Prisoners of War in Switzerland?

VOL . XXX, NUMBER 3

MAY 2004

American Helvetia

Philatelic Society

Prisoners of War in Switzerland?by Reinhard Stutz

(Translated from Schweizer Briefmarken Zeitung September 2003 by Charles J . LaBlondeand published here by permission)

Collectors of postal history from the time of World War II could, because of certain covers, ge t

the impression that early in 1940 Switzerland was at war with a large foreign power. This impression

could come from covers with the marking "Prisoners of War internment/Switzerland . " This was

clearly not the case . Herewith the real story .

General Mobilization of the Swiss Army and the Ban on Air Traffi c

From 2 September 1939, the first general mobilization, air traffic over Switzerland wa s

regulated as follows : "Effective immediately, all movement of aircraft in Swiss airspace is forbidde n

with the exception of military aircraft or aircraft that have been approved by the military to b e

airborne. Excepted from this rule are arriving civil aircraft that have been granted special permissio n

to land at a designated airfield :

• Arrivals from Germany : Land aircraft Basel-Birsfelden or Altenrhein, water planes Altenrhein .

• Arrivals from France : Land aircraft Basel-Birsfelden or Geneva Cointrin, water planes Geneva

Eaux-Vives .

• Arrivals from Italy: Land aircraft Lugano-Agno (not suitable for aircraft requiring a long runway) ,

water planes Lugano . "

(These rules quoted from a press release of the Winterthur Landbote 30 August 1939) .

Swissair activity had already been stopped on 27 August 1939, and the Swiss air force wa s

activated on 29 August 1939 . The air force had 225 aircraft and 280 pilots and observers at that time .

The Swissair pilots were very important to the air force . On 6 September new orders came from air

force headquarters : "During the air traffic stoppage it is important to distinguish clearly betwee n

aircraft knowingly violating our airspace to attack one of our neighbors with whom we maintain

neutrality, and air police actions against single aircraft that may be deserting or accidentally violatin g

our borders . "

Violation of Swiss Airspace by Foreign Aircraft

Between September and the end of 1939 143 aircraft violated Swiss airspace . The Swiss air

defenders were either too late or not even on duty. Finally, on 31 March 1940, General Guisan

notified neighboring nations that military aircraft that violated Swiss airspace would be shot dow n

without warning .

(continued on page 11)

ContentsPrisoners of War in Switzerland? by Reinhard Stutz 1President's Column by Bill Lucas 3ROMPEX This Month! 3New Members 3Hasler's Last Effort by Harlan Stone 4Recent Swiss Exhibit Winners 5Our HPS Cousins Across the Atlantic by David Durham 5Frühdatum or Earliest Known Use of Swiss Stamps by Richard T . Hall 7Matterhorn Meanderings by Richard T. Hall 15

American Helvetia Philatelic Societ yELECTED OFFICERS 2003-2004

APPOINTED OFFICERSPresident Treasurer

TELL Editor Publicity Chairma nWilliam R. Lucas Harry C. Winter

George Struble Awards Chairma n8912 Pinnacle Peak Rd ., 614 Westwood Avenue

210 18th St . NE Harlan F. StonePM Box 559 Ann Arbor, MI 48103-Salem, OR 97301-4316 (see column 1 )

Scottsdale, AZ 85255 3557

Home: 503-364-392 9Home: 480-342-9739 Home : 734-761-5859

gstruble@willamette .edu Webmasterwlucas3@cox .net harwin@umich .edu Bruce Marsden

TELL Associate Editor (see column 3 )Past President Regional Director West

Steven S . Weston

David E. Durham Donn Lueck

P .O . Box 868 REPRESENTATIVES149 Ontario St. P . O. Box 11582

Del Mar CA 92014 - Union of SwissHoneoye Falls, NY Phoenix, AZ 85061

0868 Philatelic Societies

14472-1139 Home: 602-841-1322

760-752-7812 Ralph Soderbergdedur@aol .com donn3@earthlink . net P .O. Box 36067Circuit Sales Manage r

Emil L. Tobler Grosse Pointe Woods ,Vice-President Regional Director Central MI 48236

Michael Peter

P .O. Box 26Harlan F. StoneP.O. Box 770334 P 0 Box 50256

Bradford RI 02808 Home: 313-885-4125

Woodside NY 11377Home: 401-377-2238St. Louis, MO 63105 American Philatelic

Home: 718-478-2374 314-725-6800

Auction Manager Societyhfstone@rcn .com Jellyjars4@aol .com

Gordon Trotter Ernest L . Bergman

10626 Fable Row 1421 Harris St .Secretary & Librarian Regional Director East Columbia, MD 21044 State College, PARichard T . Hall Helen Galatan-Stone Phone : 410-730-7936 16803P.O . Box 15053 P.O. Box 770334

