CRIMEA


I was recently able to borrow the book by David Skipton and Steve Volis. In this book about covert censorship in the Soviet Union, attention is also paid to stamps with 'dots'. They make it plausible that these stamps indicate censorship.

This part is based on the artcle, in Dutch:
Groeten uit de Krim deel 6 : censuur uit de jaren dertig / Jan Kaptein. - In: OEF 2019 (jrg. 37) ; Nr. 2. - p. 11-15. - [About: Greetings from the Crimea: censorship in the thirties, article in Dutch]

SOVIET UNION : CENSORSHIP IN THE THIRTIES

After the initial period with military censorship, a new period began in November 1919 with the postrmarks with 'three-triangles'. Arguments are made to consider these stamps as censorship stamps (no postal information, signs that the envelopes have been opened, lack of serial letters, etc.). An official Soviet source and the archives are decisive: censorship. The postmarks with three triangles were also used on mail from Crimea in this period (1919-1925): Kerch, Sevastopol, Simferopol, (two types), Yalta and Yevpatoria.

The third period (November 1924 to June 1935): the 'triangles' have disappeared, but many other types of postmarks have taken their place. At the end of 1924, the 'izhitsa' postmarks were used: with a no longer used letter from the alphabet, resembling a v, in the postmark. In Crimea, this type was used in Sevastopol and Simferopol.

From 1925 onwards, a series of postmarks with the 'zet' appeared, but this type of censorship stamp has not been observed in Crimea. The story about the poistmarks with points/dots starts when in 1927 postmarks are shown with one or two sets of three dots, below and/or above the date bridge. The rules of the post did not indicate why the points were added The postmarks with four points - corners of the date bridge - also had a function in secret censorship. These postmarks were also studied extensively by Skipton and Volis: censorship.

The card here shows the next type: 4 +2 points: four points on the corners of the datum bridge and a point above and below it. The first postmarks of this type appeared from December 11, 1928.

The postmark, resized, 50 %.


The card goes from Yalta, in eastern Crimea, to Kharkov. You will clearly see 4 dots around the date bar in the stamp. There are also dots above and below the date bar.

The message on the card, written by Nina Goldenberg (?) (thanks to Olav Petri for the translation): complains that there is no message at all: you could have at least sent a postcard, if you don't have time for a letter. Aunt is very angry with you. You don't write anything about your holiday. When do you think you'll take it? We are all waiting for you. Grandma says you're probably waiting for an invite.

Yalta is also an example of the use of the postmark type 4 +2 D, while the postmark without dots remained in use. An indication that the postmark type 4 +2 D is a sign of covert censorship. In February 1929 we see both postmarks type 4 + 2 D from Yalta, bilingual with Latin letters at the bottom and postmarks without dots, but with the indication Yalta in Arabic script at the bottom (lit. 1, p. 159).

Literatuur
Lit. 1
Soviet Clandestine Mail Surveillance 1917-1991 / David Skipton and and Steve Volis. – Collectors Club of Chicago (CCC), 2016. – 554 pages

Skipton and Volis make it plausible that these postmarks, Type 3D (three dots/points), type 4 D and 4 +2 D, were used by the 'covert' censorship.
Arguments include:
* the first postmarks - type 3 D- are already used before they are announced (normally this is the other way around)
* they have no real function in obliteration.
*combination on 1 letter with previous 'suspect' postmarks.
* why postmarks type 3 D and 4 +2 D, while the postmarks without points remained in use
* the pins were added after the production of the postmarks
* the postmarks were not replaced if damaged, etc.
* use linked to other censorship indication

*type 4 D: strange feature, even in a time of great variation in postmarks * The 4 D postmarks are also suspicious due to the family resemblance to the suspected 3 D postmarks. The timing is also suspicious: at the same time as orders to tighten censorship.
The introduction of types 3 D and 4 D coincided with decollectivization (1928-1930).


Image of the card above: the sea at Alupka.

Skipton and Volis also give other examples: a letter sent from Odesssa RR Terminal January 1930 to Bank for Russian Trade in London with type Odessa 4 +2 D and a letter sent from the same place to the same address in March 1930 with stamp without dots.
The book also provides an example of correspondence in these years between the Soviet Union and the United States: 42 letters (out of 128) in the period 1927-1938 have the suspicious "covert" censorship stamps of various types.

This second card was sent in 1930 from Yevpatoria, or Eupatoria, also in Crimea, on the west coast, in Russian ЕВПАТОРИЯ [EVPATORIYA].

The text of the card: in shorthand!



The postmark type 4 +2 D is also used here.



The image of this card: the 'Swallow's Nest', a small castle on the southern coast of Crimea, near the village of Gaspra. It stands on a 40 meter high rock above the sea.

Places in Crimea in Appendix 24 Table of clandestine censorship-related date stamps (lit. 1, p. 446-518)



3T three triangles....... 2D two points
4D four points.............. 2+4D two +4 points
Izhitsa postmarks with the v

If we look at the map where the censorship postmarks were used in Crimea, something stands out (lit 1, p. 169-171). A concentration of the use of the censorship postmarks in the towns on the south coast. Sometimes very small places, but still censorship: here the tourists and many party officials were on holiday. So interesting for the secret police. Furthermore, Sevastopol was a large naval base and Simferopol was the administrative center.