GERMAN PHILATELY

PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1935)

This page was last updated
16-Sep-2026 06:19

2. SÄCHSISCHES SÄNGERFEST
2nd SAXON SINGER's FESTIVAL
(28th/30th Jun 1935)

This postcard was issued to celebrate the 2nd Saxon Singer's Festival held in Leipzig from 28th to 30th Jun 1935.

The 1st Sächsisches Sängerfest was held in Dresden in 1925.




This card is notably direct in its design, the four vignette photos are literally arranged in the shape of a swastika, rather than just accompanying a flag or emblem elsewhere on the page.

It's the official festival card for the "2. Sächsisches Sängerfest in Leipzig" (2nd Saxon Choral/Singers' Festival), 28th to 30th Jun, 1935, as confirmed by the back's "Offizielle Festpostkarte" heading. The red diamond emblem in the center reads "DSB", the Deutscher Sängerbund, the national German choral federation. This detail matters: the DSB underwent Gleichschaltung (Nazi political coordination) starting at a singers' conference in Dortmund in April 1933, and by May 1933 the separate workers' choral federation (Deutscher Arbeiter-Sängerbund) had been dissolved, its member clubs absorbed into the now party-aligned DSB structure. Regional Sängerfeste like this one were part of a nationwide pattern of synchronized cultural festivals under that consolidated, Nazi-aligned choral movement, another instance of the "singers' battle" in 1935 (the same year saw comparable events like the 1st Nordmark Song Festival in Kiel).

The four images arranged into the swastika shape depict stages of life and social roles: a mother with infant, a young courting couple, an older man with a pipe, and a young man in a steel helmet (evoking either a soldier or a Wehrsport/paramilitary trainee). Together they present an idealized life-cycle narrative, family formation, romance, age, and military readiness, folded directly into the party's central symbol, making the design's propaganda intent unusually explicit even by the standards of these cards. The Saxon coat of arms (the black-and-gold striped shield with the green rue crown) appears in the upper left, tying the imagery to regional identity.

The back credits the design to Alexander Schaaff of Pappritz, near Dresden, and printing to Giesecke & Devrient's Leipzig/Berlin works, a major German security-printing firm (still in business today, known for banknote printing).

2nd SAXON SINGER's FESTIVAL
(28th/30th Jun 1935)

The card below is not a postcard, it's an admission card for the 2nd Saxon Singer's Festival




This Festkarte (festival admission card), No. 009330, was for the 2. Sächsisches Sängerfest (2nd Saxon Singers' Festival), held from 28th to 30th Jun, 1935 in Leipzig.

The bard/minstrel figure on the card is a stylized Germanic minnesinger with a lyre, sword, and swastika-patterned tunic, reflecting the völkisch imagery the regime layered onto older German choral-festival tradition.

The card itself was blank for the holder to fill in their own name and hometown ("Für Herrn/Frau/Frl. ... aus ..."), non-transferable, and would be forfeited without replacement if lost.

The reverse spells out what it actually entitled the bearer to: free admission to the festival grounds and audience section during the main rehearsal (as long as their own choir wasn't the one rehearsing), plus free entry to the welcome concert and welcome evening. Access to the singers' podium itself for the two Haupt-Konzerte (main concerts) was restricted to performers who could prove they'd attended the corresponding rehearsal, and participation in the closing Festzug (parade) required both this card and a visible festival badge.

The purple stamps on the back: "1" next to audience access at the rehearsal and "2" next to podium access, show this particular holder was cleared as an audience member for the first main concert's rehearsal, then validated to actually sing on stage for the second main concert, suggesting they were a rank-and-file choir member rather than an official or dignitary.