Fax: 410-740-7215 814-238-0164Asheville, NC 28813 Woodside NY 11377 trotters@toad . net elb3@psu .eduHome: 828-681-0581 Home : 718-478-2374

[email protected] .edu hfstone@rcn .com

Slide Chairman Liechtenstein StudyBruce Marsden Group

AHPS Website: http : //www.swiss -stamps.org 20 Whitney Road Chm: Ralph R.Short Hills, NJ 07078 Schneide rHome: 973-218-9774 P.O. Box 23049Office : 212-804-3619 Belleville IL 6222 3bmarsden@bellatlantic .net Rschneider39@charter .net

Copyright 2004, The American Helvetia Philatelic Society(AHPS) . TELL (ISSN 1042-2072) is the official journal of theAmerican Helvetia Philatelic Society, affiliate #52 of theAmerican Philatelic Society and a member of the Union o fSwiss Philatelic Societies . TELL is published bimonthly(Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sep/Nov) .Opinions expressed in this journal are those of the author sand are not necessarily endorsed by AHPS or the Editor .Letters and articles on Swiss, Liechtenstein, UN Geneva andrelated philately are welcome and should be sent to theEditor . Whenever possible, submit material by e-mail i nplain text or as a Microsoft Word attachment. Illustrationsare encouraged and may be submitted as image files or as full

size photocopies ; or, we can copy/scan your originals (pleas econsult the Editor before sending actual stamps, covers, etc .) .Please include your name, address and telephone number .Subscriptions for 2004 include AHPS dues : United States,$21 ; Canada and Mexico $26 ; overseas air delivery, $31 .Request membership applications from the Secretary ordownload from Web page . Change-of-Address should be sen tto the Secretary .Commercial advertising copy and rate inquiries should besent to the Editor . Advertising deadlines : Jan. 10, Mar . 12 ,May 12, July 13, Sep . 12, Nov. 13 .Printed by Kettle Moraine Printing, West Bend WI 53095 .

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May 2004

President's ColumnBy the time you receive this issue of Tell

our convention at ROMPEX will be close athand. There is still time to make plans to at -tend. The exhibits alone are worth the effort .Add the seminar organized by Harlan Stone and

the opportunity to interface with your fellowAHPS members and it becomes a can not misssituation .

It has been suggested that a Strube l

Study Group may be of interest to the member -ship. May I suggest that anyone who would lik eto participate plan to meet directly after our

business meeting in the same room . Those ofyou who are interested but not coming to ROM -PEX please write or e-mail me .

ROMPEX is the only time this year you rBoard of Directors will meet face to face and theonly time the membership will have a busines smeeting. If you have any suggestions o r

thoughts you would like to share please contac tme or, better yet, plan to see us in Denver .

Bill Lucas

ROMPEXThis Month!If you are attending ROMPEX on May 1 4

to 16, you will have made your travel plans al -ready. If you need information about the sho wand AHPS' role in it, refer to the January o r

March issues of TELL (if it is not handy -- tsk !tsk!) contact the editor, who will supply you .

Dick Barton, one of our local representa -tives, writes "the dinner on Friday night will b ea three course Prix Fixe for $30.50 per person .

There will be a choice from : three appetiz -

ers/soup ; three entrees -- meat, poultry, and sea -

food; and three desserts . Wine, beer, etc will be

a cash bar . It would be helpful to have people

email me or call me before the show if they plan

to attend. Final numbers have to be given to the

restaurant by noon on Friday. "

Chuck LaBlonde, our other local rep ,

adds "All attendees should check in at the AHPS

table when the show opens Friday to get lates t

details, times and locations for AHPS weeken d

events. Looking forward to seeing many of our

members in Denver . "

A significant high point will be the Fri -

day afternoon seminar we share with the Italy

and Colonies Study Circle . Six speakers' from

the US, Switzerland, and Great Britain will

make presentations .

New MembersAHPS is delighted

members :

Carl HeuleMichigan

Jeffrey Kaplan

Maryland

Gordon McIntyre

Washington

Raymond MerzOntario

We also welcome Eugen e

stated his membership .

