A business cover sent in 1922 from Memel (now Klaipėda, Lithuania) to Chemnitz, Germany. O. Saint-Paul, Memel Bau- Nutz- und Brennholzhandlung, it sounds like a company that deals with wood related construction material. My German sucks so I can't tell you more... Memel district was already detached from the rest of Germany at that time but the postal rate was counted as inland rate.
A very interesting show of philatelic material, in that town, in these years... :-)
ReplyDeleteThe sender is a wood trader. The family name is a name of French origin. Maybe it is a Huguenot family. A lot of Huguenots emmigrated to "Brandenburg-Prussia".
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Potsdam
Correct. However it may be also connected with the French administration of the townx, just after WWI.
DeleteYes, there are a lot of possibilities. Memel/Klaipeda is a harbour town. People from many nations came / are coming there...
ReplyDeleteI prefer the possibility, that the family name comes from the Huguenot immigration. The Pussians settled a lot of religious immigrants from France, Austria (Salzburg, Bohemia), the Netherlands and Russia special in the NE of Eastern Prussia ("Germanisation of Prussian-Lithuania").
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting point.
Some quotes from this link:
http://wiki-en.genealogy.net/Memel
"1679: Invasion of Sweden: the Grand Duke comes across the ice of the Curonian Lagoon in person. He establishes Couriers twice a week between Memel and Kleve. The route runs along the spit and Konigsberg to Berlin to Kleve on the Rhine. The reformed Prince brings in the Dutch, Scots, Englishmen and Huguenots in Memel as merchants."
"1732: The tolerant Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I called settlers into the country. So he offered inter alia in 1732 17,000 Salzburgers [34] that of faith have been displaced due to a new home. Only few come to Memelland. Moreover, at the same time migrated in 1,000 Protestants from Switzerland, Huguenots from France, over 13,000 people from central and southern Germany, about 3,000 Mennonites from Kulm and 5,000 Dutchmen, Poles, Scots, and English in East Prussia, and settled in part in Memel down."
It look like they were numbers of Huguenot in Memel like you've mentioned. Thank you for sharing such interesting info!
Gio Ve,
ReplyDeleteYes, the fact that the French administered the city made it different from other places. Danzig followed similar fate but without French involvement, it was very different from Memel politically and economically.
A branch of the family Saint-Paul seemed to have became part of the Prussian nobility in 1721 and they were Huguenots! One famous member was Friedrich von Saint Paul, Prussian Officer in the Napoleon war, awarded with the Pour le Merit cross ("The Blue Max") for his duty during the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau (today: Bagrationovsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) in 1807.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia (There is only a German version):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_von_Saint_Paul
I was also looking on the internet but couldn't find anything useful. Usually the sender of letters put their addresses but this cover has nothing on the back either.
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a list of businesses in Memel during the French administration period. Maybe some library might have it but my very limited German ability makes it hard to find...