GERMAN PHILATELY

PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1935)

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

8. SEEREISE MONTE SARMIENTO
8th VOYAGE of the M.S. MONTE SARMIENTO
(Jul 1935)

BACKGROUND: This series of postcards was issued to commemorate the 8th K.d.F cruise of the MONTE SARMIENTO.

SONDERSTEMPEL: NONE




This is a companion piece to the previous Monte Olivia 26th Voyage, the Monte Olivia 29th Voyage, and the previous Der Deutsche card, the same KdF cruise programs, this one only one day later than the "der Deutsche" sailing. On this occasion it was a Norwegian fjord cruise rather than a North Sea voyage.

The header identifies it as the "8. Seereise" (8th Sea Voyage) of the NS-Gemeinschaft "Kraft durch Freude," aboard the M.S. Monte Sarmiento of the Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg Süd), under Captain F. Petersen, dated Wednesday, 3rd Jul, 1935.

The Monte Sarmiento itself has an interesting pedigree: launched in 1924 by Blohm & Voss for Hamburg Süd's South America run, it was the first German motor ship over 10,000 gross tons and, at the time, the largest motor ship in the world. Like "Der Deutsche," it had originally been built with a relatively egalitarian tourist/emigrant-class layout for the South American trade, which made it well suited to KdF's later single-class cruise model. This card is actually useful documentary evidence in its own right: standard references note the ship's KdF Norwegian fjord service mainly from 1936 onward, but this menu shows it was already running KdF fjord cruises by July 1935.

The photo shows the ship threading a steep-walled Norwegian fjord, almost certainly one of the popular "Nordlandfahrten" (Nordic voyages) that were among KdF's signature offerings, giving ordinary German workers access to scenic travel that had previously been the preserve of the wealthy.

The menu itself is a little more elaborate than the "Der Deutsche" one: pearl barley soup, roast mutton, and Leipziger Allerlei (a classic mixed-vegetable dish) for lunch, followed by German Beefsteak with onions, béchamel potatoes, tongue sausage, and fine Mettwurst for dinner, hearty, generous fare again fitting KdF's messaging of dignified, ample provisioning for "ordinary" travelers. The back carries the HSDG (Hamburg Süd) house emblem.