Transition of the Austrian Post to the Reichspost in 1938

Introduction

A question often asked amongst philatelists is, what happened to the Austrian postal system after the Anschluß on 13th March 1938. The recycling of many pre-Anschluß files during the Reich as irrelevant waste paper, the deliberate destruction of much of the wartime records in 1945 as possibly incriminating, and the loss of many files during the bombing of Vienna all conspire to make authoritative answers extremely difficult to obtain.

However, some information can be obtained from the available German records; and one must bear in mind that following the Anschluß, Austria was regarded as "having returned to the Motherland" and was officially designated "Land Oesterreich". The former Austrian authorities were quickly downgraded to implementers of Berlin's orders, and there was no need or scope for local initiative: so the loss of the Viennese files is not a catastrophe. The relevant printed documents from 1938, contained in the "Reichsgesetzblatt 1938, Teil 1, Berlin" and the "Bundesgesetzblatt für das Land Österreich 1938, Wien", are:

• "Amtsblatt des Reichspostministeriums, Ausgabe A", 1938 (Berlin). This is the Official Gazette of the Berlin Postal Ministry.
• "Post- und Telegraphenverordnungsblatt": issued by the Generaldirektion for Posts & Telegraphs, part of the Austrian Trade Ministry, up to issue 19 of 23 March 1938. From issue 20 of 24 March, the title had "für das Lande Österreich" added, and the independent ministry vanished.
• "Nachrichtenblatt der Abwicklungsstelle des Reichspostministeriums für das Lande Österreich".

Reading these volumes shows that there were matters long familiar in the "Altreich" but unknown in Austria; nor could the German postal employees be expected to know the Austrian special provisions. So, everything had to be republished in the 'other place', and philatelic researchers must peruse them both. For the postal details, the appropriate starting place is the Austrian "21^st Postgebührenweiser" (ie, table of rates) valid from 1st January 1935; this had had only a few amendments between then and 13th March 1938. The details of the transition from that to the German Reichspost are the subject of this article.

I have used "Land Austria" below to translate "Land Oesterreich", the post-Anschluß name of Austria; and "Germany" to mean "Das Reich", the country ruled by Hitler on 1 March 1938, sometimes referred to in the originals as "Altreich". Pre-Anschluß Austria is called "Austria". Quotations directly from the official sources are in boldface, like this.

This card was issued to mark Hitler's progress around his expanded State. The places shown are those where he made formal speeches: see below at 3rd & 8th April. The stamp side of the card is shown below.

As is made clear in the Wiener GFuPVM [see 'further reading' (b)]. there are THREE postal periods which can (and must!) be separately considered:

The 1st German - Austrian rates period (13th March - 3^rd April 1938)
There was a Fieldpost for German soldiers in Austria (lasting up to 20th May); it must be distinguished from the Civil post which remained unchanged.

The 2nd German - Austrian rates period (4th April - 31st July 1938)
The basic rates were now calculated in German currency, while the ancillary charges for express, airmail, registered and pneumatic services remained at the Austrian rate and were calculated in Groschen. For both, either German or Austrian stamps [at a rate of exchange of 1½ Gr = 1 Rpf] could be used.

The 3rd German - Austrian rates period (1st August - 31st October 1938)
The German tariffs were now in force, not only for the basic rates, but also for all incidental charges; however Austrian postage stamps in private hands could still be used until 31st Oct and be exchanged free of charge up to the 31st Dec.

©Andy Taylor. Last updated 24 Aug 2002