GPS June 2020

What was the purpose of the stamps that were designed in a
small estate in Russia called Sloboda and printed in Germany? How
and where were they distributed? Who was the target group? The
authors Kesselstatt/Heide provided a theory in their DBZ article of
1993 [8]. They assumed the stamps were indirectly part of the “Aktion
Silberstreif” (operation silver stripe). This was the name of the biggest
German propaganda operation of World War II, lasting from May to
September 1943. Its main aim, however, was to encourage Red Army
soldiers to desert by the thousands by promising them a good treatment
and offering them the possibility to join the “Russian Liberation
Army”. Kesselstatt/Heide stated that the German propagandists of WPr
(department IV), in collaboration with the department “Fremde Heere
Ost” (Foreign Armies East), already discussed and planned the administrative
body of the future Russian counter-government, including the
establishment of Russian postal authorities with distinctive postage
stamps: “…Prop. Abt. W was instructed to produce the planned postage
stamps... It is certain that the idea was to achieve an additional piece
of propaganda by means of stamps. It was a well-known fact, even at
that time, that postage stamps can have a very large propaganda value…
The designation “Wlassow-Marken” (Vlasov stamps) was coined during
this period”. These statements are probably true but are not confirmed by
written sources. They just represent the opinion of the two authors. The
only existing documentary evidence is the printing contract where the
stamps are called “Gedenkmarken”, a term used for both postal and nonpostal
commemorative stamps.
Although the contract is dated 12 July 1943, there is a cancelled
imperforate proof providing evidence that the stamps were produced in
May 1943 or earlier (Image 11). Mono-colored proof sheets bearing one
of each value are known and must have existed at that date, i.e. at a date
when a Vlasov army did not yet exist. Furthermore, imperforate proofs of
each value in the final color inscribed “color template” are known (Images
12 & 13). All these trial printings must have been presented for approval
prior to May 1943, i.e. two months before the permission to print the
stamps was given. It is unclear which German authority coordinated the
stamp printing. Kesselstatt/Heide were convinced that the Department
East of the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda (RMVP)
approved, ordered and paid for the printing. Responsible for the entire
military propaganda, however, was not the RMVP but the Abteilung
Wehrmachtpropaganda (WPr) of the High Command of the Wehrmacht
(OKW), the superior body of the Propaganda-Abteilung W. The question
is unsolved and it is therefore unknown who filled out the contract.
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German Postal Specialist