(The Official Stamp Issue of 18 January 1934)
Official mailing franked with Scott 084 from the fiatatftcrnnit (Land Registry Office) of Bad Kreuznach on 2 November 1937.
Bad Kreuznach, a town of approximately 30,000 inhabitants in 1936 had a considerable trade in wine, tobacco, and tanneries. It lies on both sides to the Nahe River. It was part of the demilitarized Rhineland zone and occupied by French troops (Rheinlandbesetzung) following the Versailles Treaty.
Nevertheless, on 7 March 1936 a division of German troops (joyously greeted by the population) crossed the Rhine near Koln in violation of the treaty. The Western powers only reacted with a special session of the Council of the League of Nations and a condemnation of the German action. Italy remained wholly on the sidelines because of its own involvement in the war in Abyssinia.
Hitler carried out the surprise move, which he later called “the most tense period of my life,” like a gambler, entirely on his own initiative and against the judgement of his military and political advisers. Aware of the army’s totally inadequate level of rearmament, he gave the order to immediately withdraw the troops at the first sign of “contact with the enemy.”