The Collecting Adventure

The Pleasure of Collecting.

African Ethnic Stamps and Postcards

A Ethnic view of Africa. The Richness and Beauty of African Culture and People.

Germany - History On Stamps

100 years of German History told in Stamps, Letters and Postcards.

French Stamps

The Culture and the History of France in Stamps.

The Virtual Art Museum

The Art in Stamps. Painting, Sculpture and Art Personalities in a Virtual Philatelic Museum.

Oct 30, 2012

Germany On Stamps: German East Africa Postcards



Two new 10 centimes Postcards from German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi territory under Belgian occupatin at Word War One).

Dois novos Postais de 10 Cêntimos da África Oriental Alemã (Território do Ruanda-Urundi sob ocupação Belga durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial).
 




Oct 28, 2012

Germany on Stamps: German Offices Abroad (China)



Stamps from German Offices Abroad (China). Those stamps are from 1901 and 1905.

Selos emitidos nos Postos de Correios Alemães no Estrangeiro (China). Os selos foram emitidos em 1901 e  em 1905.


Oct 15, 2012

Germany on Stamps: Third Reich 1937 Pages


New "Third Reich" theme pages. Now we publish 1937 Stamps, Letters, Postcards and Blocks pages.

Novas páginas do tema "Terceiro Reich". Publicamos agora as páginas de 1937, contendo Selos, Cartas, Postais e Blocos.


The Third Reich: General History


THE THIRD REICH



After the First Reich (or Holy Roman Empire), from 962 to 1806, and the Second Reich, from 1871 to 1918, and mainly because the humiliation which led to the fall of Emperor Wilhelm II at the end of World War I and all the impositions that the German nation had to accept unconditionally, Adolf Hitler nurtured the dream of a Third Reich, which ends up imposing in 1933, after the rise to power of his National Socialist Party, which won the electoral supremacy during the political disorder that followed the economic crisis of 1929-1930, which creates instability and favour the emergence of extremism.

Founded in 1919, in the aftermath of the humiliating Treaty of Versailles of that year - by which Germany is obliged to pay war damages to the Allies, to reduce its military and abandon the colonies -, the Nazi Party of Hitler, after the failed uprising 1923, decides to gain power through legal means. However, the relative prosperity and stability that Germany knows between 1924 and 1929 gives poor results for the Nazis elections.

Are Hitler's promises to overcome the severe economic crisis of the Great Depression, the repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles ("a stab in the back of Germany," he said) and the defence of German rearmament gradually to appeal to the electorate. In 1932, there was already the most representative party formation with a seat in the Reichstag (parliament), gained force with the appointment, the following year, Hitler as a chancellor, by Marshal Hindenburg.

Immediately, Hitler prepares to impose the dictatorship, abolishing the constitution of the Weimar Republic (1919-33) and all political parties except his own, passing to control the justice, media, security forces and education. Also leaves the League of Nations and the disarmament conference, reactivating the compulsory military service.

In Germany, opponents were murdered, declared or suspected; "purge" even the Nazi party, imprisoning them in concentration camps that were not settled; witnessing the flight of many Germans. The military corps of the party (SA, Sturmabteilung, and SS, Schutzstaffel) and its police (Gestapo) imposed a climate of torture and terror. With the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler declares itself as der Führer (the leader), joining the presidency and the foreign ministry in his person. Political resistance disappears; many follow him, animated by its program of economic reconstruction (roads, war industry and similar to, self-sufficiency ...).

The objectives of Hitler were related to the imposition of German superiority affirmed the principle that other peoples were inferior, especially Jews (in fact, held the German economic structure, coveted by the Nazis to ensure economic reconstruction), the Slavs, Gypsies and other non-Germanic peoples. Within this framework of action, advocated the creation of a "living space" (Lebensraum) for German people, found the formula to justify the expansionism of the Reich, including in the East.

Anti-Semitism was another facet of this policy, by which Germany intended to "cleanse" the country. Thus, Hitler, in 1933, orders the expulsion of Jews from government positions. The persecution that moves them unreal outlines affects from 1935, with the abolition of citizenship rights and the flight of nearly 500 000 Jews from the country (where circulating properly identified by a yellow Star of David).

On November 9, 1938, groups will burn down the synagogues and destroy the business of the Jews, a night that has become known as the 'Night of Broken Glass' (Kristallnacht), or 'broken glass'.

