Thursday, June 28, 2012

Daugavpils-Radviliškis Railway post 1913


Railway post Двинcк / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia) - Радзивилишки / Radzivilishki (now Radviliškis, Lithuania)

This is a postal stationery sent in 1913 with a railway post cancellation of the line Двинcк / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia) - Радзивилишки / Radzivilishki (now Radviliškis, Lithuania).

Monday, June 25, 2012

Palanga 1926


This is a postcard used locally as "printed matter" within Palanga in 1926. You can see that the  famous ponton was smaller back then.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Ukmergė 1909


Вилькомир / Vilkomir (now Ukmergė, Lithuania)


This is a postal stationery sent in 1909 from Вилькомир / Vilkomir (now Ukmergė, Lithuania).  It was formally called Vilkmergė which is also the name of the river near by.  According to the legend, Vilkmergė is a girl raised by the wolves. "Vilkas" meaning wolf in Lithuanian and "Merga" meaning maiden, which makes up Vilk-mergė.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Tauragė 1942



This is a registered letter sent in 1942 from Tauroggen (now Tauragė, Lithuania) to Schönebeck (Elbe), Germany. Despite being one of the border towns with Prussia, Tauragė is one of the very few places in Lthuania that has been legally obtained by the Germans without the use of force. The marriage between Ludwig of Brandenburg and Liudvika Karolina Radvilaitė (Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł in Polish, a noble lady from the well known  Radvilos/Radziwiłł family which owned the Tauragė estate until then) in 1691 made Tauragė under German possession until it was annexed by the Russian empire.
On june 22nd of 1941, Tauragė was captured by Nazi Germany, it was the very first day of the operation Barbarossa which was the German offense against the Soviet Union during WW2.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Juodkrantė 1940


This is a postally unused postcard of Schwarzort (now Juodkrantė, Lithuania) printed in Memel (now Klaipėda) in 1940.  The neo-Romanesque church in the center is the Šv. Pranciškaus Asyžiečio bažnyčia/church of St. Francis of Assisi, originally built in 1885 for the protestant church to replace the previous wooden structure. "Juodkrantė" means "black coast" in Lithuanian and the German name "Schwarzort" means "black place", but it is not know which one came first. According to the written document, German "Schwarzort" is mentioned earlier but it might derive from an older Curonian legend, orally transmitted as a fairy tale.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Vilnius 1938


This is a Polish postal stationery issued in 1938 during the Polish occupation, depicting the Kościół św. Jana (Šv. Jono bažnyčia/Church of St. John) in Uniwersytet Stefana Batorego (Stepono Batoro universitetas/Stephen Báthory university) in Wilno (now Vilnius) which is the present Vilnius university. The imprinted value is 15 gr. , with the portrait of Kazimierz IV Jagiellończyk (Kazimieras IV Jogailaitis/Casimir IV Jagiellon) who was the king of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Marijampolė 1949




For some people, it would seem strange to see a Soviet cover with a "Мариямполе/Marijampolė" postmark. Marijampolė was  known to be called Kapsukas during the Soviet rule. But that's only from 1955 and prior to that, it was called Marijampolė just like after the restoration of the independence. Soviet covers from the 1940's are pretty difficult to find nowdays, especially with the postmarks of the regional towns. 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Gudžiūnai 1943



This is a registered letter sent in 1943 from Guziuny (now Gudžiūnai, Lithuania) to Kremsier (now Kroměříž, Czech Republic) in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia at that time. The registration label states also the name of the district Kedahnen (now Kėdainiai district) because there are 2 locations called Gudžiūnai in Lithuania (the other one in Jurbarko rajono savivaldybė/Jurbarkas district municipality). The cancellation is bilingual, written by the German and Lithuanian name which was not so common in Ostland. In most of the case, the Dienspost used exclusively the German local name and the regular post offices often used the old postmark from the first republic especially in the small towns like Gudžiūnai with the  population of 500 at that time (nowdays approximately 700). The Ostland stamps are used mixed with regular Reich stamp which was also valid.