Šilutė 1942

Postmark of Heydekrug March 1942

Sender's address: Kolleschen bei Jonaten Kreis Heydekrug (Ostpr.)

It has been long since I have posted something here the last time I guess.. I'm planning to slowly come back on track!

Anyway.. So, here is a registered cover sent in 1942 from Heydekrug (today Šilutė, Lithuania) to Kassel in mainland Germany. 1942 is in the middle of WWII as we all know and Heydekrug / Šilutė  has been re-annexed by Germany along with the rest of Memelland. I guess the followers of this blog know that but let me mention it just in case if you happened to be new to this blog..

The sender's address is in Kolleschen (previously called Kolletzischken) b. Jonaten, a small village not far from the narrow-gauge line Heydekrug - Jonathen (or Jonaten). I wonder if the sender was working or just happened to be in Heydekrug to send this letter because there were closer post offices from where he was living, notably Jonathen.
I bought this cover at Yahoo Japan with a ridiculous price of 500 JPY (4.50USD or 4.30EUR) along with a Tilsit and a Skaisgirren cover (which I'm not going to post here because those are not part of Lithuania but part of present Russia) buried among hundreds of German covers. Regular dealers don't usually notice Memelland covers unless Memel stamps are used on it.

Recent Acquisitions

Heydekrug, German Empire 1897 (now Šilutė, Lithuania)

Жеймели / Zheimeli 1913 (now Žeimelis, Lithuania), Ков (Kovna gubernia)

Wilno 1919 (now Vilnius, Lithuania) rare 1919-20 Polish occ.

Žarėnai 1924

Wilno 1927 (now Vilnius, Lithuania) rare Wilno 11 vertical line cancel 

Nowa Wilejka 1929 (now Naujoji Vilnia, Lithuania

Šilutė 1870

This is a postal stationery of the North German Confederation / Norddeutscher Postbezirk sent in 1870 from Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) to Kinten (now Kintai, Lithuania), both located in Memelland. Actually "Norddeutscher Postbezirk" is the name for the postal area of the North German Confederation and not the state itself (it is officially: Norddeutscher Bund). Memelland was part of the Kingdom of Prussia which formed the Confederation in 1866 issuing their own stamps until 1870 before becoming the German Reich when the remaining southern Germanic states joined as well.
Heydekrug was the second largest town in Memelland and it has an interesting origin. According to Wikipedia, a guy named Georg Tallat purchased an inn together with the land and the fishing rights in 1511. "Heide" meaning: heathland and "Krug" meaning: inn, combining together in one word: Heydekrug.

Šilutė 1944

This is a P.O.W. postage free luftpost / airmail cover sent in 1944 from Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) to Camp Ellis in New York, NY in the U.S. Heydekrug / Šilutė is known to be the location of the only major POW camp in Memelland but it is just coincidence, this card has nothing to do with the POW camp in Heydekrug. It is a cover sent from a family member of the German officer held as a prisoner in Ellis island in New York. It has traces of the censorship by both authorities, American and German. The returning address is written as the post office of Tennetal, Kreis Heydekrug. Tennetal was called Ramutten but renamed by the Nazi authotiry on May 1st 1939 until the end of the WWII. Today it is called Ramučiai. 

Recent Acquisitions

Here are some of the recent acquisitions of stamps:

WWI German occupation with a postmark of Schaulen (now Šiauliai, Lithuania) 1916

a stationery cut out (what a pity!) with a postmark Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) 1895

Polish occupation period with a part of machine cancel of Wilno 2 (now Vilnius, Lithuania) 1938

Soviet stamps with a postmark of Vilnius C. 1941 during the first USSR annexation 

Postmark: Lekėčiai 1929

Postmark: Višvilė 1928 (present Viešvilė, former Wischwill, Memelgebiet)

Postmark: Alunta 1937

Šilutė 1920

This is a cover sent in 1920 from Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania), Memelgebiet to Hamburg, Germany. Germania overprinted stamps of Memelgebiet may not have extremely high catalog value but somehow it is not that easy to find on used covers. It is probably because it is hidden by many collectors. In both Michel and Scott, these Germania overprints are listed first but actually they are not. The French Semeuse overprints were issued on July 7th 1920 while these Germanias were issued on August 1st.  I imagine they did it so it would look more logical in a historical perspective going on the order of the administrators of the land.

