Monday, January 20, 2014

Kudirkos Naumiestis 1918



This is a Postgebiet ob. Ost overprinted postal stationery sent in 1918 from Wladislawow (now Kudirkos Naumiestis, Lithuania) to the Kriegsgefangenenlager Stammlager (P.O.W. camp) in Preußisch Holland (now Pasłęk, Poland). The sender's name is a certain Anton Kunzaitis and it is addressed to Konstantin Kunzaitis (or Kuncaitis?), probably held as a prisoner in Preußisch Holland. The card has a postmark of Wladislawow but the sender's address is in Gielgudischki (now Gelgaudiškis, Lithuania) which probably derives from the Polish name Giełgudyszki, located just 1km south west of the famous Panemunė Castle (Not Panemunė, the former Memelgebiet town!) and according to the card, it used to be part of the postal district of Kreis Wladislawow, postamt Szaki (now Šakiai, Lithuania).
By the way, the famous English actor John Gielgud's descendants are from a Polish noble family of Lithuanian origin who owned Giełgudyszki.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Kūgeliai 1917




Happy New Year to all visitors!! I would like to start my first post this year with item. It is a German military field post (Feldpost) card sent in 1917 from Kugeleit (now Kūgeliai, Lithuania). This card looks like a postal stationery which the letter part that can be dettached but since the regular field post are sent free, there is no value imprinted so technically speaking, it is not a postal stationery. But then if it is free, can it be a postal stationery? I don't know... According to Wikipedia, Kūgeliai's most recent population is 1! Is it possible? Anyway, I have found some nice pictures of the present Kūgeliai railway station on Miestai.net, here is the link.