German General Gouvernment in Belgium WW I

I have not yet gotten to the occupation period/overprints yet, although I have a fair amount for both World Wars for various western European countries. .  Myself i would include the German Occupation stamps of Belgium with Belgium, as it represents a period of their history-

but that is just me

My thought on how is plan to mount my German Occupation stamps is to include it in the German collection. Will identify as occupation stamps ordered by country. Or I might order by date issued.  I am a long way from starting this project. At least I am thinking ahead.



David 

I like the question you are raising. How to fit in such minor collecting areas / "dead countries" into a bigger picture. As with much else, this is up to each collectors preference. Personally I prefer to maintain a timeline for present-day countries as far as possible. In this case issues of German Occ. of Belgium, Belgian occupation of Germany and what was to become Eupen and Malmedy all makes part of the postal history of present day Belgian territory. So in my opinion they subsequently belong in the timeline for Belgian stamps. Hence I've incorporated all of these areas into my Belgium collection, and dedicated pages for occupation issues constitutes a "break" in the timeline for the plain Belgian issues themselves.

Ettapen-gebiet West is more complicated, because those issues were used in occupied territory that is now both in Belgium and France. Hence they kind of belong to the timeline for both Belgium and France. Hmmmm... what to do with such 'shared' issues?
I've opted to include them with Belgium because it affected a relatively much larger part of Belgium than France, and I also believe most of the E-G.W issues were used in Belgian territory. But that's just me.

Similar questions arise for lots of other temporary stamp entities. It is not straight forward to define which present day area/country the former area belongs to. Example given French West Africa, French Occidental Africa, French Indochina, Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania, Italian Offices abroad ('Estero'), French General Colonies and many others...

I am trying to tell a story in between the stamps series. I am separating this collection and trying to tell a story using the stamps and covers (A postal history mounting). I just do not know if I start with the first emission of the Gen.G., tell the historical context, then tell about the changes in the war, and the second emission. I could also add the Et. Geb.West (part occupation in France, part in Belgium) and then finish this pages that I am panning saying:

(a) that the occupation ended and the stamps were no longer valid after the retreat of german troops.

(b) that after the armistice Eupen and Malmedy reverted to Belgium and there was also an occupation in parts of Germany (and then mount these emissions together with the Gen. G. Bel.)

Thank you,
Thales

Hi Thales (ausbrasilien),

It sounds like trying to tell the story of Belgian history as seen from a stamp perspective. In this case, I would definitely tell it including all the relevant occupations, including Belgian occupation of Germany, German occupation of Belgium, Eupen / Malmedy, etc.

I would also consider then telling the story of Belgian occupation elsewhere, for instance early Belgian Congo, the Belgian occupation of German East Africa, etc...