Ludwig Berndt

California

to welcome nine new

Corey SmithPennsylvania

Andre Thierstei n

Arizona

Robert ZahnNew York

Edgar Zysset

Florida

Jung, who has rein -

May 2004

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Hasler's Last Effortby Harlan F Stone

At BERNPHILA 03, the De-

cember 5-7 exhibition celebratingSwitzerland's annual Day of theStamp, a 1923 Hasler postage me -ter machine made a surprise ap-pearance . Credit goes to GeorgesSchild, president of the organizin gcommittee, who located this exam -ple of the first Hasler model in thehands of a private owner . For 5francs visitors were able t

o purchase a souvenir card (see illustra -tion) bearing a picture of themachine, a 10 (centime) pp (postagepaid) imprint (sorry the illustrationdoesn't show this well; it was alight pink, which doesn't reproduceworth a darn, so I "enchanced" axerox copy with a pencil! – Ed.), the80c 1980 commemorative stamp for the engineer Gustav Hasler (Zumstein No . 641) who founded theinternational company, and the special "Tag der Briefmarke" postmark. The imprint does not includ e

the machine's number under the 10c value .

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May 2004

May 2004

In his history of meter machine cancels ,the late Heiner Dürst wrote that the Swiss PTTauthorized the use of meter machines on No -vember 28, 1923 . This followed the UPU's ap -proval of meter imprints on international mai lat its 1920 congress in Madrid. The famousSwiss engraver Karl Bickel designed the mete rvalue die . Georges reports that Hasler A Gbought the machine's patent from Franco AG inLuzern, which had already developed the basi cmachine .

TELL readers may recall that on the oc -casion of the postal stationery exhibitio nGABRA IV in 2001, Georges was also successfulthen in luring one of the mobile post offices outof retirement for the duration of the show, whic hhe likewise headed .

Recent Swiss Exhibit WinnersFour of 26 entries in the single-frame

Champion of Champions competition at AP SAMERISTAMP EXPO in Norfolk, Va ., Jan. 30 –Feb. 1, 2004, were Swiss subjects ; but a

n Argentine subject won the championship . The fourSwitzerland exhibitors were Anthony F . Dewey ,"Service of Intellectual Aid to Prisoners of War ; "Jack I. Mayer, "United Nations European Office– Geneva 1947-1951 ;" Harlan F. Stone, "Mobile

Post Office : 1937-38 Introduction ; " and GeorgeStruble, "Flugspende Flights of 1913 ." All fourexhibits won gold (prix d'honneur) . Al

l participants were previous winners of platinum or bes tsingle-frame awards at APS World Series of Phi -lately shows throughout the United States .

Other recent Swiss exhibit winners were :

• John Barrett, "Pro Juventute, " MID-CITIES03 (Texas), silver, AAPE honor award; "1854 -62 Silk Threads" (1 frame), MID-CITIES , silver

.

• Bruce Marsden, "To Switzerland from A toZ," WINEPEX 03 (Calif.), bronze .

• Jack I . Mayer, "UN European Office – Ge -neva 1947-51" (1 frame), PIPEX 03, gold .

• Harlan F. Stone, "Postal Envelopes," BANG -KOK 03, gold, CHICAGOPEX 03, MarcusWhite Showcase grand, gold ; "PrivateAlterations of Postal Cards" (1 frame) ,CHICAGOPEX, vermeil ; "Postal Cards, "BERNPHILA 03, vermeil ; "Sitting Helveti aProofs" (1 frame), COLLECTORS CLUB(New York), award of merit .

Our HPS Cousins Across theOcean

by David Durham

Some of this was provided by Peter Von wilie r

In 1946 several collectors with a commoninterest in Switzerland and Swiss philately de -cided that a one-country English-speaking soci -ety was a good way to promote the collecting ofSwiss philatelic material . Under the leadershi pof Edward Spiro, the Helvetia Philatelic Societyof Great Britain (HPS) came into being . TheSociety has flourished with many well-knowncollectors and continues to this day to attractmembers from within the UK and beyond .

Meetings are held in four locations . Themain meetings are monthly in London andLeeds, while the Wessex Group gathers thre etimes a year . Worcester area people will beholding their second annual event in May inconjunction with WORPEX 2004 . And there areplans to re-launch a Group in southern England .