At the same time, Hitler and Nazi Germany were preparing for war. Clearly violating the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, occupy the Rhineland in 1936, signing a pact with Mussolini's fascist Italy and an anti-communist agreement with the Japanese, forming, with these three nations, the Axis Rome-Berlin-Tokyo.

In March 1938, the Germans occupied Austria, attaching it to the Reich (Anschluss). That same year, they were able to occupy the Czech region, most of Germany, the Sudetenland, with the consent of England and France (Munich Agreements). What remained of Czechoslovakia is dismembered in the next year, with the German protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia tax.

In August 1939, the Reich gets more of its diplomatic hoaxes, with the agreement with USSR to its neutrality if one of the countries involved in war, and also agrees, but secretly, with the division of Poland and much of Eastern Europe between them.

On the first day of next month, however, the Germans forced the Polish border and march on Danzig, whose "corridor" wanted to join the conquering East Prussia, which triggers the Second World War (whose history is inseparable from the Hitler regime). The Third Reich was defeated and completely destroyed in the conflict, despite dominating scathingly until 1941 (Blitzkrieg).

Declaring war on several European powers, in turn, and then to USA, suffer tremendous setbacks on the Russian front: Nazi Germany is losing military strength (particularly with the Allied bombings of the country from 1943), being harassed for their borders and ending to surrender unconditionally in 1945, but after losing former territories and redefining its borders (Yalta and Potsdam agreements).
During this period of 1939-1945, the anti-Semitism is raised beyond the imaginable, are perpetrating acts of perfect insanity from about six million Jewish victims of Nazi concentration camps (Holocaust), along with more than five million Germans killed, not counting the wounded and missing, and all the brutal destruction of the country and much of Europe and the world.

Oct 14, 2012

German on Stamps: Johann Sebastian Bach

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

(COMPOSER)

(31 March 1685 - 28 July 1750)

 


Johann Sebastian Bach born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.

Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic organization in the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.

Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the "Brandenburg concertos", the "Goldberg Variations", the "Partitas", "The Well-Tempered Clavier", the "Mass in B minor", the "St Matthew Passion", the "St John Passion", the "Magnificat", "The Musical Offering", "The Art of Fugue", the "English and French Suites", the "Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin", the "Cello Suites", more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated "Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor".

In Weimar, he had the opportunity to play and compose for the organ, and to perform a varied repertoire of concert music with the duke's ensemble. A master of contrapuntal technique, Bach's steady output of fugues (is a contrapuntal composition in two or more voices, built on a subject or theme that is introduced at the beginning and recurs frequently in the course of the composition) began in Weimar. The largest single body of his fugal writing is "Das wohltemperierte Clavier" (The well-tempered keyboard).

During his tenure at Weimar, Bach started work on the "Little Organ Book". This contains traditional Lutheran chorales (hymn tunes), set in complex textures to assist the training of organists.

Bach began once again to search out a more stable job that was conducive to his musical interests. Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, hired Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music). Prince Leopold, himself a musician, appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well, and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. The prince was Calvinist and did not use elaborate music in his worship; thus, most of Bach's work from this period was secular, including the Orchestral suites, the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello and the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. The well-known "Brandenburg Concertos" date from this period. Bach composed secular cantatas, as the "Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a".
The church and city government at Mühlhausen agreed to his plan for an expensive renovation of the organ at St. Blasius's. Bach, in turn, wrote an elaborate, festive cantata - "Gott ist mein König, BWV 71" - for the inauguration of the new council in 1708. The council was so delighted with the piece that they paid handsomely for its publication, and twice in later years had the composer return to conduct it. That same year, Bach was offered a better position in Weimar.

In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor of Thomasschule, adjacent to the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas's Lutheran Church) in Leipzig, as well as Director of Music in the principal churches in the town. This was a prestigious post in the leading mercantile city in Saxony, a neighboring electorate to Thuringia.

Apart from his brief tenures in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, this was Bach's first government position in a career that had mainly involved service to the aristocracy. This final post, which he held for 27 years until his death, brought him into contact with the political machinations of his employer, the Leipzig Council.

In 1747, Bach went to the court of Frederick II of Prussia in Potsdam, where the king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on his theme. Bach improvised a three-part fugue on Frederick's pianoforte, then a novelty, and later presented the king with a "Musical Offering" which consists of fugues, canons and a trio based on the "royal theme", nominated by the monarch.

The final work Bach completed was a chorale prelude for organ, dictated to his son-in-law, Johann Altnikol, from his deathbed.

