Collection area

German occupation / Ostland / Kurland

Ostland

For general information on "Ostland", see "German occupation / Ostland" in the collection area "Estonia".

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General District Latvia

With the capture of the capital Riga by German units on July 1, 1941, the Latvian postal administration resumed its activities nationwide. This was largely done on its own initiative and in cooperation with the German military commanders. All previously issued stamps of the Soviet Union and Latvia in Lat currency retained or regained franking force from July 8 to September 19, 1941, except for the Latvian Soviet Republic issue, Michel No. 292–304.

Thus, unlike in Estonia and Lithuania, no local issues appeared in Latvia, but only the national postal issue, Michel Nos. 1 to 6, on Soviet definitive stamps "Workers and Peasants" with the overprint "LATVIJA / 1941 / 1. VII" between July 17 and 23, 1941. Between September 20 and October 30, 1941, the national postal issue remained the only stamp issue valid for postage at Latvian civil post offices nationwide.

It was not until the decree of August 16, 1941 that the first two post offices of the Deutsche Dienstpost Ostland (DDO) opened their counters in the General District of Latvia: Libau (Liepāja) and Mitau (Jelgava), followed by 27 other offices by the end of 1941. These were not open to Latvian residents, but exclusively to German offices, authorities, organisations and companies and operated under the conditions of the General Post Commissariat Ostland described above.

With effect from October 1, 1941, the entire Latvian postal and telegraph administration was placed under the authority of the General Post Commissioner Ostland. From then on, the German Post Service Ostland and the Latvian National Post Service were under his authority as the postal commissioner for the General District of Latvia. More than in Estonia and Lithuania, the Latvian national post office retained a higher degree of relative autonomy in its internal operations until the end of the Ostland period. This was expressed, among other things, in the fact that written decrees and orders always bore the joint signature of the General Postal Commissioner, Dr Hans-Joachim Münzel, and the Director of the Latvian Postal and Telegraph Administration, Alfreds Olte.

At the same time, on October 1, 1941, the DDO began exchanging mail between the General Districts of Latvia and Lithuania, whereby the Latvian National Post Service delivered the outgoing mail of civilians to the DDO in Riga and the latter handled the transport to the General District of Lithuania. With the start of civilian mail traffic to the German Reich on October 7 (in real terms not before October 22), a similar arrangement was applied in that Latvian Land Post had to deliver outgoing mail to the offices of the German Service Post in Riga, Libau and Mitau.

By decree of February 7, 1942, telegram traffic between the DDOs Kauen (Kaunas), Libau (Liepāja), Riga (Rīga) and Wilna (Vilnius) was also opened for civilians of the General Districts of Latvia and Lithuania. On April 1, 1942, the Latvian postal savings bank and postal cheque service was converted to that of the German Reichspost. From then on, this service was provided exclusively by the offices of the German Service Post.

Until Riga was evacuated by German forces on October 14, 1944 and the offices of the Reichskommissar Ostland and the General Postkommissar were relocated from September onwards, first to Libau and then to the territory of the Reich, postal developments in the General District of Latvia also became increasingly chaotic.

For the collection area "Kurland/Courland" see below.

Timetable General District of Latvia

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Kurland (Courland)

Until the evacuation of Riga from German forces on October 14, 1944 (and thus the relocation of the office of the General Postal Commissioner Ostland first to Libau and then to the territory of the Reich), postal development in what was to become Courland proceeded as part of the development in the General District of Latvia.

With the statutory dissolution of the Reichskommissariat Ostland on January 24, 1945, the responsibility of the General Postal Commissioner for the General District of Latvia also formally ended. He was replaced on January 15, 1945, with effect from January 25, by the responsible Wehrmacht commander of the Kurland Army Group, General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, as "General Kurland“.

The "Kurland" collection area is therefore historically not part of the "Reichskommissariat Ostland" collection area, but is a separate collection area under the responsibility of General Kurland and the Reichspostministerium. Notwithstanding this, the Surcharge issue Kurland of April 20, 1945 is often regarded by collectors as the "last Ostland issue".

Timetable Kurland/Courland

Special literature is recommended:

Latvia before and as part of the "Generalpostkommissariat Ostland". Harry von Hofmann Verlag, Hamburg 2001. 448 pp. ISBN 3 7636 5074 1.

Wilhelm van Loo: Postal traffic Kurland (Courland) (1944-1945). Publication series of the Bund Philatelistischer Prüfer e.V., Volume 7, Aachen 2016. 312 pp. Without ISBN

Reich Commissariat Ostland, Crime scene and object of remembrance. Published in: Age of the World Wars. Ed. Military History Research Office, Vol. 8. Ferdinand Schöningh 2012. 371 pp. ISBN 978-3-506-77188-9.

https://ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/regionen/reichskommissariat-ostland

http://www.academia.edu/20062892/Das_Reichskommissariat_Ostland