Memel Bogus Overprint Bogus overprint on Lithuanian postage stamp of 1929. The overprint "Wir sind frei!" (We are free!) with a swastika, refers to the takeover of the area in northern Saxony known as Memelland or Memelgebiet by Adolph Hitler's Third Reich.
According to Wikipedia:
The Klaipėda Region (Lithuanian: Klaipėdos kraštas) or Memel Territory (German: Memelland or Memelgebiet) was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when as Memelland it was put under the administration of the Entente's Council of Ambassadors. The Memel Territory, together with other areas severed from Germany (the Saar and Danzig) was to remain under the control of the League of Nations until a future day when the people of these regions would be allowed to vote on whether the land would return to Germany or not. Today, the former Memel Territory is controlled by Lithuania as part of Klaipėda and Tauragė counties.
By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control of the situation in the Territory. In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after an oral ultimatum had caused a Lithuanian delegation to travel to Berlin, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys and his German counterpart Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone for 99 years in the port of Memel, using the facilities erected in previous years.
Hitler had anticipated this aboard a Kriegsmarine naval ship and at dawn sailed into Memel to celebrate the return heim ins Reich of the Memelland. This proved to be the last of a series of bloodless annexations of territories separated from the German or Austrian Empire by the Treaty of Versailles, which had been perceived by many Germans as a humiliation. German forces seized the territory even before the official Lithuanian ratification. The United Kingdom and France, as after the revolt of 1923, took no action. It was under these conditions that the Seimas was forced to approve the treaty, hoping that Germany would not press any other territorial demands upon Lithuania.
Still, the reunion with Germany was welcomed by the majority of the population, both by Germans and by Memellanders.
According to the treaty, the citizens of the Memel Territory were allowed to choose their citizenship: either German or Lithuanian. 303 people or, counting family members, 585, asked for Lithuanian citizenship but only 20 requests were granted. Another term stated that persons who had settled in the Memel Territory during the occupation period from 1923 to 1939 should emigrate. About 8,900 Lithuanians did so. At the same time, Germany expelled about 1,300 local Memel and Lithuanian Jews and about 40 Prussian Lithuanians.
This overprint is reminiscent of similar overprints that were mad on various Czech postage stamps in the period of 1938-39. But there is no evidence that these were ever "officially" sanctioned by any group, and have long been considered totally bogus issues.
This example is F/VF, OG, NH.
Approximate Image Size: 17 x 23 mm.
* STOCK IMAGE
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After 35+ years I decided to retire from being an active Cinderella Stamp dealer. Most of my working inventory plus backup stock was sold at public auction. However, I have retained some material that I will be offering for sale. In addition, I have some "new" material that was mixed into lots I have bought for my own collections. I will be listing some of the material in my eBay store at fixed prices.
I will also be offering some material at auction, either as single items or mixed lots. There will be many bargains available. There will be large and small lots, some containing similar material, some containing a random mixture, and some containing only one or a few items. The condition will be mixed, but none of the lots will be just accumulations of damaged or faulty stamps (unless specifically listed as such).
Items in stockpage or larger lots may be removed and repackaged into glassines to save on shipping costs.
A Note about Poster Stamps and Gum: Because many poster stamp collectors are primarily interested in the image on the stamp, the absence or presence of gum on the back is of little concern. If no mention of gum is made, then there may or may not be gum present. If you are only interested in poster stamps with original gum, please inquire before bidding. Actual condition issues (that are not apparent from the scan) WILL be described.
*A Note about "Stock Images": Occasionally I will have more than one example of an item in inventory. Rather than scan each one individually, I may use the same image for multiple examples of the item. If that is the case, the item supplied will be in substantially the same, or better, condition than the image. Any such items will have the words: "STOCK IMAGE" at the end of the description.
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