GERMAN PHILATELY

PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1933)

This page was last updated
16-Sep-2026 05:26

ASCHERSLEBEN BRIEFMARKEN AUSSTELLUNG
ASCHERSLEBEN STAMP EXHIBITION
PP122-C-2, PP126-C-2 and PP127-C-4
(19th/21st Aug 1933)

This postcard advertises the Aschersleben Stamp Exhibition held from 19th to 21st August 1933. There was also a special postmark used to advertise the event. There are four versions of this card, the image on the reverse is the same for all cards but the value stamp on the front differs as follows:

PP122-C-2: With 3Rpf Hindenburg Medallion pre-printed stamp.
PP126-C-2: With 5Rpf Hindenburg Medallion pre-printed stamp.
PP127-C-4: With 6Rpf Hindenburg Medallion pre-printed stamp.
PP131-C-1: With 15Rpf Hindenburg Medallion pre-printed stamp.
OTHER: Without a pre-printed stamp.

PP122-C-2

PP122-C-2 has a pre-printed 3 Rpf Hindenburg Medallion stamp.

This card is a philatelic (stamp collecting) exhibition advertising card, not Nazi party propaganda.

It advertises the Briefmarken-Ausstellung Aschersleben 1933 (Stamp Exhibition Aschersleben 1933), held from 19th to 21st Aug, 1933 at the Bestehornhaus, a landmark Art Nouveau hall in Aschersleben (Saxony-Anhalt) built by the industrialist Carl Bestehorn. The event combined the 39. Deutscher Philatelistentag (39th German Philatelists' Day) with the 10. Bundestag (10th federal congress) of the German philatelic associations, essentially the national stamp-collectors' convention for that year.

The design itself is a classic philatelic-exhibition motif: a galloping mounted post-rider blowing a posthorn, evoking the historic horseback mail couriers that predate postal stamps, a very common visual shorthand used on German stamp-exhibition labels of the era, framed here in the shape of a giant perforated stamp.

Context worth noting: this event fell just months after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, a period when German philatelic associations, like most civic and hobbyist organizations, were being brought into line (Gleichschaltung) with the new regime, sources describe this particular Philatelistentag as taking place "under the sign of the new era." The card itself, though, is a hobbyist/collector item rather than party propaganda.

PP126-C-2

PP126-C-2 has a pre-printed 5 Rpf Hindenburg Medallion stamp.

PP127-C-4

PP127-C-4 has a pre-printed 6 Rpf Hindenburg Medallion stamp.

PP131-C-1

PP131-C-1 has a pre-printed 15 Rpf Hindenburg Medallion stamp.

WITHOUT PRE-PRINTED STAMP

In addition to the above printed-to-private-order postcards there is also a version without a pre-printed stamp, and it can be found either blank or with the special machine cancellation shown below.