During the second world war, both Britain and Germany employed many propaganda stunts. Britain “unofficially” produced bogus German stamps, showing a portrait of Himmler instead of Hitler. These were dropped in supply crates by allied aircrafts over Germany in around 1943. Most were destroyed by the Nazi regime and didn’t reach the general public.

In reply to this attack the Nazi’s produced their own philatelic propaganda. This took the form of a replica of the Great Britain 1 1/2d Brown Coronation Stamp.

The stamp itself, despite the obvious changes, was very similar to the original, which sparked debates as to the origin of the plates. No plates or dies were missing from Britain so it was assumed a talented forger had produced the stamp from scratch using simply a copy of the original. This was no easy task as supplies were extremely limited in wartime Germany, and printing tools and technology was pretty much non-existent.

The most noticeable aspect designed to infuriate the British people, was that the portrait of Queen Elizabeth was replaced with a Portrait of Stalin. Secondly, within the border, the design was changed to incorporate the Russian hammer and star symbol. The coronation wording and date was also changed to read “Teheran – 28/11/1943.”

The work is believed to have been carried out by specialist members of a concentration camp who forged currency, passports and documents for undercover overseas agents and spies. No definitive facts about the designer or printer have ever been discovered. It is not known how many stamps were produced, although they do turn up in auctions fairly often.

I less well known propaganda stamp was produced around 1937 by similar German forgers. It featured the 1/2d Jubilee stamp of 1935 with a picture of Stalin replacing the portrait of King George V. The jubilee inscription was altered to read “This is a Jewish War.” Once again, barely any specific details are known about this issue.

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