GERMAN PHILATELY

PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1941)

This page was last updated
31-Aug-2026 06:39

TAG DER BRIEFMARKE - DORTMUND
THE DAY OF THE STAMP - DORTMUND
(12th Jan 1941)

BACKGROUND: Issued to commemorate the Day of the Stamp in DORTMUND.

SONDERSTEMPEL: The special handstamp used in DORTMUND for The Day of the Stamp in 1941 can be seen on the example below inscribed "Dortmund | Tag der Briefmarke | 12.1.41,".




This card marks the Day of the Stamp observed by the "KdF-Sammlergruppe, Kreisgruppe Dortmund", the Dortmund district chapter of the KdF (Kraft durch Freude / "Strength Through Joy") stamp-collecting group.

The self adhesive stamp on the example above is a Winterhilfswerk (Winter Relief charity fund) semi-postal stamp, denominated 3+2 Pfennig, the "+2" being a surcharge added to the postage price and donated to the WHW charity drive. This particular stamp belongs to the 1940 "Historische Bauwerke" (historic buildings) series and depicts the Artushof in Danzig (today Gdańsk), issued 5th Nov, 1940 (Michel catalog no. 751).

Illustration: The left panel shows a stone knight statue in a suit of armor, standing under a Gothic arch, holding a sword, this is very likely a depiction of St. Reinoldus, the patron saint of Dortmund, whose famous statue stands in the city's Reinoldikirche, a natural choice of local landmark for a Dortmund-issued card.

The phrase below St. Reinoldus reads "So fast as Dürpm" and is Low German (Plattdeutsch/Westphalian dialect), and it translates to "As firm/strong as Dortmund", "Düörpm" being the old Low German dialect form of "Dortmund," and "fast" here meaning "fest" (firm, steadfast, unyielding) rather than "quick."

The saying is inscribed on the west facade of Dortmund's Old Town Hall and dates back to the Große Dortmunder Fehde (the Great Dortmund Feud) of 1388, when the city held firm against a siege/blockade. It became a traditional civic motto expressing the city's historical resilience and pride, a defiant "we don't fall" boast, and was later revived as the official slogan for Dortmund's 1100th-anniversary celebrations in 1982.

Emblem: The small sunburst/gear-like symbol with a swastika at its center near the "KdF" text is the stylized cogwheel emblem associated with the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front), the parent organization of KdF.