By Andy Taylor [Inspired by an article from Salvatore Rizza, and incorporating material from Die Briefmarke, H G White, D McNally, and others, for which I thank them.]
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The Kleinwalsertal is an isolated valley, part of the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg, from the rest of which it is separated by a high mountain range. The highest peak is the Widderstein at 2535m, and the valley is surrounded by a ring of mountains many over 2000m. The only natural route into the valley leads from Oberstdorf in Bavaria along the narrow gorge of the river Breitach; from Vorarlberg the valley can be reached only on foot over a few high passes. The map below shows the location of the valley in Austria. In the second map, the mountains have been indicated by the grey shading; the German-Austrian border by a dotted line; and the roads by solid lines.
The area itself is almost 100 sqkm large and has about 4500 inhabitants. The first immigrants came from the Wallis district of Switzerland and settled in what is now Mittelberg; their old homeland gave the Walsertal its name. Today the inhabitants of Kleinwalsertal are a mixture of immigrants from all federal states of Austria, especially from Vorarlberg. During the Anschluß period about 1500 Germans immigrated, many of whom took the option in 1945 of becoming Austrian citizens. Politically, the Kleinwalsertal is a Gemeinde of Bregenz in Vorarlberg, called Mittelberg. With time, further settlements developed (Baad, Hirschegg and Riezlern), and today Riezlern is the largest and most modern.
Key: 1: Baad; 2: Mittelberg; 3: Hirschegg; 4: Riezlern; 5: Walserschanz; 6: Oberstdorf; 7: Fischen; 8: Sonthofen; 9: Immenstadt; 10: Oberstaufen; 11: Bezau; 12: Au
A location with such a unique situation has a similarly unique postal history, which will now be described and illustrated. The complications of fiscal transactions and their markings will be ignored; readers who require more information should contact the editor. In 1891, Father J. Finch and Dr. H. v. Klenze wrote a history of the postal arrangements up to that date in the 'Mittelberger Chronik', from which the following four paragraphs are derived.
The postal connections for so lonely an area are naturally a relatively newer arrangement, and until the middle of the 19th century there was no alternative to sending the letter by a messenger to Sonthofen who handed it there to the Royal Bavarian Post. On 18th January 1840 the Gemeinde wrote to the Royal Bavarian Post Office at Immenstadt, stating that they would like to exchange the Walsertal mail with the Oberstdorf messengers.
For mail to Austria, however, the troublesome route over the mountain passes to Bezau remained. In the year 1846 the Gemeinde contracted with one Anton Wallina to carry letters and money once a week to and from Bezau. From there they were exchanged with the messenger from Au, where they were handed over to the Austrian Post. Letters from Austria to the Walsertal were mainly brought by the tobacco carriers, who were not allowed to enter Bavaria and used the Starzljoch. Heavy snowfalls and avalanche danger often interrupted the traffic over the Starzljoch for weeks or even months.
On 20th January 1852 the district authority announced that the letter mail from Bezau and Bregenz would be routed via Sonthofen, and the post wagon would also call there. Since Oberstdorf had no postal delivery system, all postal items were collected from Sonthofen by Oberstdorf messengers, and the messenger employed by the Gemeinde picked them up twice a week at Oberstdorf.
In 1862 the post office at Walschschanz was erected, and in 1877 the Karriolpost (it's a light covered cart) began running between Oberstdorf and Mittelberg, at first three times weekly, later four and from 1885 on all work-days. In 1886, Post Offices were opened in Mittelberg and Riezlern, with a Postablage in Hirschegg, and the Walserschanz post office was demoted to a Postablage. In the winter a Rural Post connected with the Karrriolpost.
Each is on its own page(s) because of the necessary size of the illustrations!
Before the first post office opened in Walserschanz, post to and from Kleinwalsertal can only be recognised by the address of the sender or recipient. Since from 1 June 1850 Austrian mail (in general!) required stamps, this in Kleinwalsertal can be called the 'pre-postoffice period'. Mail from Kleinwalsertal had to be brought to Bezau post office, and was there given adhesive stamps which were then cancelled there also. Naturally mail could be handed over also in Sonthofen or Oberstdorf; however it then had to be stamped with Bavarian stamps.
Walserschanz in 1905
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©Andy Taylor. Last updated 13 April 2000