DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST issued on 5 May 1953 a 10pf "Memory of Prisoners of War" stamp, honouring soldiers (Heimkehrer) who had fought for Nazi Germany in World War II, some of whom had not yet been released by the Soviet Union. (The great majority had returned home by 1950, but some remained captive as late as 1956.) In 1955, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer negotiated the return of the last German prisoners of war in Moscow -- over 10,000 POWs.
This dark yellowish grey | grey black stamp depicted a POW behind barbed wire. Perforation was comb13¾ x 14. A total of 101,200,000 were printed using a typography and embossed method. It was designed by Karl-Hans Walter and printed by Bundesdruckerei. Interestingly, this stamp was censored in Soviet-occupied East Germany, often by blacking out the image.
This particular cover (from my collection) originated from a lawyer in Villingen, Schwarzwald and dated 26 March 1954.
Source: Stamp Collecting-World . com and Wikipedia
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