Priekulė 1907

Prökuls (now Priekulė) postmark 1907

Heydekrug (now Šilutė) arrival cancellation

Not an envelope but a folded letter itself

This is cover sent in 1907 from Prökuls (now Priekulė, Lithuania) to Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania). Both Prökuls and Heydekrug are part of Memel region which was itself part of Germany at that time. When I first got this cover, I was pretty surprised by the finesse and softness of the paper quality of the envelope but... I was wrong actually. It wasn't an envelope, this he or she, used the letter itself as an envelope, thus explains the high quality of the paper material.
Priekulė is another source of "mix up", sometime mistaken with a Latvian town: Priekule, which is unconveniently located not only to the Lithuanian border but near Klaipėda district. This Latvian town was called Preekuln in German so philatelically (or philatelicly?? I'm always not sure..) speaking it should not cause a problem but for postcard collectors it can be a problem.

German Field post (Feldpost) card sent in 1919 from Preekuln Bahnhof (railway station), now Priekule, Latvia

Šilutė 1944

This is an interesting P.O.W. camp cover sent on 14 March 1944 from the Stalag Luft 6 in Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) to the British Red Cross in London. UK. "kriegsgefangenenpost" (written on the top of the cover) is franking-free P.O.W. (prisoner of war) post. It looks like the author is a British officer named Sergeant A.G. Fripp. According to Wikipedia, "Stalag" is an abbreviation for Stammlager which itself is also an abbreviation of "Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager" which is the term used for the prisoner of war camps. Considering the absence of reinforcements and supplies, the Germans defended Memelland effectively, it was only on January 1945 that Soviet forces fully gained the district of Memel/Klaipėda.

Šilutė 1939

This is a postcard of Kurische Nehrung/Kuršių Nerija from the same series as the previous post, sent in 1939 from Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) to Berlin, Germany. The Memel territory (Klaipėda region) was re-annexed by Nazi Germany on 23 March 1939, this, of course included Šilutė/Heydekrug, the 2nd largest town of the region. Although in 1818 the town became the district center of Landkreis Heydekrug, it never received the city right until 1941, which is very unusual.

Cancellations of Memelgebiet/Memel district - 09 (on Deutsches Reich stamps)

 Dt./Deutsch Crottingen (now Kretingalė) 1870's

Rare rectangular postmark without year

  Wischwill am der Memel (now Viešvilė) 1920

This is a very rare postmark with the town's full name

("a. d. Memel" in the bottom part of the postmark)

  Memel (now Klaipėda) 1920

 Heydekrug (now Šilutė) 1920

Pogegen (now Pagėgiai) 1920

Šilutė 1974

A cover with an illustration of Kaunas castle with a 1973 Soviet stamp of the Trakai castle. There is a commemorative cancellation of the philatelic exhibition held in Šilutė/Шилуте in 1974, with an image of Gediminas tower in Vilnius. Both castles and the tower are excellent example of the Lithuanian gothic architecture.

Šilutė 1972

A commemorative cover of the 50th anniversary of the Visasąjunginei Lenino pionierių organizacijai/Lenin's pioneer all-union organization, cancelled in Šilutė/Шилуте. It has a special postmark of the philatelic exibition held in Šilutė in 1972.

Šilutė 1939

A cover sent in 1939 from Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania) to Rotterdam, Holland. The propaganda mark "Das Memelland ist frei" (Memelland is free) has probably been stamped by the post office without sender's choice. The Rotterdam arrival cancellation is on the back of the cover.

Šilutė 1939

It's a (surprisingly) postally used propaganda postcard from Heydekrug, now Šilutė. It has been used locally within Heydekrug, overfranked. There are still the official lithuanian cancellations with the name "Šilutė" and the provisional "Heydekrug" cancellation along with the propaganda "Das Memelland ist Frei" (The Memel is free).

Šilutė 1887

It's a cover from Heydekrug, now Šilutė, to Berlin posted on 1887.
Acquired in 2007 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Šilutė 1920

It is a registered cover sent in 1920 from Heydekrug to Olmütz, today Olomouc, a city in Moravia (Mähren, written on the cover is the german name ), in the east of the Czech Republic. The french stamps overprinted "MEMEL" were stamps of Memel Territory, a Prussian region north of Memel River (Nemunas in Lithuanian) which was cut out from the rest of Germany after WWI. In 1920, it was put under temporary French Administration. Heydekrug, today Šilutė, Lithuania, was the second largest town in the Territory.
Acquired in 2006 in Brno, Czech Republic, in an antique book store, ridiculously cheaply.