Bidspirit auction | Third Reich Postal Savings Book

Third Reich Postal Savings Book / Card (Postsparkarte), Fully Filled with Reich Stamps Bearing the Führer's Portrait, Cancelled with Official Dresden Postmarks, 1945 - A special postal savings card (Postsparkarte) issued by the ”Reichspost” (Deutsche Reichspost) — the central postal service of Third Reich-era Germany. The system allowed citizens to save money by purchasing special stamps and affixing them to the card until the required sum was reached (in this case, 3 Reichsmark), whereupon the completed card could be deposited at the postal bank to credit their savings account. The card is fully open and completely filled with three distinct series of official postage stamps bearing the profile portrait of Adolf Hitler:  • Orange series: 10 stamps with a face value of 8 Pfennig each.  • Gray-black series: 10 stamps with a face value of 10 Pfennig each.  • Red series: 10 stamps with a face value of 12 Pfennig each. All stamps are cancelled and struck with official circular day cancellations (Tagesstempel) of the city of Dresden. The official postmark at the lower section bears the date 05.3.45 (5 March 1945). This date carries dramatic historical significance — only two weeks after the massive and notorious Allied aerial bombing of Dresden (mid-February 1945), which devastated large parts of the city. This item attests that despite the severe destruction, part of the postal services and administrative apparatus of the city continued to function in the final weeks before the fall of the Third Reich-era regime; this is further evidenced by the account number recorded in red handwriting (199597). The front of the card bears handwriting in old Gothic script (Kurrent/Sütterlin) identifying the account holder as a lawyer or state prosecutor (Staatsanwalt) by the name of Ernst, a resident of Dresden, with precise residential address and occupational entries also associated with the town of Kamenz. The front displays the Reich eagle emblem (Reichsadler) clutching a swastika. 15 cm. The interior of the card is preserved in very good condition. All 30 stamps are completely intact, well adhered in place, with no tears, losses, or peeling. The circular cancellations and the handwritten entries (in red and black) are clear, legible, and very sharp.