Description
Wartime outbound civilian mail: 22 OCT 40 registered postcard in German from HAIFA (return addressed Maabarot) to Soviet-occupied LVOV franked 25m using Ba93/99 per period surface mail 23m rate & tied by full strike HAIFA NAHLA B.O. postmark (GD-120); same day REG HAIFA transit; received LVOV 2-12-40 but as address unknown, marked such (manuscript & French instructional handstamp) & returned to sender: passed Palestine censor H50; 10 JA 41 REG HAIFA transit & 12 JA 41 HADERA arrival (Dorf-6); trilingual Mandate returned-mail cachet on back. Well travelled & documented. Cut into postcard near franks. Scarce rate, origin & route. USSR & UK mutually neutral at this time; [Polish] Lvov occupied by USSR on 22-09-39. Undeliverable mail during this Soviet occupation period (1940), especially when sent by an assured service like registered mail and returned because "addressee left" or "address unknown", suggests the addressee was a victim of the Soviet deportations/reign of terror that took place at this time.
