Some Old Postcards

On 24th May I got some old postcards which I had ordered online.

The first card shows a view of Bad Freienwalde in the Oderbruch. The Oderbruch is a landscape located at the Oder river in eastern Germany on the Polish border. The Prussian king Frederick the Great initiated the drainage of the Oderbruch in order to bring this large tract of marshland under cultivation. The Oderbruch got the European Heritage Label this year. 

On the second card the Bavarian State Library in Munich is shown. The Bavarian State Library is one of Europa's most important universal libraries and ranks among the best research libraries in the World. Moreover its historical stock encompasses one of the most important manuscript collections of the World, the largest collection of incunabula Worldwide, as well as numerous further important special collections. Since 1663 already two copies of every book printed in Bavaria have to be sent to the library.

The next card shows the Burschenschaftsdenkmal in Eisenach. The Burschenschaftsdenkmal is a national monument built between 1897 and 1902. It was erected to honour the students who died during the Franco-Prussian War and also the influence of the student leagues on the German Unification of 1871.

Blankenburg Castle is shown on another card. It dates back to the 12th century and in the 18th century it got its current Baroque shape. The Welf court of Blankenburg was famous for its brilliant festivals and theatrical performances.

Last but not least I also bought these two cards of the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin's Treptower Park. This Soviet War Memorial honours those soldiers who died during the battle of Berlin and was the central war memorial of East Germany. It is part of a triptych which also includes The Motherland Calls in Volgograd. I had visited this memorial some years ago, but was not able to get a postcard back then. 

Christmas Mail from Me

Like every year I have once again send some Christmas cards to myself to collect the special postmarks. I sent them all out on 10th December.

The first card returned one week later on 17th December. It shows this cute illustration of forest animals sending mail. 

This card is however not from Germany, but arrived from Switzerland. I really like the Swiss Christmas stamps (issued 11-11-2021), ordered some online and saw that it is possible to get a Swiss Christmas postmark. So of course I had to take the chance. I was really suprised that this was the first card to arrive. Within one week it travelled from Germany to Switzerland, was perfectly postmarked and came back. That is true Swiss efficiency!

The first German card arrived on 21st December and it is the most hilarious Christmas card I have seen in the shops this year. Kloß is the German word for dumpling, so the card plays with the fact that Kloß sounds a bit like Clause and shows a dumpling with a Santa's hat.

On this card I got a postmark from the Christmas Market in Erfurt. The market as such I think was cancelled last-minute due to Covid-19, but as the stalls were already set up, they were allowed to remain and some could even sell their goods.

The second German card arrived on the same day and it shows an illustration similar to the first card.

Actually I was not planning to get this postmark for myself, but I was a bit absent-minded and put the card in the wrong cover. This is from Engelskirchen.

The last card took a day longer and arrived on 22nd December. I chose this card to get the postmark I actually wanted when I realised my mistake with the other card just on time.

Here is the postmark from St. Nikolaus that I get every year. It is a bit special this year, as on 6th December 2011 I got my first stamp album, so a personal jubilee for me.

Germany: Garden

On 27th April I got two postcards from Germany.

One of them shows a beautiful garden illustration by Eva-Maria Ott-Heidmann, an illustrator from Berlin. I like this imaginative illustration with the children and dwarfs.

I bought this card online and used it to get this special postmark about the Federal Horticultural Exhibition in Erfurt. The thematic stamp was issued on 1st April 2021. 

In addition to the postmark above I also sent me a cover with the official First Day Special Postmark from Berlin. That one however already arrived on 10th April. 

Germany: Martin Luther

Last Thursday I got two postcards from Germany.

Back in 2017 I created a small collection of stamps, cards and special postmarks about the Lutheran Reformation and still today I am happy when there is a new postmark from time to time. The latest one was used in Erfurt in April to celebrate the introduction of the Reformation to the city in 1520. Luckily while cleaning I recently found the perfect postcard for the postmark. I got it in 2017 and back then planned to turn it into a maxicard. The stamp (issued 13-04-2017) on the front side I had already affixed, but I never used it. Very nice now for this postmark is that the card actually shows the same portrait of Luther. On my history blog you can see more things from this little collection.

On the backside you can see that this card is an ad-card for an exhibition in Wittenberg. An additional stamp on the back side had to be used, as a stamp on the side which does not bear the address is not regarded as postage in Germany.

The second card shows also Luther. I bought it in Wolfenbüttel before I would knew that I find the perfect card.

