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Local Stamps

Holešov - 1945


Holešov Town Square in 1902
From: Wikipedia Commons


Local stamps were issued in Holešov in 1945, following its liberation from the Nazis. The Adolph Hitler definitive stamps of Bohemia and Moravia, issued in 1942, were utilized, and obliterating overprints were applied to them.

A reminder:  One must realize that in the months and years following the collapse of the Third Reich, up to about 1948, there was really no civilian or commercial infrastructure, no local government, and the only national governments were those of the Allied occupation military forces.  All of the local issues of Germany from this period, especially the ones with obliterating overprints on the stamps of the former Third Reich, have been heavily counterfeited.  Authentic mint and used stamps from this period are actually very scarce.  One must assume that unauthenticated mint condition examples of some of the local issues are either forgeries or reproductions.  Likewise, one must assume that unauthenticated used condition examples from this period are either of "philatelic" in origin or have been favor-canceled.  These all have minimal philatelic value.  If one is buying unauthenticated examples of the post-war local issues, please keep this in mind and DON'T spend too much money on them.

Holešov is located in the Hostýn Hills, in the Western-most part of the Carpathian Mountains, not too far from Vienna, Austria. During the 19th Century, the town was within the Austrian Empire; after World War I, it was within the nation of Czechoslovakia; and after the Nazi invasion, it was within the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

The town was inhabited by a large Jewish community until World War II, during which nearly the entire Jewish population was murdered, and their historic synagogue was destroyed.



The four stamps shown above were produced for Holešov during the Summer of 1945. These stamps are the 10 K., 20 K., 30 K., and 50 K. high-values from the 1942 Hitler definitive postage stamp issue of the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

These have the Holešov Type II overprint, consisting of diagonal bars obliterating the legend at the top, a large coat of arms obliterating Adolph Hitler's portrait in the middle, and "Pošta Československá" obliterating the legend at the bottom of the stamp.

I have seen an exhibit page on the internet, containing a cover postmarked on July 21, 1945. I would presume that these stamps were issued and / or used around that time.





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Local Stamps - Holesov - 1945






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