Deutsches Reich Generalgouvernement Semi-Postal Cultural Issue 1942

DEUTSCHES REICH GENERALGOUVERNEMENT on 20 November 1942 on its 3rd anniversary issued five semi-postal stamps:

- 12+18 (gr) dark purple,  sculptor Veit Stoß (1445-1533);

- 24+26 (gr) brown-carmine - painter Hans Dürer (1490-ca. 1538), creator of the frescoes on Wawel Hill;

- 30+30 (gr) violet-purple-architect Jan Szuch (1752-1813), builder of the Łazienki Palace in Warsaw;

- 50+50 (gr) black and violet-blue-composer Józef Elsner (1769-1854), creator of operas and teacher of F. Chopin; and

- 1.00-1.00 PLN black and blue-green- Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer (1473-1543)

The stamps were designed by Prof. Wilhelm Dachauer, engraved by Prof. Ferdinand Lorber. The stamps were printed in sheets covering two sales sectors of 50 stamps. On the margins of the 50-stamp sheets are the inscriptions: at the top - the German coat of arms and "Generalgouvernement. Deutsche Post Osten /50 Freimarken zu..." etc. On the side margin are the settlement numbers, at the bottom, in addition to the name of the designer and engraver and the name of the printing house, "3 Jahre Generalgouvernement". The printing method entailed retrograve engraving by the State Printing House in Vienna.

The General Government — sometimes also referred to as General Governorate (Generalgouvernement in German, Generalne Gubernatorstwo in Polish, and Генеральна губернія in Ukrainian) — was a German zone of occupation established after the joint invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II. The full title of the regime in Germany until July 1940 was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete, a name that is usually translated as “General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories”. On July 31, 1940, governor Hans Frank, on Hitler’s authority, shortened the name to just Generalgouvernement. A more literal translation of Generalgouvernement, which is a borrowing from French, would be General Governorate. The correct translation of the term “Gouvernement” is not government but actually governorate, which is a type of administrative division or territory. The area was also known colloquially as the Restpolen (“Remainder of Poland”).