WW1 POW - Commandant In Zeeland Censuur

[Peter Harvey]

I have attached a card, the censor cachet I have not seen before and don't have a reference to this.

The card is posted in Bergen Op Zoom (Netherlands) May 1916 and sent to a prisoner of war in the Zwickau Camp Germany.

My question is would the censor cachet have been applied by military or civil censors. The logic says military with the commandant reference, however this is from a civilian address in what was a neural country and the Dutch civilian censor cachets I have seen, are not like this.

Any comments or help appreciated.

[Michael Dobbs]

Peter

I'm just guessing - could it be that as it was addressed to a POW (what nationality?) in Germany that it would have gone through Dutch military censors?

Mike

[Geoff Hanney]

[quote author=Peter Harvey link=topic=2263.msg9286#msg9286 date=1653833142]

I have attached a card, the censor cachet I have not seen before and don't have a reference to this.

The card is posted in Bergen Op Zoom (Netherlands) May 1916 and sent to a prisoner of war in the Zwickau Camp Germany.

My question is would the censor cachet have been applied by military or civil censors. The logic says military with the commandant reference, however this is from a civilian address in what was a neural country and the Dutch civilian censor cachets I have seen, are not like this.

Any comments or help appreciated.
[/quote]

Peter

At quick look this in my opinion is Civil Censor applied in Holland. It appears to be in French from Wife to her Husband who if I am read this right is in Prison Camp in Saxony and he was in the artillery although does not give him a rank. It might be he was fighting in Belgium Army and she went as refugee to Holland.

Geoff

[ascheer]

A Dutch publication ("Een zaak van landsbelang; Nederlandse postcensuur in de Eerste Wereldoorlog", by John Dehé and Fons Simons (2014), number 31 in the series of dutch publications on postal history) describes the censor mark.
I am not a specialist. In Zeeland a lot of (civilian and military) mail has been censored by the military authority (page 77). The censor marks of Zeeland mostly have been used on Dutch foreign mail. (page 80). The Zeeland censor ended 1st July 1917 (page 82).
Hope this helps.

[Graham Mark]

Hello Geoff
I cannot add more.  Ascheer's response tells it all.
I do have two or three examples of this handstamp used on mail.
Best regards
Graham

[Robert Gray]

During WWI the Netherlands accepted both civilian and military refugees. These were put in camps and their mail would have been censored there. This is a general introduction of the subject in English:  https://www.wereldoorlog1418.nl/refugees/vluchtelingen/militairen.html  Most of the military refugees were Belgium soldiers trying to avoid capture by the Germans. There were also English and German soldiers and a few deserters who were kept separate.

Many refugees were allowed to work outside the camps and some brought their families to live nearby.  Bergen am Zoom held several thousand refugees.

The covers I have seen from other camps have Franc de Port (Postage Free) hand stamps. The Hague convention 1907 gives soldiers who seek refugee status the same rights as a PoW, including free postage.

Unless the sender identifies as a soldier, I would assume the cover is from a civil refugee internee.


The requirement to accept military refugees was part of the Hague Convention of 1907.