GERMAN PHILATELY
ABSENDER-FREISTEMPEL
This page was last updated
06-Sep-2026 03:37
ABSENDER-FREISTEMPEL TYPE D6
CITIES 'F'
BACKGROUND: The D-6 design was used from 1939 onwards and features a Reichs Adler (Empire Eagle) looking to its right with one wing extended along the bottom edge of the frame. Just above the eagle's wing is a hollow swastika and the stamp value is between the eagle's neck and the swasika.
FRANKFURT (MAIN)
1. VERLAG MORITZ DIESTERWEG
| CAT No. | FROM | TO | DATE | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D6: No. 212 | Frankfurt (Main) 1 | Obernkirchen | 28th Mar 1942 | 6 Rpf |
Postmarked Frankfurt (Main) on 28th Mar 1942, with a red Deutsches Reich franking meter (6 Pfennig) featuring a Reich's Eagle design. The sender was Verlag Moritz Diesterweg, a publishing house at Kleiner Hirschgraben 12 u. 14 in Frankfurt am Main. Diesterweg was (and still is) a well-known German educational/textbook publisher, founded in the 19th century. The illustration shows their multi-story headquarters building.
The recipient was Firma W. C. Ilsemann, Buchhandlung (bookshop) in Obernkirchen, so this is correspondence between a publisher and one of its bookseller clients. The message on the reverse side is a routine accounting/bookkeeping notice from Diesterweg's Buchhaltung (accounting department). It states that the bookshop had transferred RM 38.90 on 13th Feb to settle invoice no. 56/2242 dated 2 February, but according to the publisher's records that invoice only totaled RM 33.90. The letter politely asks Ilsemann to double-check their records and explain the RM 5.00 discrepancy, offering that if it was an error on the bookshop's side, the resulting credit balance could simply be applied toward their next payment.
The card is signed off with "Heil Hitler!" before the company name and department, a standard, mandated business correspondence closing during the Nazi era, even for completely mundane commercial matters like this invoice query.
REFERENCES
1. "DIE DEUTSCHEN POST- UND ABSENDER-FREISTEMPEL" - Handbuch und Katalog by Heiner Dürst and Gerd Eich. Heft Nr. 902. Wikipedia International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog Germany Page 1
