Local Stamps
Dessau - 1946
Dessau
From an Old Postcard
Local stamps were produced during 1946 for the Soviet occupation zone town of Dessau in Province Saxony.
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.
Dessau dates from the 13th Century, and, from 1570, it was the capital of the Principality of Anhalt.
The
city was almost completely destroyed during Allied bombings in March
1945. After World War II, as part of the German Democratic Republic,
Dessau was rebuilt with the typical concrete slab architecture of the
DDR, and it became one of the major industrial centers of East Germany.
It wasn't until after the German reunification of 1990 that the
restoration of many of the old historical buildings began.
In April 1946, the Province Saxony
reconstruction set was privately overprinted "Dessau" for local usage.
They were sold through the Halle post office. Both the perforated and
imperforate sets are shown in the images above.
Most
of the used examples are favor-canceled. There are also souvenir
cards, with the stamps affixed to them, that are favor-canceled, as
well.
eBay Auction and Store Links
Germany - Allied Occupation
The following links feature category-focused affiliated seller listings on various eBay sites worldwide. They may enable visitors to shop
for and to buy specific items for the
particular collecting subject they've just read about.
The
affiliated eBay seller auction lots provided by eBay,
Inc. are not the responsibility of the management of this
website. On high priced material, make sure the lots you are buying are properly authenticated.
Remember
that the lots on European eBay sites are priced in EUROS. Shipping
charges may be more, and the lots may take longer to arrive. Also, make
sure the foreign seller ships to your country, before bidding on or
buying his lot.
Return to Allied Occupation Stamps from
Local Stamps - Dessau - 1946