All meetings provide an opportunity formembers and guests to meet in friendly sur -roundings to discuss, display, and learn fro m

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each other about Swiss philately . The Wessex

and Worcester Groups hold all-day meetingsduring the early spring and summer . For theseevents various presenters are invited, and ther eis invariably a specialist dealer present . TheLondon and Leeds meetings also feature a pre -senter, displays, and conversation on a prede -termined topic. These various Group meetingsconstitute the main gathering points for HPS .They do have an Annual Meeting – but it is notnearly as multi-faceted as AHPS Annual Meet -ings and draws only a handful of people .

On March 6, 2004, I took the train dow nfrom Durham to Leeds and was met at the sta -tion by HPS national President Tony Hoyle an dthe Northern Group Secretary-Treasurer, Den -nis Cairns. They treated me to lunch, and the n

we walked to our meeting place . About 15 of uswere present for this monthly gathering, an deach had brought "My Favorite Swiss Set" fordisplay and comment . We had regular exhibi -tion frames to show the material . What a vari -ety we saw, both old and recent, postal historyand singles, and with all sorts of special remarksto explain their special interest . And of coursethere was the ubiquitous English cup of tea t osip while studying the displays . The displays

HPS Northern Group Chairman Cedric Dry, Northern Grou pSecretary-Treasurer Dennis Cairns, HPS National Presiden tTony Hoyle, and AHPS Past President David Durha m

were not intended for international competition ,

of course, although one or two had been in exhi -

bitions. But it was charming to enjoy the effort s

of all the members nevertheless. And at the

end, following English protocol, an expression o fthanks was given to all those who had brough t

displays – and since I was the only one withou t

any offering, I had the honor of speaking our a p -preciation to everyone there! On the train backto Durham I reflected on the pleasure of the ex -

perience of that day and (continued on page 14)

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Frühdatum or Earliest Known Use of Swiss Stamp sby Richard T. Hall

Those of you who are also U .S. collectors are probably aware of the intense interest i n

establishing the dates of earliest known use of U .S . stamps, especially in the era prior to formal first

day of issue ceremonies and cancellations . In fact, in the 2003 edition of Scott's Specialized Catalogueof US. Stamps & Covers, one of the "Special Feature" articles is entitled "The Collecting of Earlies t

Uses of United States Stamps Comes of Age," by Alan Berkun with an Editor's note stating that Scott

has changed the designation of these stamps from EKU (Earliest Known Use) to EDU (Earlies tDocumented Use) . For inclusion in the Scott catalogue as an EDU, expert certification is require dwhich probably indicates that the forgers have found a new profit center .

You ask, what does this have to do with Swiss stamps? If you will look at your Zumstein

Spezialkatalog Schweiz, you will find that Zumstein lists Frühdatum (FD) for many of its issues .Herbert Brach in his posthumous masterpiece, Switzerland 1854-1863, The Imperforate SittingHelvetia Strubel, has an Appendix devoted to the earliest date of use of each of the varieties of thi s

issue. But referring to your Zumstein again, you will note that many issues have neither Frühdatum(FD) or Ersttagbrief (ET) notations . Here is an area where all of us can help . We can look throug h

our cover collections and see what we find . And, reinstilling the "thrill of the hunt" for 20 th century

covers, we can paw through the dealers' stocks of covers to find some hidden gems .

I have compiled a listing of those items in the Zumstein catalog which either have no FD or

ET notation, or which Zumstein doesn't give an exact date of issue . Probably the most interestin g

of these is the fluorescent paper versions of the 1986-88 Mail Handling definitive set . Zumstein note s

that "Die Nummern 731, 732, 734, 736, 741, 742 sind nach Bedarf ausgeliefert worden . Der Ersttagist nicht bekannt . " (Numbers . . . were delivered as required. The first day is not known .) In addition,

Zumstein give a Verwendungszeit (date on which the stamps were put in use) for the whole range of

the pre-1950 official stamps, postage dues, and franchise stamps, it seems highly unlikely that every

one of these stamps was actually used that first day. Finally, and this may just be my ignorance, were

the various grilled and smooth paper issues both issued on the same day ?

In the table below, I have listed the dates as given in Zumstein, with question marks if the day ,

month, or year is not given . In the "Notes" column a question mark means that the date given i nZumstein is accompanied by a question mark; an asterisk is given for those issues where different

paper varieties appear to have the same date of issue; and finally, "FD?" indicates those issues put

into use but with no formal day of issue covers .

Now here is your challenge . Look through your collection and send me xeroxes of any covers

with legible cancellation dates for any of the items in the table . I will compile these and periodically

report on the results . Ultimately, the results will be given to Zumstein to consider including in th enext edition of their Spezialkatalog. Send your entries to me at the Society's post office box, P .O. Box15053, Asheville, NC 28813-0053 . Here is your opportunity to not only have some fun but add to the

knowledge base of Swiss philately .

