PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1933)

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

CARL BENZ DENKMALS
CARL BENZ MEMORIALS
PP127-C-2
(1933)

BACKGROUND: This postcard features Carl Benz's memmorial in Mannheim and bears the inscription "FESTPOSTKARTE | ZUR ENTHÜLLUNG DES | CARL BENZ-DENKMALS | MANNHEIM OSTERN 1933", 'FESTIVAL POSTCARD | TO REVEAL THE | CARL BENZ MONUMENT | MANNHEIM EASTER 1933'

SPECIAL CANCEL:




This card commemorates the unveiling of a monument to automotive pioneer Carl Benz, and unlike the earlier cards, it carries no visible party or political symbolism at all.

The front of the card features an atmospheric sketch/etching-style illustration of the actual monument: a tall, block-like stone or bronze relief set among a tree-lined avenue, carved with a standing figure of Carl Benz beside an early automobile, recognizable as his pioneering design, with large wire-spoked wheels, resembling the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, generally credited as the first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine (patented 1886).

The inscription reads "CARL BENZ 1844–1929." The caption identifies it as "Carl Benz-Denkmal von Prof. M. Laeuger", likely referring to Max Laeuger, a well-regarded German Jugendstil-era architect, garden designer, and ceramic artist, credited here as the monument's designer. Published by Verlag Scherl, Berlin SW68, Scherl was one of Germany's major publishing houses of the period, part of the large Hugenberg press empire.

The reverse side of the postcard features an indicia (a 6-Pfennig green Hindenburg definitive). The printed heading reads: "FESTPOSTKARTE ZUR ENTHÜLLUNG DES CARL BENZ-DENKMALS, MANNHEIM OSTERN 1933" ("Festival Postcard for the Unveiling of the Carl Benz Memorial, Mannheim, Easter 1933"). The rest of the card is blank, likely distributed as an official commemorative item at the unveiling ceremony itself.

Carl Benz founded his automobile company, Benz & Cie, in Mannheim, so it's fitting the memorial stands in his home city. The monument was unveiled at Easter 1933, just weeks after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on 30th Jan 1933, but the project itself, its imagery, and its language are entirely civic and commemorative, honoring German industrial and engineering achievement rather than anything tied to the new political order.

It's a reminder that ordinary German civic life, industry commemorations, and cultural institutions continued largely on their own terms even as the Nazi regime was rapidly consolidating power around them in early 1933, at least in form, even if the surrounding political context was already transforming rapidly.

PRIVATE ISSUE

The privately overprinted example below was another KURT HORN creation advertising his philatelic business. The cancellation used on this example was the special handstamp used to commemorate the 15th German Gymnatics Games, held in STUTTGART earlier in the year.

EXTRA CARDS IN MY COLLECTION

REFERENCES:
1. PRIVATPOSTKARTEN KATALOG BAND 1 by HANSPETER FRECH 2003 Edition