A number of museums have shown interest in the Hindenburg Postcard and will be displaying it throughout 2011.
Click the Museum Location Calendar link to follow it along. Spectators an curators alike will be asked to submit story to the blog.
I have written a letter to the address on the postcard to see if any more information can be found. Content of the letter is below…
Daryl Lowey
PO Box 443
Didsbury, Alberta Canada
T0M 0W0
Good Day Folks;Guten Tag Leuten;
This past February, I came across a postcard which by all indications, was carried on the Hindenburg airship on March 23, 1936. I have found the card quite intriguing and am searching for any further history of the card, the sender, or the receiver.
Diese letzten Februar, kam ich über eine Postkarte, die durch alle Angaben, wurde auf die Hindenburg luftschiff auf 23. März 1936. Ich habe die Karte ganz spannend und bin suchen für jede weitere Geschichte von der Karte, den Absender, oder der Empfänger.
The card seems to have been mailed to a fellow whose first name was Herbert, but the last name could not be interpreted.
Die Karte scheint Mail an einen Kollegen dessen erste Name war Herbert, aber der Name nicht ausgelegt.
The address on the card has been interpreted as Hafnersgasse 23, Pirmasens, Pfalz Germany and I thought I would send you this letter to find out as much history as possible about the postcard.
Die Adresse auf der Karte ausgelegt wurde als Hafnersgasse 23, Pirmasens, Pfalz Deutschland und ich dachte, ich möchte Ihnen dieses Schreiben, um herauszufinden wie viel Geschichte wie möglich über die Postkarte.
Would you know who the sender and receiver of the postcard might have been, and could you share a little bit about their history?
Wollen Sie wissen, wer der Sender und Empfänger der Postkarte gewesen, und könnten Sie auch ein wenig über ihre Geschichte?
For the next year, I will be sharing the postcard with museums, schools and air show enthusiasts throughout Alberta, Canada. As well, a record of its travels will be written on my web site at http://www.livingskyaerobatics.com/cgi-bin/blog . Feel free to reply to this letter on the web blog.
Für das nächste Jahr, ich werde mich Teilung der Postkarte mit Museen, Schulen und Air Show Enthusiasten in Alberta, Kanada. Wie gut, eine Aufzeichnung über die Spielräume wird geschrieben auf meiner Web site an http://www.livingskyaerobatics.com/cgi-bin/blog Feel free to Antwort auf dieses Schreiben im web blog.
Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung, und ich freuen von Ihnen zu hören.
Kindest Regards
Daryl Lowey
The oddest thing happened while I was looking for a rigid case to carry the post card in. In Vancouver I had found a soft sided case, but wanted something rigid. Monday the 28th I searched Staples and Canadian tire for something suitable but found nothing.
At one of the above stores someone suggested they had seen the rigid plastic under-bed storage containers at Home Hardware so off I trudged. While at Home Hardware, one of the employees took me over to to the plastic bins and we selected one that I thought may work.
Taking it to the checkout counter I asked her to wait while I slipped out to my truck to grab the postcard. I laid it face down in the bin to be sure it would fit and when I did, the lady (of about 35 years old) leaned over and began to read the photocopied back of the postcard.
When I asked if she could read German she replied in the affirmative by stating “To Celebrate the first roundtrips of the new airship LZ129.. The best wishes from…” (followed by the writers initials)
Very suddenly, she reached into the box and turned the postcard over to view the front… she let out a breath more like a “Hhhhmmfff” and very matter of factly, she pointed to the center stamp at the image of Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich von Zeppelin (Count) and stated “I have an ancester who was married to his sister”
With that she began to read the front of the card and began to write it all out. (See Images)
She explained that the last name was always written first and that she could not make it out, but the card was mailed to a fellow whose first name was Herbert. Below that, Friseur was the German term for Hairstylist ( but I have since learned, is a common German last name). Below that is the mailing address… Permasens is the city, which “is a district-free city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It is famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called Pirmasens from 1818 until 1997, when it was renamed Südwestpfalz.” (from Wikepedia)
Pfalz she told me was the Province (http://www.maps-of-germany.co.uk/map-of-rheinland-pfalz.htm), and the street was Afnersgasse with the house or building number being 23.
For all we know… this could be a postcard sent to the fellows Barber or if it were a lady who sent it… maybe to the lady who did her hair for the trip.
More research is needed… keep following along.
So far, the closest I can find on Google maps is - Alte Häfnersgasse, 23 Pirmasens, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany the 76 at the front of the address could in fact be an H which would make perfect sense because both the street, and the house number is searchable
For more information about Count von Zeppelin visit http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/zeppelin.htm
To see a full flight schedule for the Hindenburgh go to http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule At the conference, we had thought the postcard was on the March 26th 1936 passenger carrying flight, but it seems that the Hindenburgh flew a test flight / mail run on the 23rd from Friedrichshafen to Löwental. This postcard then, was on that first mail run of the Hindenburgh.
To make a long story short, Dave won the auction. (Dave… I only stopped because I didn’t have time to phone my wife to beg permission… On Sunday when I got home, after seeing it, she said I could have easily taken it a lot further)
In any event… I want everyone in the industry to understand what a gentleman Dave Mathieson really is, and keep this in mind when you are booking your acts…
Dave and I had spoken about what we would like to do with the artifact. My intention is to share it with museums throughout Alberta, and use it in any way possible to promote air shows in our area.
An hour or so after winning the auction, Dave walked up to me and said “Daryl, I like what you are intending to do wth this and I’m sorry you didn’t win”, and with a little chuckle he said… “but I really wanted it”. His next statement took my breath away… “I like what you had planned with it so I tell you what… you take it… do what you want with it, and give it back to me in a year”
Right now… I am having a glass case made for it, and as I write this article, the postcard is sitting safe and sound in the aviation museum in Calgary Alberta. Dave… thier mouths dropped open when I first showed it to them.
To you the reader… please follow along for the next year… every time the artifact moves, I will be posting it here.
Pictures will be included.