May 2004

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May 2004

Prisoners of War in Switzerland?(continued from page 1)

The Second General Mobilization of 10 May 1940

The second general mobilization was necessitated by the progress of the war . The orderagainst flying in the border zones was lifted immediately but reimposed on 8 June . In May and Jun e1940 there were an average of 6 daily violations of Swiss airspace, mostly by the Germans who ran u pa total of 223 violations .

Status of the War in the West

The German attacks in the West lasted from 10 May to 24 June 1940 . Following the surrender of Holland (15 May) and Belgium (28 May) the German Army was on the English Channel

. Following the breakthrough of the "Weygand Line" Paris was occupied without a struggle (14 June) . Thecease-fire was 22 June 1940, and the Germans divided France into an occupied zone and a free zone(Vichy France) .

Important Events Leading to Internmentof the First Foreign Military Personnel

On 27 November 1939, the French shot down a German military aircraft that was flying ove rFrance but very near the Swiss border . The crew of three survived and escaped over the Swiss bor -

der. These were the first three military personnel that were interned in Switzerland in WW II . Theywere held in Lenk im Simmenthal in the Hotel Krone .

On 21 April 1940 a German bomber of the Type DO 17 Z3 landed at the Basel airport . Thecrew of four was captured and also interned in Lenk. Among the crew was Walter Böke . See moreabout him below .

In the crew was enlisted man Walter Böke ,the recipient of the only letter known of this period toan internee . See figure 3 .

Duels of the Flyers

On 16 May 1940 a German bomber (HeinkelHe 111) was shot down over Dübendorf. On the

The following article appeared in the Bern newspaper of 21 April 1940 :

"German Bomber Lands in Basel and is Captured - Crew Interne d

Bern, 21 April . (Informa-tion from the Army Staff .) Dur-ing the night of Saturday int oSunday, just before 1 AM, a for-eign aircraft arrived in Basel .Once the plane had signaled it sintention to land via light sig-nals the airport lights wereturned on . At 1 :15 AM a largeGerman bomber, that seems t ohave been lost, landed . Theaircraft was captured and thecrew of one lieutenant and thre eenlisted men interned ."

In Switzerland the press was not always allowed to tel lthe entire story (voluntary censorship) . Here is the rea lstory of the 17 May incident : The He 111 crash-lande d

at 17:30 in Kemleten bei Illnau (see above photo) .Rieker, despite a back injury, and Scholler hid in th ebushes and planned to escape to Germany. Eventuallythey discovered the Effretikon-Winterthur railroad line .Meanwhile the Winterthur police had started a searc hfor the airmen . A railroad employee gave the polic einformation on the fugitives . Four hours after the cras hlanding a patrol of the 12th Dragoons found the fugitivesbetween Kemptthal and Töss, camped, soaking wet an dwith a pistol . Like the rest of the crew, they had fals epapers to disguise their origins .

May 2004

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Swiss side a Me 109 and Flab Det . 34 were involved in the shoot down. The crash landing of th e

German bomber was in Kemleten/Illnau . The crew of four men survived and was interned, after Ho s -

pital examination and treatment . This event was covered in the 17 May Bern newspaper as follows :

"The Dübendorfer Air Battl e

Bern, 17 May . The Army staff reports the following detail sabout the shooting of a German bomber in the Dübendorf area onThursday evening :

The German bomber was returning from France . The four-manGerman crew thought they were still over France and opened fire on aSwiss aerial patrol aircraft that was following the bomber . Duringthe ensuing battle the Swiss aircraft damaged the bomber and two o fthe wounded German crew parachuted to earth where they were capture dby a Swiss patrol . The other two crew members landed the bomber ,set it on fire and prepared to escape, when they realized that theywere on neutral ground . All four were interned after hospitaltreatment . As experienced flyers they gave credit to the tactics ofthe Swiss Air Force . "

On 2 June 1940 a German bomber (Heinkel He 111 P-2) was shot down over Yverdon by a Me

109 E of Fliegerkompanie 15. In the crash landing of the bomber near Ursins (Yverdon) the crew of 5was injured and one later died in the Yverdon hospital . Four survivors were interned in Kienthal.

On 8 June 1940, following an aerial battle over the Jura with Swiss fighters, a German Me 11 0

C-1 had to make an emergency landing in Oberkirch (Nunningen) . The two-man crew was interne din Kienthal .