On this card I used a special version of the Luther stamp. It is from a booklet which also includes Germany's EUROPA stamp of 2017 showing the Wartburg Castle (issued 11-05-2017).

Pippi Longstocking and Heidi

In early December the German Post issued two stamps as the first ones in a new series called Childhood Heroes. The first two characters chosen for the series are Pippi Longstocking and Heidi. For my collection I got both stamps on matching cards. The first two cards with First Day Special Postmarks from Bonn and Berlin arrived on 14th December. A third card with a different Heidi postmark arrived last Thursday.

Pippi Longstocking is a Swedish children's book character. She was created by Astrid Lindgren and her first adventure was published in 1945. Pippi is red-haired, freckled, unconventional, superhumanly strong, playful and unpredictable. Like Peter Pan she does not want to grow up. Her four best friends are her horse and monkey and the neighbours' children Tommy and Annika. As of 2018 her books were translated into 76 languages. 

With a nice matching stamp:
Childhood Heroes (from set of two) (issued 05-12-2019)
with First Day Special Postmark

While Pippi cards are easy to get where I live, Heidi cards were harder to find. Luckily the German Post issued a set of four cards.

Heidi is the main character of two books published by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri in 1881. She is an orphaned young girl living in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. Heidi's books are among the best-selling books ever written and the best-known works of Swiss literature. Very popular is also the Japanese anime Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

The Heidi as seen in the anime is also the one shown on the stamp and the cards. The first card shows Heidi with the goat kid Snowflake and Peter, a goatherd and friend of Heidi.

With a nice matching stamp:
Childhood Heroes (from set of two) (issued 05-12-2019)
with First Day Special Postmark

The second card, which arrived last Thursday, shows Heidi, Peter, the dog Josef and Clara Sesemann, a girl from Frankfurt with paralysed legs who has spent a lonely life in her home until she becomes close with Heidi.

With a nice matching stamp:
Childhood Heroes (from set of two) (issued 05-12-2019)
with a matching special postmark from Gotha

The other two cards from the set show again Heidi, Josef and Peter. Unfortunately missing on all these cards is the Alm-Onji, Heidi's grandfather.

Germany: History of Erfurt

On Tuesday I got three postcards from Germany.

One of them is the Chronicle card of Erfurt. Erfurt was mentioned for the first time around 729. Saint Boniface founded a diocese there in 742 and under the rule of Charlemagne it became a centre of the trade with the Slavs. During the rest of the Middle Ages it was one of the largest German cities. In 1392 the University of Erfurt was founded, which later became a centre of the Humanism. One of its most famous students was Martin Luther. In 1664 Erfurt came under the control of the Prince Elector of Mainz and remained this until it became a part of Prussia in 1803. In the 19th century it was again an intellectual centre, when it was the meeting point of famous persons like Goethe, Schiller, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Herder. It also became a centre of the horticulture and in 1838 the first German horticultural exhibition took place in Erfurt. After World War II it became an East German district capital and since the German Reunification it is the capital of the German State of Thuringia.

Stamp:
Dinner for One (issued 11-10-2018)

Thank You very much Edith!

Germany: German National Theatre and Goethe-Schiller Monument in Weimar

On Wednesday I got two postcards from Germany.

One of them shows the German National Theatre and the Goethe-Schiller Monument in Weimar. The German National Theatre was built on the location of the former Court Theatre, which burned down in 1825 and which was especially known as place of activity of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Between 1919 and 1920 the Weimar National Assembly drew up the new German constitution in the theatre. The Goethe-Schiller Monument was placed in front of the theatre in 1857 and since then became one of the most famous monuments in Germany.

Stamp:
Lighthouse (from set of two) (issued 07-06-2018)

Thank You very much Ina!

Germany: Friedenstein Castle in Gotha

Last Thursday I got two postcards from Germany.

One of them shows Friedenstein Castle in Gotha. Friedenstein Castle is Germany's first Baroque castle and the largest German castle from the 17th century. It was one of the residences of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The card was signed during the Postcrossing Mini Meet-up in Gotha.
With a matching stamp:
Friedenstein Castle (issued 01-03-2018)

Thank You very much Hanko!

Germany: Goethe-Nationalmuseum

On Friday I got a postcard from Germany, a postcard from Sweden and two maxicards from Thailand which were fixed together by tape.

