GPS June 2020

collaborationist army primarily Russian led by general Andrey Vlasov
but under German command.
Thus, thinking of a liberation stamp issue for a post-Bolshevik “Free
Russia” under its leader Vlasov was not far-fetched and seemed plausible
despite the peaceful and harmless illustrations that do not match a struggle
for freedom at all. The scenes illustrated on the stamps seemed to
demonstrate that a new Russia would have postage stamps depicting the
country’s peaceful and prospering future. They were different from the
Soviet postage stamps of the time that usually were reminiscent of wars
or revolutions and illustrated fighting scenes, Soviet heroes, Communist
orders and medals or the like.
After a decade of speculations, an interesting find was made. In
1959, the German philatelic journal Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung
(DBZ) reported the discovery of an envelope containing the printing
contract for the stamps in question [2] (Image 3). The text of this
contract, however, was published – and the document illustrated – only
fifteen years later, in 1974 [7]. It revealed that the printing of the stamps
was ordered by the German “Propaganda-Abteilung W” (propaganda
department W) in July 1943. Another twenty years passed before the
history of the “Vlasov stamps” was told by Karl F. Heide and F. E. Graf
Kesselstatt in a long and detailed article that was published (in German)
in the DBZ in the issues No. 24 and 25/1993 [8]. An English translation
of it appeared only 13 years later in Czechout, the bulletin of the
Czechoslovak Philatelic Society of Great Britain, in the issue 4/2006
[9]. A write-up in Russian written by Vadim Yakobs was published in
the Russian philatelic journal Filateliya in April and May 2009 [10]. It
seems everything has been said about the history and background of the
“Vlasov stamps”. However, some statements and conclusions made by
Kesselstatt/Heide have to be questioned.
The “Propaganda-Abteilung W” (PAW) was one of the large
German propaganda departments that operated in Eastern Europe
and the Soviet Union in World War II. The letter “W” stands for
“Weißrussland” or “Weißruthenien” (White Russia or White Ruthenia).
PAW, commanded by Major Albert Kost, was assigned to the
“Heeresgruppe Mitte” (Army Group Center) (Image 4). The headquarters
of PAW was in Smolensk, a town approx. 400 miles southwest of
Moscow.
In late 1942, when the preparations for the stamp issue must have
begun, the German propaganda in Russia concentrated primarily on
three major topics: First, the fight against the Bolshevik partisans and
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German Postal Specialist