Poland, 1919
A German Germania stamp with large black overprinted words and a new value.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
Poczta Polska printed over DEUTSCHES REICH: Poland using up German stamps.
- 1Poczta Polska
- 2DEUTSCHES REICH (crossed out)
- Inscription
- Poczta Polska · DEUTSCHES REICH
- Meaning
- POCZTA POLSKA is Polish for “Polish Post”, printed over a German stamp.
- Issued by
- Republic of Poland
- Today
- Poland
- Year
- 1919. German stamp of 1916, overprinted for Poland in 1919.
- Made by
- Paul Eduard Waldraff (design of the German stamp, died 1917)
One fact
When Poland regained independence, local post offices overprinted German Germania stamps with POCZTA POLSKA until Polish designs were ready.
Source and public-domain rule
Creators died more than 70 years ago. Germania designer died 1917; the overprint is plain lettering. Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death. Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1956; any contributor who was never named counts as anonymous, whose term is 70 years from publication, and the stamp was published before 1956. Legal sources: Directive 2006/116/EC, Art. 1(1) life + 70 years; Art. 1(3) anonymous works 70 years from publication; Art. 7(1) comparison of terms for works from outside the EU; Art. 8 terms run from 1 January, Switzerland, Norway.
Scan: Stamp PL Mi131 over DE Mi99.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1026345246), licence templates {{PD-old-auto-1923}}, {{PD-trivial}}. Downloaded 2026-10-19, sha256 e5d9d28b1bbe…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-19 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a human rights review is pending. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
