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ORIGINAL WWII GERMAN LETTER – MARCH 1945Austrian Censored Mail – Vienna Censorship – Kurrent / Sütterlin Handwriting
This is a remarkable and deeply personal original family letter from the final weeks of World War II, written in Austria in March 1945.
The letter is dated 21 March 1945 (21/III 45), only a few weeks before the end of the war in Europe.
It is written in old German handwriting, Kurrent / Sütterlin, which can be difficult to read even for modern German speakers.
The letter consists of two original handwritten pages, together with the original addressed envelope bearing a German/Austrian postage stamp and a WWII censorship marking from Vienna.
THE FIRST PAGE – FAMILY, ILLNESS AND SHORTAGES
The letter begins:
“Liebe Schwester u. Schwager!”
“Dear sister and brother-in-law!”
The writer discusses a visit to a doctor and serious concerns about the health of a member of the family.
The doctor apparently offers little hope, mentioning “Rheuma” (rheumatism) or a similar progressive illness which could eventually severely affect the person\'s body.
The letter then turns to the everyday struggle for food.
Milk and cattle are mentioned, as well as the possibility of exchanging milk with a local butcher (Fleischhauer) in order to obtain meat or other food.
There is also discussion of travelling by train to a place whose name appears to be Güstling / Gisting, although the exact reading of the handwritten place name is uncertain.
These apparently ordinary family concerns provide a fascinating picture of civilian life during the final months of the war.
THE SECOND PAGE – HUNGER, BOMBS AND THE END OF THE WAR
The second page becomes considerably more dramatic.
The writer continues discussing milk and food shortages and writes:
“…ist ja die Zeit schlecht genug, muß alles zusammen helfen”
roughly:
“…these are difficult times, we all have to help each other.”
The most striking passage refers directly to the approaching end of the war:
“…wird bald das Ende kommen, aber durch den Hunger, nicht durch die Bomben…”
“…the end will soon come, but through hunger, not through the bombs…”
The writer also describes bombs falling in the surrounding area, mentioning places connected with petrol/fuel installations and railway facilities.
Together, the two pages provide an unusually intimate civilian account of the final weeks of the war: illness, food shortages, milk, travel difficulties, bombing and the growing realization that the war was approaching its end.
ORIGINAL WWII VIENNA CENSORSHIP MARK
The reverse of the envelope bears a distinctive triangular censorship marking reading:
“ZENSURABTEILUNG • WIEN •”
(Censorship Department – Vienna)
This is an important philatelic feature of the letter.
The censorship marking documents the examination of civilian correspondence during the final months of the Third Reich and adds an important postal-history element to the handwritten family letter.
The fact that the letter dates from 21 March 1945, when the military and political situation of Nazi Germany was rapidly deteriorating, makes the surviving correspondence particularly interesting.
THE ENVELOPE – ADDRESS AND POSTAL HISTORY
The front of the envelope bears a carefully handwritten address to:
Herrn u. Frau Franziska Stangl
in Breitengries / Post Wildalpen
Steiermark, Austria
The place name and personal names are based on the handwritten address and may contain historical spelling variations.
The envelope also carries a 12 Reichspfennig Adolf Hitler definitive stamp with a circular cancellation reading:
LANGENWANG – 21.III.45
This allows the postal history of the item to be studied together with the handwritten contents.
The destination is in the Wildalpen area of Styria (Steiermark), Austria, an alpine region.
WHY THIS LETTER IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTING
This is much more than an ordinary WWII letter. It combines several important areas of collecting:
- Original WWII civilian correspondence
- March 1945 – final weeks of the war
- Austrian / German postal history
- Vienna censorship
- Original Kurrent / Sütterlin handwriting
- Civilian food shortages and hunger
- References to bombing and wartime conditions
- Original envelope with period postage and cancellation
- Two complete handwritten pages preserved with the envelope
The letter offers a rare glimpse into everyday civilian life in the Austrian Alps during the final weeks of World War II, at a time when the military situation was changing dramatically.
The combination of the handwritten contents, the original envelope, the March 1945 postmark and the Vienna censorship marking makes this an especially interesting item for collectors of WWII postal history, censored mail, German/Austrian history, military history and historical manuscripts.
CONDITION
Original vintage condition.
The letter consists of two handwritten pages and the original envelope. The handwriting remains clearly visible and the historical postal markings are preserved.
The item will be stored and shipped in a protective sleeve with cardboard protection.
Internal reference: style=\"color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:start; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; word-spacing:0px; white-space:normal; text-decoration-style:initial; text-decoration-color:initial;\">Item on the picture is the item that you will receive.
Please view the images carefully to see the condition.
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