Vilnius 1907

A postcard sent from Wilno(Вильна/Vilna on the cancellation is the Russian name) to Paris, France in 1907.
Acquired in 2003 in Wrocław, Poland

Kazlų Rūda 1917

A field post card of Koslowa Ruda railway station posted in 1917. Koslowa Ruda is the polish name for Kazlų Rūda. The wooden station building on the picture still stands nowdays. It was an important railway junction where track split to Marijampolė direction and Königsberg (the present Kaliningrad) direction. As you see where there is the cancellation, the sender adressed to the filed post station 141 which was probably stationed at Marijampolė at the time.
Acquired in 2006 in Berlin, Germany

Vilnius 1937

This is a postally unused cover with a commemorative cancellation of Zułów-Wilno March ski competition held in 1937. Zułów is a village in Lithuania called nowdays Zalavas, known to be the birthplace of Józef Piłsudski. The ski competition was held anually and 1937 was the 2nd time, thus "II march". Not to be confused with the date "2nd of march".
Acquired in 2006 on Delcampe.

Vilnius 1941

This is a postally unused and overfranked postcard of Vilnius with a 1941 cancellation in the beginning of the German occupation years. It was probably made by a philatelist company at the time. The stamps are Soviet stamps overprinted "VILNIUS" which was issued for the Vilnius region.
Acquired in 2007 at the philatelist shop inside the main post office in Vilnius, Lithuania. (The shop has now moved to a shopping center)

Panevėžys 1918

It's a cover sent from Poniewiez, the present city of Panevėžys, to Wilkowischki, now Vilkaviškis also in Lithuania. The classic stamp of Germania with an overprint "Postgebiet Ob. Ost" was used in the occupied area in the Baltic region during WW1. The German called Panevėžys as "Poniewiez" which is the polish name of the city which means Po (at, along, near) Niewiez river, but later during WW2 they call it "Ponewesch". The "Sn" is a local censorship stamp.
Acquired in 2005 at a flee market held in Kaunas,Lithuania.

Šilutė 1887

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

Raseiniai 1916

A postcard posted as German field post (Feldpost) during WW1 from the field post station number 170. They were stationed around Kelmė between 1915 and 1916 along with the Etappen-Inspection Tilsit.



The picture on the postcard is Rossienie, now Raseiniai, but as you can see on the back, the sender wrote it in Kielmy on 1916. Raseiniai is a small town not far from Kielmy.
Acquired in 2006 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Skuodas 1942

This is a domestic parcel registry card sent in 1942 from Skuodas to Ossersee(now Zarasai, Lithuania). You can see from the cancellations that the parcel has been sent from a local post office in Skuodas but received by the Dienstpost office in Ossersee/Zarasai. The card is bilingual, written in both, German and Lithuanian.
Acquired in 2008 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dienstpost Ostland postmark catalogue 1939-1945

This is a real hard-to-get catalogue "Deutsche Dienstpost 1939-1945. Handbuch und Stempelkatalog: Volume Nr.5 Deutschen Dienstpost Ostland (Estland, Lettland, Litauen, Weissruthenien, Pelskau)" written by Dr. Hermann Schultz, published in 1955. It is interesting that he calls Belarus, "Weissruthenien" (White Ruthenia). "Pelskau" must simply be a misspelling of Pleskau, today's Pskov, Russia. It lists every single Dienstpost Ostland's post offices and all known cancellations. I have scanned part of the Lithuania section.
Acquired in 2006 on eBay Germany.

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.

Panevėžys 1930

A picture postcard of Panevėžys station posted to Leipzig, Germany in 1930.
Acquired in 2007 in Berlin, Germany.

Anykščiai overprint 1941

Not much is known about this stamp. It is a local issue of a town called Anykščiai, during the german occupation. A date "1941 VI.23" is overprinted on the stamp, this is the day when Anykščiai was "liberated" from the Soviet by the Germans. Six other places issued their own local liberation stamps. They are (in chronological order of the overprinted date) : Raseiniai / Rossingen (later Raseinen) 1941.VI.23, Alsėdžiai / Aledschen 24–VI–41, Ukmergė / Wilkomir 1941 VI 24, Telšiai / Telschen (later Telsche)1941.VI.26, Zarasai / Zargrad (later Ossersee) 1941–VI–26, Panevėžys / Ponewesch 27 VI 41 and Rokiškis / Rakischki (later Rokischken) 1941–VI–27. VILNIUS overprint can be also considered as a local issue but it was rather issued for the whole Vilnius region. That is also the reason why there is no date on the VILNIUS overprint, depending on the location, there was a slight chronological difference on the "liberated" date. Regardless of the date, unlike other issues, the Anykščiai overprint does not have the name of the place that has been issued. The denomination is also not certain, so far I have recognised 5 kopecks stamp (on Soviet stamp Michel Nr. 676) which is the one I have uploaded and the only one I have, 10 kopecks (Michel Nr. 677) and 15 kopecks (Michel Nr. 679). Michel mentions about this stamp, even puts a picture of it, but does not list in number neither gives catalogue value for it. Estimated number of issue : less than 100

Švenčionėliai 1942, 1944

Today Im posting 2 covers from Schwentschionellen, now called Švenčionėliai, a town in the north eastern part of present Lithuania. Both posted during the Nazi occupation from the Dienstpost Ostland of Schwentschionellen. There were 3 different postal systems operating at that time in Lithuania, Feldpost which was an exclusive service for the military personels, Dienstpost and the local post. The service of the Dienstpost in the occupied territories was open to civilians but generally reserved to german nationals or the foreigners working for a german authority. Ostland was the german occupation authority in the Baltic region and had its own Dienstpost.


The first one is a registered cover to Glogau, known today as Głogów, Poland. 3 stamps are used here, two of them overprinted "Ostland". Listed Ostland Nr. 10 in Michel, those were Ostland's own stamps. Dienstpost Ostland used both stamps, the ones with the overprints and the ones without. The total of the 3 stamps is 42 Pfennig, according to the postal rates of a registered inland letter at that time (1942), it is correctly franked.



The second cover is also a registered one correctly franked with 42 Pfennig, posted to Vienna, Austria in 1944. As you can see from the Nazi seal here, the service of the Dienstpost was also used by military personels. Both covers have an arrival cancellation on the back of the envelope.
Acquired in 2006 on eBay Germany.

Kretinga 1906

Russisch Crottingen, German name of Кретинген / Kretingen (now Kretinga, Lithuania)

Кретинген / Kretingen (now Kretinga, Lithuania)

My first post is a postcard posted on 1906 from Russisch Crottingen (or Krottingen), czarist Russia to Hannover, Germany. Russisch Crottingen is today a city in Lithuania called Kretinga and it used to be the border town of Russia and Prussia. It is pretty confusing but the town of Crottingen existed on both sides of the border, so the germans called "Russisch" meaning "russian" in german, the one on the russian border side and "Deutsch Crottingen" the one on their side of the border which is nowdays the town of Kretingalė. The russians called the town Кретинген / Kretingen as you can see from the cancellation on the back. Unfortunatly the date of the cancellations is not really readable but thanks to the sender, he (or she) wrote it on the front of the postcard!
This postcard is acquired on june 2009 in a philatelic bazaar held in Tokyo, Japan.