As noted above, on that day the Swiss border zone was again declared off limits to Swisspilots.

Figure 1 . A postcard from the Camp Commander of Kien-thal, where the camp postmark of Lenk im Simmenthal wa sused for a short period at the start of operations . Address-ees are 6th Division comrades of the Commander .

Figure 2 . Kienthal Camp official mail from the period en dof May to 14 June 1940 .

The Swiss LossesA C-35 was shot down over Porrentruy. The crew did not survive . A Me 109 had to make an

emergency landing in Bözingen in which the pilot was seriously injured . Numerous other aircraftwere damaged .

No Existing Central Organization for InternmentAt the start of WW II in September 1939, there existed in Switzerland no central organizatio n

for the internment of foreign troops . Responsibility for internees resided with the Section fo

r Prisoners and Internees of the Department of the Territorial Army in the Army Staff, also with the Military

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May 2004

Figure 3 . "Prisoner of War Mail" from Bad Salzuflen (Germany) dated 6 June 1940 to Walter Böke, survivor of the 21 Apri lBasel landing. Censored by the Germans in Frankfurt am Main . Properly stamped "Kriegsgefangenenpost" as required bythe German/Swiss treaty . Arrival postmark of the Kienthal civil post office, 13 June 1940. Censored by the Camp Com-mander whose mark is shown on the reverse .

Police that were subordinate to the individual Territorial Army commanders . The responsibility wa s

divided as follows :Territorial Armies were subordinate to the Swiss Army, with direction and control of eac h

corps provided by a territorial inspector from the Swiss Army. Switzerland was divided into 13 territories at this time. Each territory had a commander who was in charge of the troops (including mili -

tary police) as well as any human aid personnel . Important duties included, among others ,

management of postal censors and guarding prisoners and internees .

The Swiss "Prisoner of War Internee CampAt the end of November 1939, Switzerland opened the first "Prisoner of War Internee Camp "

in the hotel Krone in Lenk (Simmental) . The text of the camp postmark was not correct . Switzerland

was not at war with Germany. By 26 May 1940 the population of the camp had reached 8 men, all

German airmen . On that day the men were moved from Lenk to Kienthal due to "lady problems . "

Following the movement from Lenk and an overnight stay in Reichenbach, the 8 internees arrived in

Kienthal on 27 May 1940, where they were put up in barracks . By 14 June 1940 4 additional men

had been added to the camp . After this date two ad -ditional Luftwaffe men, released from the hospital ,were put into the camp . This made a total of 14 in -ternees in the camp by 26 June 1940 . One pilot, F .Riecker, was interned in Luzern at this time .

Free Postage and Postal TrafficAccording to the Universal Postal Union

Treaty and the Cairo Agreement, POWs and intern -ees held in neutral lands were to have free postag eprivileges for mail to and from all UPU countries.This included ordinary letters, value letters, moneyorders and packages but excluded postage due item s(PTA Nr. 39/197 of 21 September 1939) .

For POWs and internees the free postageprivileges were regulated as follows : All correspondence must be clearly marked as POW o rmail . Mail being sent to a POW required the word "Kriegsgefangenenpost" clearly on the front

well as an address that left no doubt that the letter was destined for a POW or internee . The postaladministrations of Germany, France and Great Britain agreed with these rules (PTA Nr. 59/263 of 8December 1939) .

The camp commander kept a diary from 26 May to 1 4

June 1940. According to a former corporal of the militarypolice the camp guards (3 men) were rotated every 1 4days to assure no personal relationships with the intern-ees .

Control of the mail was a responsibility of the cam pcommander . Letters were given to him unsealed . Hehad to decide whether to release the letters or to get anopinion from higher authorities first . In the latter case ,when everything was in order and the letters had beenreturned (by courier,) he would then seal the letter an dout his censor mark on the back side of the letters .

interneeas

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Release Against Den Haag TreatyOn 26 June 1940 the Bundesrat decided to

release the 15 healthy officers and enlisted men o fthe German Air Force from internment . TwoGerman airmen, still in the Yverdon hospital, wer eto be released as soon as they were out of hospital .This release (made under pressure from Germany )was not in accordance with the rights and duties ofneutral countries as specified in the Hague treaty .Follow-up research shows that all of these youngmen were lost in subsequent battles with Britis hpilots .

