WW2 Postal Service

euclid

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Does anyone know whether a postcard posted in Germany in 1943, addressed to (neutral) Ireland, would have made it to its destination?

If not, was there any way of getting mail from Germany to Ireland?

I have an idea that prisoners of war sent/received correspondence from home (i.e. Britain) maybe via the Red Cross.

Thanks.

JJ
 

Bolero

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Reading PoW stories they definitely had mail from home and definitely had Red Cross parcels. Not sure if the Red Cross did the mail or not, but would be logical.
I remember from "Reach for the Sky" - the Douglas Bader biography - that there was an arranged parcel drop by plane especially for him, with a replacement prosthetic leg for the one damaged when he was shot down. His wife stuffed the leg with things like chocolate for him.
There were also inspections by a third party - I think the International Red Cross - looking at what they were fed and the living conditions in the camps. I remember in the Colditz Story a comment about how they were fooled by the camp menu saying "bacon stew" and them smelling bacon in the stew, but it was just a few bits of bacon rind. The reality was that by the end of the war, a lot of the prisoners were so malnourished they had to rest after climbing one flight of stairs.

Don't know about mail to Ireland or any other neutral country.

I'd read a few PoW books if I were you. Its been some years since I read them a lot but there were certainly details of daily living.
 

King Neptune

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The postcard would have made it, and probably by regular post. It would have gone by way of Switzerland and maybe Portugal (both neutral). As I understand it postal service kept going, except where there was actual fighting going on.
 

jclarkdawe

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Service was disrupted and slow. Probable route would have been France, Spain, Portugal or Gilbraltar to England by convoy, then to Ireland. Subject to search by both German and British intelligence. It wouldn't surprise me if it took several months.

Air mail would have been very unlikely.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

WeaselFire

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I have (had) relatives in both Germany and Austria during the war that routinely wrote to various countries where other relatives lived or had fled, including the US and Canada. Mail got through, usually after many delays, and they were very careful to write nothing that could be suspected of any military concern.

After the war, some were left in East Germany and mail flow dried up almost entirely under the Soviet rule. Worse behind the Iron Curtain than in Hitler's occupation. But none were Jews, Slavs or Gypsies and my aunt's father was actually an Austrian postmaster during the war.

Can't provide much detail, these were stories I heard as a kid and the story tellers have long passed.

[EDIT] I do remember my grandmother telling me she was sent a collection of family recipes that was delivered with the ingredient lists and amounts cut out. Somebody thought it might be code for troop movements... [/EDIT]

Jeff
 
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