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Barry Hoffman Nazi Postcard Collection

Brandenburg Gate (Berlin)

Accession Number: 2022.02.3.3.10
Date: 1933
Stamp: BERLIN SW, 03 3.41-12
Postmark: Rectangular stamp featuring Nazi War Eagle symbol and “Deine Pflicht: Mitarbeit im Deutschen Roten Kreus,” or “your duty: work in the German Red Cross.”
Historical Background: Brandenburg gate, among the most recognizable landmarks in Berlin, provided a convenient location for Nazi propagandic processions. This is exemplified through Hitler’s highly photographed passage under Brandenburg Gate before entering the 1936 Olympic ceremony. This iconic German gate survived the destruction of Berlin following World War II.

[Front]

View from Brandenburg Gate

[Back]

Back of Brandenburg Gate card.

Front

Black-and-white photo print of Berlin. Caption reads “Blick vom Brandenburger. Tor auf die Linden,” or “View from Brandenburg Gate to the Linden trees.”

Back

Message addressed to “Dear Uncle Erwin”. Central divider reads “Verlag, Rud. Pracht, Berlin W. 35. Nr. 104,” indicating the identity and location of the postcard’s publisher.

Translation:

Postmark: No stamp (Feldpost), Berlin SW,
March 3, *1941
To: Military Post Office Oberschiitze [rank] Erwin Wiinsche Bautzen King Albert Barracks 4/393

Dear Uncle Erwin!
Best of thanks for the greetings by card.  It’s a shame that you cannot come to our wedding. Whether anything happens in March depends on my fiance’s vacation, we’ll wait and see. Have you been a soldier for a while? And have you been to the front? My fiance is in Norway. As far as me, I am always good. It actually would be about time that I visit all my dear relatives because we don’t know each other properly at all any more.

Heartfelt greetings, yours,

Dora

[top, upside down:] Abs. D. *Bomert, Berlin W 50 Ansbacher St. 42