U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History
December 15-16, 2020

Welcome to our December 15-16, 2020 Auction which will be held live via CherrystoneLIVE. The sale has over 1,000 lots and features United States and European countries, including Austria, France and Colonies, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, and others. Great Britain and British Commonwealth are well represented, covering all Reigns with many high values and sets from Aden to Zululand. Also featured is a section of 100 lots containing the Joe Taylor Postal History collection of Allied Intervention in Russia. The auction concludes with a strong selection of 120+ large lots and collections ranging from single country albums to specialized collections, multi-carton worldwide properties and large cover lots.

ImagesDescriptionCurrent Bid
Lot #5191
POLAND Military Mail
1940-45 Polish Servicemen in Switzerland, collection of 70+ covers and cards, incoming and outgoing mail, neatly written up on a 50-page exhibit, many bearing "Internment de militaire francaise en Suisse", "Camp Militaire d'Internment/Interlaken/Suisse", "Wetzikon", "Oberburg", "Trimmis-Dorf", plus others, also in German "Militar-Internierung in Schweiz/Portofrei", some with directional labels for censored and registered covers from German occupied Krakow, Jaroslaw, Kanczuga, etc., mail to occupied Poland, censor markings, telegrams, fine-v.f., interesting collection, ex-J.J.Danielski (on 20-21 June, 1940, Polish soldiers in France made their escape through various border villages and crossed into Switzerland as German tanks overran the remains of the Franco-Polish defenses. At the border, Polish soldiers abandoned their arms and became interned under the control and protection of General Henri Guisan. About 12,000 men had escaped, which in doing so placed Switzerland in a precarious position with Nazi occupied Europe. To minimize political and diplomatic tension with Germany, the Commissaire Federal a l'internment et hospitalization decided to construct a mass internment camp at Haftli near Buren in the Canton of Solothurn to partially contain 6,000 Poles and remove local tensions as the Swiss men were away from home defending their border. With the war over, the first convoy of interned soldiers left Swiss soil on 22nd November 1945 with the assistance of the Red Cross. Only 2,000 returned to Poland with the majority of about 9,000 returning to France, approximately 1,000 staying in Switzerland and the rest scattered around the World)
Envelope
Price Realized
$2,600.00

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