Winterhilfswerk: The Third Reich’s Winter Relief Charity

This is the complete eight frame philatelic exhibit which explains the creation, benefits and propaganda use of the Third Reich’s winter relief charity Winterhilfswerk, [WHW]. The exhibit is not specifically focused on the philatelic material created for this charity, rather on the complete history of the charity and its benefits to the German populace and third Reich. This display exhibit provides a detailed and factual presentation of the WHW story using a wide variety of philatelic material, artifacts and ephemera. The exhibit itself is an exemplar of the display treatment format.The Third Reich used the WHW as a propaganda tool as well as to raise funds for winter relief. The sale of philatelic material, such as FDCs, favor cancels, memory cards, presentation folders etc., are an integral part of the story so are shown. However, of the 101 cancelled covers and cards in the exhibit only 18 are clearly philatelic and most of these are unaddressed postal cards with favor cancels. In effect 98% of the used postal material in the exhibit is not philatelic, rather correctly rated commercial/private mail with WHW stamps and/or cancels.Beyond the exhibit’s importance, the WHW subject itself has significant importance.The WHW was the only authorized national charity during the Third Reich. Over its 10 year period it provided many benefits for the German populace and necessitated a complex organization utilizing large numbers of otherwise unemployed Germans. The WHW was also an important propaganda tool for the Nazi regime. By the author’s research and analysis, it raised over 1 billion dollars in revenue through its 10 year course. The yearly marketing of the WHW campaigns required the creation of an extraordinary amount of philatelic material including eight different semi-postal stamp issues; three issues of postal cards; a myriad of picture post cards used for advertising and fund raising; special issues or overprints for occupied territory use; WHW postal stationery; special caches, advertising and favor cancels; poster stamps, letter seals and labels, memory cards and special “day” souvenirs such as Tag der Briefmarke (Stamp Day), Tag der Wehrmacht (Army Day) and Tag der Polizei (Police Day) items used for marketing, propaganda and fund raising. Accordingly, the WHW was important to the philatelic history of Germany during the period of 1933 to 1945.All covers are rated (except unaddressed covers or cards which never entered the mail), PPCs have relevant deltiology information and wherever possible, ephemera and artifacts are described as to their composition, manufacturer, etc.Unusual items are in bold text and their significance is explained. Rare items are outlined in red, and are quantified. The condition is the best available given the effects of the war, the scarcity of quality paper and the increasingly harsh conditions in Germany as the war continued. Artifacts and ephemera were chosen for both their importance in representing subjects in the story line as well as their condition. Yet, some of these artifacts were made of paper, cheap plastic or wood so occasional condition issues are to be expected given their age and use. Read more