Philatelic items from Kienthal exist. Theseitems were processed and released by thecamp commander. The camp commander, aphilatelist, wanted to create some philatelicsouvenirs of the time and earn a little mone yon the side. Approximately 50 letters wer e

prepared (most to higher authority or to themilitary police), franked with soldier stamps ,marked on the reverse with the camp com -

mander's censor mark and postmarked withthe camp postmark. The local postmaster put

his postmark next to that of the camp, dated15 June 1940. The postmaster started to hav e

second thoughts about the whole thing, go tthe covers back from the camp commande rand he asked his bosses whether the enter -prise was legal . The result was that most of

the soldier stamps had to be cut off most cov-ers. The few remaining intact covers without

addresses were later addressed .

Sources :

PTTAmtsbla tt

Report of the Army Staff 1939-1945

Ernst Wetter, Duel of Flyers and Diplo -mats, the Air Battle between Switzerlan dand Germany May/June 1940

Der Landbote, City of Winterthur Newspaper

Private Diary of the Kienthal Camp Commandan t

History of lllnau-Effretikon, Volume 2, 1992, Ueli Müller

Our HPS Cousins Across the Ocean(continued from page 6) had a smile on my face as I thought of how HPS and AHPS people hav esuch a similar fascination for those little Swiss pieces of paper !

As with TELL in the US, so with the HPS Newsletter in Britain : this monthly publication is amajor stimulus and uniter of the Society members . The Newsletter carries original articles by Societymembers, inquiries about strange items, translations of articles from Swiss journals – and that de -lightful "Did You Know?" column by Michael Rutherfoord of Zurich, now in its twenty-sixth year. TheNewsletter is a major source of information and entertainment covering all aspects of Swiss philately .

The Society's Library contains some rare treasures, which may be used by members for thecost of postage. The Library, small in its beginning, has expanded to become a primary source of in -formation for students of almost any field of Swiss philatelic research .

The Society offers sales packets enabling members both to buy and sell material at a reason -able price . A percentage of all sales is retained to help support the costs of the Society . Members

wishing to peruse the packets can normally select from approximately seven packets a year, eachwith six to eight booklets of material . I have enjoyed receiving these packets this year and buyingsome postal history items .

With about 160 paid members, the Societycontinues to look for ways to offer its members awider range of benefits in the future . For more in-formation, contact Secretary P . Vonwiller a tpeter.vonwiller@btinternet .com . To subscribe to theeight-page HPS Newsletter, contact our own Secre -tary Dick Hall .

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A hearty THANK YOU to all those who an-swered my call for more articles for TELL .Our members have sent several very fin earticles – enough to fill TELL through theSeptember issue! Don't stop ; we need morefor the rest of the year . – Ed.

May 2004

Matterhorn Meanderingsby Richard T. Hall

I seem to be asking a lot of questions in my column which indicates that this column is servin g

a useful purpose in educating our members . However, I'm not getting much help in the way o f

answers from those of you who might know the answers . Share your knowledge – we'll all benefit .

Speaking of questions, I field the questions that come in via our web site . These come from al l

sorts of people, most of whom have some stamp with "Helvetia" on it and think they have found th e

pot at the end of the rainbow . To date, no one asking me the value of an item they've found has hi t

the jackpot, but who knows, maybe someone will . I do want to share one funny inquiry I receive d

recently. This person wrote that he had a 20c red stamp with the word Helvetia on it with a picture of

Jesus carrying the cross. I wrote back to him that to my knowledge Switzerland had never issued a

stamp with Jesus carrying the cross but if he could send me a scan of the item, maybe I could hel p

him . I'll let you think about what stamp he was asking about . The answer is at the bottom of thi s

column .

From member Allan Hock comes an interesting question . He is in possession of three cover s

addressed in the same hand to the same address in Winterthur and cancelled in Winterthur. The first

of these has the 1927 Pro Juventute set cancelled on April 30, 1928 . The second has the 1928 Pr o

Juventute set cancelled April 12, 1929 . The third cover has the 1930 Pro Juventute set cancelled on

May 30, 1931. Allan notes that the 1928 cover is cancelled on the last day of validity of the Pr o

Juventute set . Beginning with the 1928 Pro Juventute set, the period of validity was extended by on e

month to May 31 of the following year . This 6 month period of validity continued until 1953 when i t

was extended for an additional month to June 30 of the following year . So the 1929 cover was

cancelled when the stamps still had a month and a half of validity remaining. The 1931 cover is

interesting since it is cancelled on the day before the last day of validity of the 1930 set . But May 31 ,

1931, was a Sunday so the 30th was probably the last day you could actually use the set. So it would

appear that the 1931 cover is also a last day of use cover . Allan's question is whether such "last day

covers" have any particular interest . I know that first day covers are of great interest, but last da y

covers? Can anyone help Allan ?

