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The total breakdown at the war's end in 1945, followed by the invasion of the country by the four allied forces, also of course affected the postal system. Letter traffic recommenced on 2nd May 1945 in the Russian zone, followed by other zones soon after that. On 1st October 1945 letter traffic expanded to cover the whole territory of the federal republic; from 2nd January 1946 a limited overseas letter traffic was possible, and at the end of 1946 the last restrictions were removed. Registered Post was sometimes introduced along with normal post, sometimes later, depending on the administrative and political considerations: for a detailed account see Reference 9.
The Allies instructed the new postal administration that as soon as possible new printing plates for stamps, Registration Labels etc should be prepared. Meanwhile, all signs of National Socialism or the Anschluß were to be removed or made unrecognizable. Very often changes of the text occur on former German Registration Labels, mostly overprints made to obscure the Postleitgebiets-number. If the remaining text was not permissible, it had to be made unrecognizable. Proof of the use of unchanged German Registration Labels after May 1945 is almost always possible only on letters, or in a few cases by the use of stamps which were first issued after the end of the war.
The example above shows an unaltered German label still in use on 8.4.1946 on a letter from Solbad Hall (alias Hall in Tirol) to Wien (backstamp 9.4.46). The Posthorn stamp was valid until 31.5.46; the Landscape was issued on 24.11.45. The label should have been replaced by a provisional or definitive issue 12 months before its date of use! The rate is correct for an inland non-local 20-gram letter: 12 Groschen postage plus 30 Groschen registration. [Had the letter been philatelic it would no doubt have carried the 42 Groschen stamp issued that day!] For a full explanation of the 1945-46 rates see Dr C Kainz's article in Wurth's yearbook volume 7.
The above cover, from Köflach to Holland on 31 December 1946, has a nice Zivilzensur in der Britischen Zone mark as well as a Third Reich label!
This one, again with an unaltered German label, was sent from Kitzbühel to Wien on 18.2.1947 (backstamp Wien 20.2.47). The rate is correct for a 20-gram letter in the period 1.1.47 - 31.8.47.
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©Andy Taylor. Last updated 28 August 2000