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Hello to all -
On the ebay.com stamp chat board, we have been discussing a cover mailed from Leipzig to Guatemala in January 1941, inscribed by the sender "air mail to North America", franked with 85 pf in stamps, which arrived in Guatemala two months later. There are German censors' markings but no markings on the cover which indicate how it got across the Atlantic. Some questions came up which we are curious about -
- Did German mail go via Pan Am during the 1939-41 period? If so, did it go via the Lisbon Clipper? And if so, was 85 pf the correct franking for a letter to Guatemala by that route?
- Did German mail travel through the US in 1939-41 on the same terms as before 1939?
- Were there other routes for German mail headed overseas that were suspended after the outbreak of the war in 1939? Were there shipping lines or ports the German post couldn't use, other than the obvious ones? From what ports would transatlantic surface letters have been shipped?
- Were there elements of German civilian air mail service that were suspended or restricted after the outbreak of the war? What would an air mail stamp really get you in Germany in January of 1941?
- Finally, I suppose these matters have all been discussed in published works - which ones?
Many thanks,
Pete
Chicago, USA |
