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Lest we never forget • when Mad Men ruled,
so we
never accept • that Mad Men rule
and never again let a
Mad Man rule!
Rare Nazi 'Christmas-Card' mailed by Carlo Perantoni
to Victor. This 1938 Nazi 'Christmas-Card' commemorates the two newly unified
Germanic nations, Germany and Austria. It would be their last peacetime Christmas festivity prior to WWII. This Nazi 'Christmas
Card' has a special commemorative stamp with a special commemorative cancel dated 23 December 1938 in Vienna, Austria.
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Dear Friends, This web-page might seem to be somewhat
neo-Fascist as it
appears to promote the past splendor of Nazism & Fascism. But, it's not intended to do that. Instead, the page presents a
few
of Victor's rare Nazi-Fascist historical postcards that had
been designed with propaganda
art of the period purposely to
influence people ... and had met its purpose quite
efficiently. These items are just a few of our
protagonist's huge collection
of stamps, philately, and other collectables that will be offered
as Kickstarter Rewards for
funding the film production of
"The War of Lions" with its mini-series.
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Rare Hitler Birthday-Card mailed to Victor at 'Winiarnia Italia' Tavern. Only 10 days after Hitler’s successful “Auschluss Referendum”
the two newly unified Germanic people (Germany and Austria) celebrated Hitler’s 49th birthday. That day, 20 April 1938, Hitler visited his Austrian birth-house
which is illustrated on
the front of this commemorative postcard. Note the postal cancel hand-stamped in Vienna on postcard’s
illustrated front. |
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Originally these items had a great effect among collectors of
philately who in that period represented about 60-70% of the
world's
population ... even from the age of ten or younger! Among them was Victor and our other protagonists who had
avidly sought to obtain collectable postcards
and souvenir
sheetlets because of their unique historical features. |
1937 souvenir sheetlets
commemorating Hitler's 48th birthday. The philatelic sheetlet on the left has two special hand-stamped "birthday
postmarks" dated on Hitler's birthday, 20 April 1937, in Munich. The philatelic sheetlet on the right is a rare imperforate
edition of the same souvenir sheetlet for Hitler's 48th birthday. The inscription beneath the images translates: "Anyone
who wants to save a people
can only think heroically" |
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Blank unused postcards are nice to collect ... but, "traveled
postcards" with stamps and postmarks have much greater
philatelic value for having completed their
original purpose. That's
why many postcards mailed by our protagonists and
family members had been
addressed to each other, and then
swapped back to each other, all for their philatelic values. |
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1939
"GAUPARTEITAG" Regional Nazi Party Day of the N.S.D.A.P. This postcard promotes the
yearly commemoration of the Nazi Party Day of the
"Steiermark Gaues" to be held on 11 June 1939. Victor
mailed it to his mother (Romana Perantoni) who was on vacation in their
native Italian hometown, Volargne di
Dolcé, in pre-Alpine Valpolicella. The rear of the postcard is printed
"Man of the Time - the Führer Adolf Hitler." It
has a special hand-stamped cancel commemorating the Steiermark NSDAP
event and it is dated on 11 June 1939,
which is also the day of the event.
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Moreover, as they were writing and sending and receiving
their
postcards to and from each other and then swapping
them back to each other, neither our protagonists
nor our
family members had even closely imagined the devastation
of lives and catastrophic
disasters that their postcards
would've represented only a few years later. Nonetheless, stamp-collecting and philately has survived
World War Two and is still
with us in our 21st-century. |
1938 Anschluss Postcard used to promote the Austria-Germany union. Nazi defiance began with the “Anschluss” (Hitler’s annexation of Austria) on 13 March
1938,
and followed by a referendum on 10 April 1938, in which the Anschluss officially
recorded a support
of 99.73% from all the voters ... BUT ... BUT... during the few short weeks between the Anschluss and the 10 April referendum
70,000 people had
been arrested as the German Army marched thru Austria! Robert Kauer, President of the “Protestants in Austria” group, greeted Adolf Hitler on
13 March 1938 as "saviour of 350,000 German Protestants in Austria" announcing
his
support for the 'Anschluss' and appealing to Austrians to vote in favor of it 10 April. This way Austria became part of the Third Reich as Germany's province
of Ostmark. The referendum had been promoted with large-scale propaganda as depicted on this
commemorative postcard that positively announces the forthcoming union. It honors
the 'Anschluss' with
a German “10 April Stamp” coupled with an Austrian Stamp and
each are with reciprocal cancellations. The writer sent this postcard
from the city of Linz Austria (which is Adolf Hitler’s
childhood hometown) to a family member in German Bavaria. The postcard celebrates the
'Anschluss' three days prior to the referendum.
