As World War II was coming to an end, Poland had the daunting task of reorganizing its postal services.  Many of the post office workers continued the task of moving the mail, but often lacked the necessary equipment to do so. This included stamps and stationery, as well as postal markings. These problems inaugurated a period of provisional usages and post marks similar to that of the 1918-1919 period.

The first Polish stamps were made in Lublin after the Russians occupied the city. This first issue, consisting of three stamps issued on September 7, 1944, is called the “Wodzowie,” or “Heroes” issue. These hastily made stamps were:  25 groszy with Romuald Traugutt;  50 groszy with Tadeusz Kościuszko; and 1 złoty with Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. A second set was issued on September 13^th and is called the “Goznak” issue because it was made at the Goznak printing office in Moscow.  These are: 25 groszy with a Polish Eagle (without crown) and 50 groszy with the Grunwald Monument in Kraków. Specialized collections of these issues can be fun and challenging.

Philatelists made a variety of stamps and overprints, but the true gems of this period are  former General Gouvernement postal stationery used by Polish citizens due to the absence of Polish postal material.  How these stationery items were used reflects their understandably strong anti-German sentiments.

 Figure 1 (above) is a General Gouvernement card which has the Hitler head stamp inked out as well as all the German text.  It was sent from Dobroń to Częstochowa on March 1, 1945.  It has the manuscript note “opłac. got.” indicating postage had been paid.

 Figure 2 is especially interesting because the sender cut out pieces of paper to cover the offending German stamp and German text of the original General Gouvernement postal card.  It was sent from Sępólno-Pomorskie to Lublin on June 22, 1945. The card also has a similar manuscript “opł. got. 50 gr”.

The sender of the card in Figure 3 scratched out the offensive Hitler head stamp and paid the registry rate with four Grunwald stamps. This undated card was sent from Nowy Targ to Chynów.  Because no registry label was available, the sender made his own registry cache in red “NR 77.”  Also note that each of the above cards has a Polish Military Censor cachet, but each in a different color; red, violet, and blue.  These censor marks are a study in themselves.