The postcard from Germany shows a portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from the collection of the Goethe-Nationalmuseum in Weimar. The Goethe-Nationalmuseum was founded in 1885. Today the museum consists of two buildings, Goethe's former residential building and an extension from the 1930s.

Stamp:
Water Lily (issued 11-05-2017)

Thank You very much Mariel!

Germany: Wartburg Castle

On Tuesday I got two postcards: one from Germany and one from the Vatican.

The card from Germany shows the Wartburg Castle. The Wartburg Castle is located above the town of Eisenach in the German State of Thuringia. Described as the ideal castle and connected with various important events in German history, it was the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. Since 1999 it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation a group of Postcrossers organised a series of Meet-ups at important places in Martin Luther's life. The last of four was held on Saturday in Eisenach. The postcards of the four Meet-ups form a big picture of Martin Luther, which you can see here.

The card was signed during the Meet-up.
With a matching stamp:
EUROPA (issued 11-05-2017)

Thank You very much Thomas!

Germany: Erfurt

This is my 100th postcard from a Postcrossing Meet-up. Big Thanks to everyone who thought of me during these special events! ^___^

Yesterday I got two postcards: one from Germany and one from Japan.

The card from Germany shows an aerial view of Erfurt. Erfurt is the capital and largest city of the German State of Thuringia. It is a logistics hub and rail junction. In 1501 Martin Luther started his studies in Erfurt and in 1505 he joined the Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt.

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation a group of Postcrossers organises a series of Meet-ups at important places in Martin Luther's life. The second of four was held on Saturday in Erfurt.

The card was signed during the Meet-up.
Stamp:
100th birthday of Heinz Sielmann (issued 08-06-2017)

Thank You very much Thomas!

Germany: Thuringia from Papersisters

On Friday I got three postcards from Germany.

One of them is Papersisters' German Landmark postcard of Thuringia. Thuringia is one of the States of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located in Eastern Germany and borders on Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria and Hesse. It was founded after the German Reunification and is one of the smaller states. The state is home to many important cultural heritage sites. Erfurt is the capital and largest city of Thuringia. The only other big city in the state is Jena.

Among others the card shows the Erfurt Cathedral, cultural sites in Weimar and the Wartburg Castle.

With a matching stamp:
Wartburg Castle (issued 11-05-2017)
with a matching special postmark

Germany: Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial

On Friday I visited the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial and there I bought some cards for my collection. 

The Dora Concentration Camp was established near Nordhausen in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The camp was founded as safe production place of Nazi Germany's V-1 and V-2 weapons, after the facilities at Peenemünde had been destroyed. Thousands of forced labourers from different countries produced the weapons and also constructed the shanties for the camp, which was still under construction. In summer 1944 it became an independent concentration camp and was renamed to Mittelbau. It was the last independent concentration camp founded by the Nazis, at a time when the war was actually already lost. The US Army liberated the camp on 11th April 1945, but the SS was earlier able to evacuate most of the prisoners. Around 20000 prisoners lost their lifes at the camp. In 1964 the East German government opened a memorial at the site, which developed into an extensive memorial complex after the Reunification.

The Crematorium is the only surviving aboveground building at the memorial complex. In the early days of the memorial it was used as museum, but later it was arranged to resemble the original state.

The Shaft is the most striking feature of the memorial complex and was the main reason to establish the camp at this place, as it was considered to be bombproof. Actually constructed as munitions dump in the 1930s, it became the place of the weapon production and first also the place were the prisoners lived. In 1947 the Soviets tried to destroy the shaft, but a detonation failed and only the entrance was destroyed. Between 1988 and 1991 a new entrance was built to make the shaft accessible for the public.

In 2005 a new museum was built at the memorial complex, which houses since 2006 a permanent exhibition about the concentration camp.

Germany: Wartburg Castle

Yesterday I got two postcards: one from Germany and my first card from Burkina Faso.

The card from Germany shows the Wartburg Castle. The Wartburg Castle is located above the town of Eisenach in the German State of Thuringia. Described as the ideal castle and connected with various important events in German history, it was the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. Since 1999 it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

I got this card a few weeks ago in a cover.

With a matching stamp:
EUROPA (issued 11-05-2017)
with a matching special postmark

Thank You very much Sandy for sending me the card in an envelope!

Yesterday I also got a cover with the Wartburg stamp and a special postmark from Eisenach showing Martin Luther.

Recently I was also able to buy a maxicard of the Wartburg stamp.