Bach's health may have been in decline in 1749; Bach died on 28 July 1750 at the age of 65.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded one of the main composers of the Baroque style, and as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Germany on Stamps: German Imperial Yacht

GERMAN IMPERIAL YACHT



A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often manned by personnel from the navy and used by the monarch and family on private and official travels.
History
The first ships to unquestionably qualify as royal yachts were those owned by Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. The first was gift from the Dutch but later yachts were commissioned and built in England. This established a tradition of royal yachts in Britain that was later copied by other royal families of Europe.
Through the 19th century royal yachts got larger as they became a symbol of national wealth. World War I brought this trend to an end and the royal families that survived found it harder to justify the cost with the result that there are only two royal yachts left in use in Europe.

The SMY Hohenzollern (German: Seiner Majestät Yacht Hohenzollern) was the name of several Yachts used by the German Emperors between 1878 and 1918, named after their House of Hohenzollern, a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania.

During the existence of the German Empire, the Emperor, the Kaiser, used these Imperial Yachts:
  • SMY Hohenzollern I - The first Imperial Yacht was built 1876 to 1878 by Norddeutschen Schiffbau A.G. in Kiel. The interiors were designed by architect Heinrich Moldenschardt. The ship was 88 m long, 17.7 m wide and 4.8 m deep. In 1892 it was renamed Kaiseradler. It was scrapped in 1912.
  • SMY Hohenzollern II - The second Imperial Yacht was built by AG Vulcan Stettin, it was 120 m long, 14 meters wide and 5.6 meters deep. It was in use as Imperial Yacht and aviso (tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases, from shore to shore) from 1893 to July 1914. From 1894 to 1914, with the exception of 1906, Emperor Wilhelm II used it on his annual prolonged Nordlandfahrt trips to Norway. In June 1914 the ship attended the Kiel regatta and on 25 June the last state banquet was held on board to entertain officers of the British fleet whose ships had been invited to attend. At the end of July 1914 it was put out of service in Kiel. The ship became property of the Weimar Republic in 1918. It was struck on 27 February 1920 and scrapped in 1923 in Wilhelmshaven.
  • SMY Hohenzollern III - The third Imperial Yacht was launched in September 1914 in Stettin, but never finished due to war. It was struck in 1919 and scrapped in 1923 at Deutsche Werke in Kiel.
In Philately
The Imperial Yacht was the subject of the Yacht issue produced for postal use in German colonies.

The Yacht issue was a series of postage stamps, bearing the image of the German Kaiser's yacht, SMY Hohenzollern II, that were used in all of Germany's overseas colonies. Millions of the stamps were produced and they were the principal means of postage for all German imperial overseas possessions in the years 1900-1919.
Two separate designs of the Yacht stamps were published. They were issued to each of the colonies in a standardized set of colors and denominations.

The larger Yacht issues were panoramic and were designed in two subtly distinct versions, one with a long unfurled scroll and another with a shorter, double-folded scroll. Together they provided the large Yachts with a visual uniformity across colonies because the font size would always be roughly the same, in contrast to the small design.

The smaller Yacht issues all have exactly the same design with differences only in the text. Because the size of the blank scrolls could not be altered, significant changes to font size and structure were necessary to accommodate colony names of varying length: German Southwest Africa stood out from other issues for its tightly cramped letters, while Togo and Samoa required decorative emblems to fill in the yawning blank spaces around their names.

Between 1914 and 1919 were printed lots of stamps for german colonies, but due to the occupation of the Colonies by the allied forces were only sold in sales of philatelic exhibition in Berlin. Postaly used is not possible.
Allied overprint versions
Following Allied occupation in the First World War, the German colonies had their stamps seized, but most were re-released within a few days. The stamps were overprinted with the occupiers' postal codes and redenominated to the appropriate new currency. This breach of postal etiquette was taken quite poorly in Germany, and at least one provincial governor, in Belgium, decreed heavy penalties for any stamp collectors or dealers possessing Allied stamps.

Issues of German New Guinea and Marshall Islands were, like Samoa, surcharged by the British with "G.R.I." for Georgius Rex Imperator.

In Cameroon, issues were overprinted "C.E.F." for the Cameroon Expeditionary Force.

The stamps of Togo were surcharged "TOGO Anglo French Occupation" and "TOGO Occupation France-Anglais" by British and French authorities respectively.

Many of these Allied overprints are now exceedingly rare and there are numerous known forgeries.