Swiss Post announced that K-cancel 34a from Sierre in canton Valais was withdrawn from

service on March 31, 2004. This cancel was put in use on November 5, 1988 .

Those of you who have been following the rash of post offices closings in Switzerland over th e

past few years may have had a problem keeping up with the sheer volume of these changes . You may

remember that Karl Gebert published his monumental chronicle of Swiss post offices covering th e

period from 1849 to 2000. Herr Gebert has just issued a revised version of this chronicle covering th e

period 1849 to 2004 (including the changes noted below for April of this year!) . His PoststellenchronikSchweiz 1849-2004 is available as an electronic file in Microsoft Word 2000 on a 3 .5 inch floppy

diskette. The document's introduction is in three languages : German, French, and English so you

should have no trouble understanding his listings . If you are interested in obtaining a copy of thi s

revised document, it can be ordered from Herr Gebert at the following address :

Herr Karl GebertKapplerstrasse 27CH-9642 Ebnat-KappelSwitzerland

The cost of the diskette is Fr 15 .00 or 10 Euros . I sent him a $20 bill . Please mention that yo u

saw this announcement in TELL. I highly recommend this document if you have any interest in th e

post offices and/or cancellations of Switzerland .

The following is the continuing list of recent post office closings and changes .

1 . On January 30, 2004, the post office at 6762 Faido Stazione (canton Ticino) was closed .

May 2004

15 TELL

2. On February 27, 2004, the following postoffices were closed :

6967 Dino (canton Ticino )1200 Genève 16 Grand-Pr é

(canton Genève)7313 St . Margrethenberg

(canton St .Gallen)

3. On February 28, 2004, the following pos toffices were closed :

3019 Bern 19 Oberbottigen(canton Bern)

3000 Bern 32 Schosshalde(canton Bern)

8522 Häuslenen (canton Thurgau)1663 Pringy (canton Fribourg)6777 Quinto (canton Ticino) [K-cancel 1566 was last used on that date ]

8455 Rüdlingen (canton Schaffhausen) [K-cancel 1362 was last used on that date ]

4. On March 31, 2004, the following post offices were closed :

8607 Aathal-Seegräben (canton Zürich)4123 Allschwil 3 lindenplatz (canton Basel-Land) [K-cancel 1420 was last used on that date ]2113 Boveresse (canton Neuchâtel) [K-cancel 1450 was last used on that date ]1885 Chesières (canton Vaud) [K-cancel 508 was last used on that date ]4458 Eptingen (canton Basel-Land) [K-cancel 817 was last used on that date ]2535 Frinvillier (canton Bern) [K-cancel 1050 was last used on that date ]7058 Litzirüti (canton Graubünden)7242 Luzein (canton Graubünden)7224 Putz (canton Graubünden)2538 Romont (canton Bern)8919 Rottenschwil (canton Aargau)6066 St. Niklausen (canton Obwalden) [K-cancel 588 was last used on that date ]7472 Surava (canton Graubünden)2537 Vauffelin (canton Bern) [K-cancel 1102 was last used on that date ]1583 Villarepos (canton Fribourg)

5. On April 3, 2004, the following post offices were closed :

6558 Cabbiolo (canton Graubünden) [K-cancel 1158 was last used on that date ]6557 Cama (canton Graubünden) [K-cancel 1267 was last used on that date ]6540 Castaneda (canton Graubünden) [K-cancel 1369 was last used on that date]6578 Caviano (canton Ticino) [K-cancel 987 was last used on that date ]6556 Leggia (canton Graubünden)6577 Ranzo (canton Ticino)6541 Sta. Maria in Calanca (canton Graubünden) [K-cancel 339b was last used on that date]6538 Verdabbio (canton Graubünden) [K-cancel 1058a was last used on that date ]

Now for the answer to the mystery stamp question . The stamp with "Jesus" on it was the very

common 1925 definitive with William Tell and his crossbow! And not only was it a very commo nstamp, the scan showed that the stamp was torn . My correspondent said he was asking for hi s

neighbors who were hoping to go on an extended vacation with the proceeds from the sale of thi sstamp. I told him that maybe they could drive down to WalMart instead !

That's all for this time . Please share any answers to questions I have posed in this or pas tcolumns . We'll all be wiser for your knowledge . Thanks .

16 TELL

May 2004