Gallery

 

On November 30, 1938, the Free City decided to issue a series of stamps with pictures of the history of Danzig as a reply to the Polish stamps. The date of issue was the Tag der Briefmarke; the official motive for the issue was the 125th anniversary of the liberation of Danzig and the return to the Prussian state on January 2, 1814. On December 2 the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin was asked to speed along with the printing, because there was little time left.

The Polish diplomatic representative wrote on December 5 that he was willing to forget the misunderstandings and the heated correspondence that were caused by the stamps if the senate withdrew her objections. He also remarked that Turkey had no objections to the stamp with the picture of the liberation of Vienna by Jan III Sobieski (50-groszy stamp of the same issue) and that the German Empire had made no objections to the I 5-groszy stamp, although these countries were involved in the events depicted on these stamps.

On November 19, the Gauleiter of the Free City, Albert Forster sent the German Minister of Foeign Affairs von Ribbentrop a letter, pointing to the Polish stamps. Forster wrote that the stamps were not only hurting the German-Danzig feelings but also the feelings of the Germans in the ‘Reich’. He asked von Ribbentrop to send a protest letter to the Polish ambassador in Berlin. Forster wrote also to the Minister of Propaganda Goebbels to ask him about the judgement in the press.

(Illustration 7)

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 80 - October - November - December - 1993, Page 10.