Provisional Cancellations
The Post-War Postmarks Research Group is an informal association within the ArGe Tschechoslowakei. As its name suggests, it is concerned with researching the post-war postmarks of Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War.
Post-war postmarks are those postmarks that were used during a transitional period before they were replaced by newly issued official definitive postmarks of the Czechoslovak postal administration (Second Republic). These postmarks were introduced in 1945–47, but in some cases they continued to be used much later.
The post-war stamps therefore include:
- Postmarks from the First Republic, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Slovak State, the German Reich, Poland or Hungary that were continued to be used or reused in Czechoslovakia. These postmarks can occur in unchanged form or adapted in various ways. These include local postmarks, special postmarks, machine and hand roll postmarks, railway station letterbox postmarks, auxiliary post office postmarks and TPO postmarks.
- Official postmarks that were originally used for purposes other than postal delivery.
- Provisional postmarks of post offices and auxiliary post offices, some of which were produced or used by the individual post offices themselves, and some of which were provided by a central postal administration.
The basis of the research group's work is a typology of post-war postmarks in the Czech part of the country, which was compiled by a group of authors consisting of members of the research group. It was published in the research reports on Czechoslovak philately, number 106 (issue IV/1995). At the same time, it was published in Czech in the Prague magazine ‘Filatelie’ (issue 12/1995).
The aim of the research work was to record the post-war postmarks as completely as possible, catalogue them on the basis of their typology and produce a monograph. The period of their use was also to be determined as accurately as possible. This aim was achieved with the publication of monograph volume 18 in October 2025.
As is to be expected in a field of research of this scope, this milestone represents only one, albeit very significant, intermediate step. Shortly after the volume was published, collectors began to report new findings on the period of use of postmarks. In this regard, all philatelists interested in Czechoslovakia at home and abroad are cordially invited to continue their cooperation and contribute their findings to the completion of the knowledge gathered so far.
Contact person: Hartmut Liebermann.