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For a time, one German Prufer certified some covers as genuine, but he later changed his statements to say that the stamps and cancels were genuine, but he could not state that the covers had moved through postal channels between post offices owing to the military situation. There are really no covers now that are identified as fully genuine. Since 2005 no covers have been certified at all. There is a considerable literature in both German and English about the SA/SS stamps and covers, to which I have contributed several articles. Are you familiar with German? The bulk of the literature is, of course, in that language. I can suggest specific works in German, if you like. Some people claim that most SA/SS covers were carried by stamp dealer employees acting as what they term "emergency couriers" by virtue of a postal regulation dating from April 3, 1945. I regard this claim as totally unfounded, given the text of the regulation and the procedures for sending mail under emergncy conditions as described in that regulation. Postal service in Berlin seems largely to have ended on April 21, 1945. There are a very few non-philatelic covers (that is, without the SA/SS stamps) that date from April 22 or April 23rd, and when I wrote "very few" I meant hardly any. I have a cover with a private meter mark from April 23, 1945. It is a nice item, but I am not sure it proves much about the extent of postal service. I know of three or four other covers from that date with stamps, other than SA/SS stamps. Used SA/SS stamps cannot be certified as genuine, period.
Sorry to be discouraging, but I have an extremely negative view of the SA/SS stamps and covers.
Benjamin R. Beede |
