Red Cross

A scan of the first page of the Belgian Red Cross magazine from March 1944, annoucing the "new" red cross stamp.
It was for the 80th anniversary of the Belgian red cross, depicting painting from Antoon Van dyck.



And the stamp on a FDC cover 



For this period the charity tax was very high in comparison to the facial value of the stamp.
The higher value (5 Francs) has a charity tax of 30 belgian francs (6 time the facial value of the stamp!) 
in 1945, a 1kg bread cost 3 Belgian francs. (I Don't have the price for 1944)

Interesting thread. One other aspect of the Red Cross is that they helped connect people when there was no mail.

For example, during the second world war, there was no mail between the UK and the Channel Islands. However, the Red Cross facilitated a limited service that allowed messages to be sent between family members separated by the war.

Here for example is a message sent by Mr. and Mrs. H. Smith to Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Smith in Bridport, Dorset. They write, “Dear Doris, Ern, Sending 8th message. Received first reply. Delighted to have your own writing. Both well, hoping you same. Love, Mom, Dad”.

The form, they used, provided by the French Branch of the German Red Cross, had the following ‘post’ marks:

Large circular handstamp, purple ink, in German
Outer Ring: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Der Beauftragte in Frankreich
Inner - Briefstempel
That is, ‘German Red Cross, French Branch, Letter Stamp’

Double circle handstamp, red ink, in French
Outer Ring: COMITE INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE – GENÊVE
Inner - [Image of Red Cross]
That is, ‘International committee of the Red Cross – Geneva’

Octagonal Censor handstamp, red ink, in English
[Image of British Crown] / PASSED / P. 153

The document is dated by sender – April 4, 1942. There is a transit date of June 23, 1942. I’m assuming it made its way to the UK via France / Germany and Switzerland.

On the reverse side, is the handwritten reply. It reads, “Dear Mum and Dad, Delighted to receive eighth message, glad you are well, so we are. Hope your legs are well. Fondest love, Doris, Ern. It is signed D. Smith and dated July 22, 1942.

There is a number and a date on the front of the document of August 11, 1942. I’m assuming this is another transit mark.

On the back are the same three ‘cancels’ … this time, the censor’s number is P. 154. I assume they were applied to the reply, on the way back to Guernsey.






One other example is this one. Also from Guernsey but sent the following year. Similar markings but this one has a blue streak running diagonally across the front. My understanding is that this was done to detect hidden messages (e.g. invisible ink). However, not my area of expertise and I’d be happy to be corrected. Unlike the first one, there was no reply.

Hugh  nice historical documents.

In the same way, I have a letter sent by the french Red Cross to a Belgian in Anvers in 1946. He was looking for one of his relative. Unfortunately, the french Red Cross had no information about the fate of his friend/family.

Finland 1935

Finland 1940