available at the post offices. Each set of five stamps cost 1 Gulden. The extra tariff went to the Luposta effort. The five stamps, originally Mi. Nos. 207—211, were overprinted in Danzig, as follows:
231 10+10 Pfg. on 1 Gulden; green! black—gray
232 15+15 Pfg. on 2 Gulden; a) purple/black-gray
b) red-violet/black
233 20+20 Pfg. on 3 Gulden; blue/black—gray
234 25+25 Pfg. on 5 Gulden; Lilac—red/black—gray
235 30+30 Pfg. on 10 Gulden; brown/black-gray

[Note the misprint on No. 235 in Michel 1987.]

The same varieties exist in this series as in the original Nos. 207—211, with the Oliva variation as well as the pencil filler panels to cover up the m isregistrat ion of color plates.

LUPOSTA STATIONERY

One variety of cover, imprinted with a red and blue oval, is on Page 1. A second is shown at the right, with a modified oval that became the Luposta standard. A special cancellation also contained the design, along with a slogan: “Visit and send others to the Exhibition...”, which also appears on the cover on Page 4. The cover at the right is from Mencke’s book, Luposta 1932.

 
Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 55 - April - May - June - 1987, Page 3.