GERMAN PHILATELY

PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1935)

This page was last updated
16-Sep-2026 05:27

DESSAU GAUFEST
DESSAU GAU FESTIVAL
(Jul 1935)

BACKGROUND: This postcard was issued to commemorate the Dessau Gaufest held in Jul 1935. The image shows a bust of Fredderick the Great looking down on columns of gymnasts with the inscription "Dassau Ruft" - 'Dessau calls'

Text on the reverse side reads "zum mitteldeutschen | Gaufest | des Gaues 6 Mitte | im Reichsbund für Leibesübungen | im Juli 1935 in Dessau. Leitung und Durchführung: | Gau 6 der Deutschen Turnerschaft"

'To the Central German District Festival of the middle district 6, in the Reich Association for Physical Exercise, in July 1935 in Dessau. Management and implementation: Gau 6 of the German Gymnastics Association'

SONDERSTEMPEL:



This card advertises the 1935 Gaufest (regional sports festival) held in Dessau, an event organized by the Deutsche Turnerschaft (German Gymnastics Association) under the Nazi-era Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (Reich League for Physical Exercise), the state's umbrella sports organization.

Front: The bold "Dessau ruft" ("Dessau calls") headline sits below a large Iron Cross–style emblem (the logo of the German Gymnastics Society), with a swastika at its center, a common way of fusing military/nationalist symbolism with a sports event under the Nazi regime. The large bust dominating the image, wearing a distinctive tricorn hat, is a depiction of "der Alte Dessauer", Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau (1676–1747), a Prussian field marshal and local historical icon, whose monument stands in Dessau's Schlossplatz

Using this local "strongman" figure as a mascot/watchman overlooking the athletes is a deliberate nod to Dessau civic identity merged with the event's militaristic overtones. Below him, a stylized line of young men and women march in athletic uniforms (tank tops and shorts, alternating male and female figures) in repeating, almost Art Deco–esque ranks, evoking mass gymnastics displays (Turnfeste) that were a staple of German physical-culture culture going back to the 19th century, but now visually regimented in a way that echoes military formation marching.

Back: The text confirms the specifics, this card commemorates the "mitteldeutsches Gaufest des Gaues 6 Mitte im Reichsbund für Leibesübungen," held in July 1935 in Dessau, organized and run by "Gau 6 der Deutschen Turnerschaft" (District 6 of the German Gymnastics Association). This was the 1st Central German Regional Festival of that Gau, part of a nationwide series of regional Gaufeste the Reichsbund für Leibesübungen held that summer across Germany (a similar one took place in Karlsruhe, for instance) after the Nazi regime had consolidated all German sport into this centralized body in 1934.

So structurally it blends traditional German civic/athletic culture (gymnastics festivals, local historical figures) with overt Nazi party symbolism, produced as festival ephemera rather than personal mail.