Note the enthusiasm of the writer and the “Heil
Hitler” salutation. Victor purchased this rare postcard at a philately trade-fair in post-war Italy. |
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It would be reasonably fair to say that prior to World War Two,
aside
from population growth, stamp-collecting and philately
had been more popular than video-games are today! |
Rare "Führer-Dux
week" Commemorative Postcard. This postcard commemorates the special Nazi-Fascist festivities week when Adolf Hitler visited with Benito
Mussolini in Rome from 3 to 9 May, 1938. The card was postmarked during the festivities week, 4 May, 1938, and it was sent from Rome by Carlo
Perantoni, to his son Victor in Lwów, Poland. The front of the postcard reads "Springtime 1938, 16th Fascist year, 3rd year Nazi Reich"
which indicates that Fascism was 13-years older than Nazism. As Nazi Germany was showing its military might in the mid-1930s, Benito Mussolini was gradually getting past
his earlier decade-long disdain for Adolf Hitler.
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SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT "FÜHRER-DUX" WEEK IN ROME, MAY
3-9, 1938.
Mussolini’s
Fascist Italy had begun with international success - thirteen years
before Hitler’s Nazism became commonly
known outside Germany. During the
1920s and early 1930s, Fascist Italy was admired worldwide. History reports
that in those early years Benito Mussolini had much contempt for Adolf Hitler,
but history does NOT
provide an explanation for his contempt. There
are many accounts confirming Mussolini's repeated rejections of Hitler's
friendship before he finally allowed their first
public appearance together on
14 June 1934. Duce, however, was fulfilling the official requirement of
meeting
with Germany's new Head of State that he had intentionally delayed 18 months
from the day Hitler
had been appointed Chancellor of Germany. It
was an official meeting that should've taken place in Rome, but Mussolini had
minimized it by meeting
with him in Italy's tourist anteroom, Venice, where it was
staged with a military parade for worldwide media coverage. Duce orchestrated it
to show
Fascist Italy’s superiority over Nazi Germany, and Mussolini's dominance
over Adolf Hitler ...
or maybe also his disdain! Mussolini's
widow, Donna Rachele, relates in her biography that Mussolini often
denoted Hitler as “scimmietta”
which is an Italian slur meaning 'silly little monkey'
as in “monkey see-monkey do” – or commonly
in English: "COPYCAT." Adolf
Hitler did not obtain Mussolini's respect and friendship until the late 1930s
when Duce could not ignore Germany's
growing military might. Earlier, however,
Mussolini willingly met with Heads of State in Rome or in their capitals
and he was
usually open to meet international admirers of Fascism — But not Hitler! Why? Even without history's
explanation of Mussolini's initial disdain for
Hitler, the 1938 "FÜHRER-DUX" celebrations provide
a clue.
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1938 postmarks commemorating
the "Führer-Dux week" in Rome. The special Nazi-Fascist festivities week was held in Rome from 3 to 9 May, 1938. The postcard was mailed from Napoli (Naples) by Carlo Perantoni with special festivities postmarks dated 5 May, 1938. Carlo
mailed it on behalf of his son Victor as a special
postmark opportunity of the Nazi-Fascist commemorative
week. The postcard was addressed to Victor's
friend, Mr. Eraldo Pollice, a well known philatelist and stamp-collector from Verona. Also, Eraldo Pollice was a reknown philately-artist who designed postcards of the period (see some of his designs in "Victor's ITALIA"
page). Victor and Eraldo belonged to the same Philately Club of Verona (Associazione Filatelica Scaligera). The
back of the postcard is a promotional invitation to join the stamp-club's 'Postmark-Collector Group" – which,
in fact, Eraldo and Victor were already members. |
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Although history does not explain Mussolini's initial contempt for Hitler,
the 1938
"FÜHRER-DUX" celebrations in Rome provide a clue.
"DUX" is Latin for "DUCE" - which in Italian means "LEADER." Benito
Mussolini had
made himself "DUCE/LEADER" of Italy – and leader of international Fascism in 1922.
Adolf Hitler, instead, took until 1934 to have become "FÜHRER/LEADER" of Germany. Still in 1934, however, he continued to be a
"COPYCAT Fascist" in Mussolini's opinion.
Eventually, it took until the late 1930s for Mussolini to recognize
the military might and
the strength that Germany's industry had given to Hitler. Mussolini's new "respect" for Germany's Führer led
him to the infamous "Pact of Steel"
which marked the beginning of his international 'fall from grace'
– also, the ruin of the
Italian nation. A ruin that took Italy several decades to recover from. Regardless of how many times the DUCE had rejected him,
Hitler continued to praise
Mussolini publicly as he made his admiration of the Duce overtly known
as his mentor! Except for Austria,
the Führer of Germany had never achieved international admiration,
unlike the success that the Duce of
Italy had achieved in the earlier years of Fascism. In hindsight it would seem reasonable to presume that, as Mussolini's devoted disciple,
Adolf
Hitler was driven to 'GRAB AND TAKE' from Europe's international community
the respect that
they freely gave to Mussolini ... but not to him!
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More from Victor's
Fascist era collections
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Unlike Nazi-Germany, that had
printed Adolf Hitler's
image on German stamps in several denominations,
Italy had never honored Mussolini on stamps.
Since 1863, Italian tradition had reserved that honor
for House of Savoia Monarchs and its
successions of
Kings 'Victor Emmanuel I, II, III'. The full set of 1941 commemoratives, below, are the
only stamps Italy had printed with Mussolini's image.
These stamps, however, had not been printed to honor
Benito Mussolini but to commemorate the brotherhood
of Fascist-Italy with Nazi-Germany during WWII.
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The next
images are links to MULTIPLE displays
taken from Victor's Fascist era collections
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| CLICK TO OPEN FASCIST WAR-TIME PHILATELY 1940-1944 |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: Fascist war-time stamps and WW2 philately 1940-1944 |
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| CLICK TO OPEN -- FASCIST CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN 1936-39 |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: The fascist campaign in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 |
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CLICK TO OPEN
MULTIPLE LARGE DISPLAYS
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| LA REPUBBLICA DI SALO' 1944-45 / FALL OF FASCISM |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: Repubblica Sociale Italiana : 7-page collection in PDF with zoom |
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CLICK TO OPEN
MULTIPLE LARGE DISPLAYS
| CLICK: MILITARY POST of ITALIAN PO-RIVER ARMY 1940 |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: 21-page collection in PDF with zoom |
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| CLICK OPEN PDF: FASCIST WAR-TIME LOTTERY TICKETS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: FASCIST WAR-TIME LOTTERY TICKETS |
CLICK TO OPEN
MULTIPLE LARGE DISPLAYS
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| FANCY AIR-MAIL ART USED BY SOLDIERS DURING 1930'S |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: Fancy Air-Mail Art used by Italian soldiers during Fascist 1930's |
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Images below link to
MULTIPLE displays of Victor's
collections of Fascist era postmarks & stamps
| CLICK TO OPEN: MILITARY POSTMARKS / SINGLE STAMPS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: 1930's MILITARY POSTMARKS WITH SINGLE STAMPS |
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| CLICK: FASCIST MILITARY POSTMARKS / DOUBLE STAMPS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: Military Postmarks with double stamps during the Fascist 1930's |
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| CLICK: FASCIST MILITARY POSTMARKS / TRIPLE STAMPS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: Military Postmarks with 3 OR MORE stamps during the Fascist 1930's |
CLICK TO OPEN MULTIPLE
LARGE DISPLAYS
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: WAR ZONE MAIL TAX-SEALS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: WAR ZONE MAIL WITH TAX-SEALS "SEGNATASSE" |
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| CLICK ITALIAN WAR ZONE MAIL WITH NO STAMPS (taxed) |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: ITALIAN WAR ZONE MAIL WITH NO STAMPS (taxed) |
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| CLICK OPEN: FASCIST ERA POSTMARKS (with no stamps) |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: FASCIST ERA POSTMARKS (with no stamps) |
CLICK TO OPEN
MULTIPLE LARGE DISPLAYS
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF: FASCIST POSTMARKS WITH STAMPS |
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| CLICK TO OPEN PDF DISPLAY: FASCIST ERA POSTMARKS WITH STAMPS |
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1945: The war
has ended!
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ABOVE: Very
rare PSI MANTOVA overprint stamps. Local postage
authorized by Allied Military Government during the
Anglo-American
Occupation of Northern Italy. This full set stamps with First Day Issue
postmarks 27
Sept 1945 are very rare local CLN issues (Sassone #18).
BELOW: More PSI MANTOVA overprints from Victor's
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Italy's new post-war stamps with
fasces removed
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The end of Nazi-Fascism.
The end of Benito Mussolini.
And the end of World War II from Victor's collections
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WHAT A DIFFERENCE: Image printed on 1930s pre-war Fascist air-mail
stamps represent ancient "sagittarium" archer arrow-shoot (see right) which is an accurate portrait
of Italy's Fascist politics of the period.
IN CONTRAST BELOW: Post-war air-mail stamps of Italy's new republic
depict peaceful speedy birds, and the new era's jet-engine airplane with a handshake of friendship. |
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The end of Nazi-Fascism.
The end of Benito Mussolini.
And the end of World War II from Victor's collections
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The end of Nazi-Fascism.
The end of Benito Mussolini.
And the end of World War II from Victor's collections
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In 1995 Italy commemorates
the
50th anniversary of the end of WWII
without a single mention of Nazi Fascism!
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Lest we never forget • when Mad Men ruled,
so we
never accept • that Mad Men rule
and never again let a
Mad Man rule!
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