BULLETIN #132

Walter Nysten

By - Walter Deijnckens

In Bulletin 130 we published details of a letter received by Philippe Lindekens enquiring if any member might have knowledge of or correspondence to Guillaume Nyssens, a Congo agent who died in Basoko in 1904. The enquirer was clearly researching his ancestors but as far as I know there has been no positive response.  

From our perspective the letter was interesting because of the name similarity with that of Walter Nysten whose activities are currently under investigation by our President, Walter Deijnckens. Walter has this to say:  

‘As of now, I have been able to trace the Walter Nysten covers from 12^th Decmber1934 up until just after the Second World War – let us say 1946. Before the war he lived here in Antwerp at Avenue des Petits Coqs, 156 and afterwards moved to rue Van Schoonbeke, 81.

L’Abbé Gudenkauf in ‘Postal History of the Lado Enclave’ has already referred to the dubious activities of Nysten and referred to him as “the infamous Antwerp forger”. My studies are to try to establish whether all the covers he had sent to his own address have genuine cancellations or not. It would also be very interesting to discover where he sourced and got all his information from.’

‘Although Walter Nysten called himself a ‘philatéliste’, my enquiries among all the existing stamp circles, confirms that none of the elder members can recall having heard of anybody called Nysten. As yet I have not found any publications from him or any references to him, apart from l’Abbé’s comments quoted above. My next resource and challenge will be to try to get documentary information from the Antwerp Town Hall, and see if there are still members of the Nysten clan listed somewhere in their records.’

Use of this 12 dot Retta has not been verified on mail from the Lado. This piece is regarded as a fake and attributed as the handiwork of Nysten.(Stuart Smith)

The following Paquebot items illustrate some Walter Nysten contributions!

  Holland West Afrika Lijn

 The line was founded in 1920 and closed in 1969. Smaller ships included ‘kerk’ in their names such as the s.s.Amstelkerk, s.s Maaskerk and s.s.Waalkerk. The larger vessels used  ‘stroom’and having previously been ships of the ‘Holland Stroomboot Maatschappij Amsterdam’ line – typified by the s.s.Eemstroom, s.s.Reggestroom and s.s.Drechtstroom.

Other ships were chartered from ‘N.V.Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd’ or from ‘Koninklijke Nederlandssche Stoomboot Maatschappij.’

 The first illustration is a cover addressed to Walter Nysten and was posted on board the s.s.Reggestroom in the Le Havre harbour on 3^rd August 1936 as confirmed by the ‘LE HAVRE/SEINE INFERIEURE’ stamp. It arrived in Antwerp 12^th June 1936 where it received a tax due ‘T 30 cents’ because of the ‘Post Restante’ address.

Figure 1.

s.s.Reggestroom -‘Hollandsche Stroomboot Maatschappij’

The s.s.Reggestroom had its own ‘house stamp canceller’ as used on the three ‘Stanley stamps’ (Fig.1) and served the ‘Holland West Afrika Lijn’ from 1925 until it was sunk off Portland Bill by a German E-Boat in July 1942.

 s.s. Helder

 The s.s.Helder used the same design of ‘house stamp canceller’ as the ‘Reggestroom’. Illustrated below (Fig.2) is a cover posted on board and handed over to the Bordeaux post office where it had both the ‘PAQUEBOT’ and ‘BORDEAUX/31-1-34/GIRONDE’ receiving office applied.

Figure 3 shows another cover with the s.s.Hilder ‘house canceller’ and this one is addressed to Walter Nysten. It is clearly philatelic and of particular interest because it also carries the same ‘LE HAVRE/SEINE INFERIEURE’ stamp used on same date, 3^rd August 1936, as that illustrated on the s.s.Reggestroom (Fig.1).

PAKETBOOT/PAQUEBOT

In measuring the size of this mark the frame is 21 x 13mm

PAKETBOOT is 16mm and PAQUEBOT 14mm.

These measurements are the same on the Nysten covers as well as on many other letters, postcards and pieces.

Illustrated below are two pieces and a Picture Card of the m/v Albertville (6).

(i)                     Fig.4 from the ‘Tervaete’ – a ship used by ‘CMB’ from 1947 until 1965

(ii)                   Fig.5 posted on board the ‘Gouveneur Galopin’ in service from 1946-1959.

(iii)                  Fig.6 posted with a Spanish stamp at Teneriffe and cancelled on arrival in Antwerp 8^th June 1948. The Albertville (6) served during the period from 1948 to 1973.

------------------------

                            15 Centimes   - Combinations IV3 + C1 and V+C1

                        An update and review of the plating characteristics

                 by – Stuart Smith

If you have had or are finding it difficult to position a 1915, 15 Centimes stamp with the two dots engraved in the upper left and right margins thus identifying it as from plate V – try again as it could be from the much scarcer IV3. It is also suggested that what we currently attributed as Plate ‘V’, is actually Plate IV4.

…………………

According to Du Four:

‘15 Centimes Plate V – Cette planche se distingue de toutes les autres par la présence dans toutes les figurines d’un minuscule trait courbe i) dans la marge gauche à hauteur du sommet du C de CONGO BELGE, ii) dans la marge droite à hauteur de l’angle supérieur droite du rectangle guilloche.’

According to Keach and Hudson:

‘If the stool of the G (in BELGE) is weak and broken, one then looks for tiny green circles engraved in the left and right margins of the stamp, just outside the frames and about 1mm from the top on each side. If these circles are present the frame plate is V; otherwise it is IV or a booklet stamp.’

Our ‘plating’ members will be aware that the combinations allocated to the 15 Centimes value have been under constant review and re-classified on several occasions since Du Four’s ‘Congo - Cinquante ans d’histoire Postale’ was first published. You may also care to note that as a result of my recent studies a small sector of your 15 Centimes collection may need a partial rewrite as it does negate the idea that the ‘two miniscule dots’ engraved just outside the frames, determines that the stamp is specifically from frame plate V. I now suggest this never was and is no longer the case!

By way of a reminder it is presently understood that:

Illustrating IV3+C, #5

1. The three states of frame plate IV (IV1, IV2, IV3) are identified by the indistinct and weak curves in the stool

2. Frame plates IV1 and IV2 are identical except for the presence of lay marks which created IV2 -dividing 18,19/28,29 and 12,13/22,23.

3. IV3 can only be identified by doubling in positions 5,15,25,35, and 45.

What is new?  

Combination IV3+C

i) Doubling in positions 5,15,25,35 is fairly clear to see but in the case of # 45, the most obvious change is the removal of the previously very clear and prominent horizontal line running parallel and extending beyond the top right hand frame. Note also the extension of the inner frame line in IV2. (The very prominent entries in IV2 (#45) have been removed and replaced by another rather weak one.)

ii) Much more importantly, and as far as I know not previously been recorded, is the presence in positions 5,15,25,35, of ‘tiny green circles engraved in the left and right margins of the stamp, just outside the frames and about 1mm from the top on each side’.

In #45 there is only one tiny circle in the right hand position. In essence this is the very same feature that until now has been used as the ‘rule of thumb’ to determine that the stamp is supposedly from frame plate V.

Combination V+C - is it IV4+C ?

It would appear that the small dots introduced in plate ‘IV3’ served a useful purpose as they were added to all positions when the new plate ‘V’ was created. However in creating the ‘so-called’ plate ‘V’ -

(i) It is most surprising that plate ‘V’ incorporates the very week curve in the stool of ‘G’. It is unrealistic to believe that a new frame plate was produced and the “consequence of the damaged transfer roll in frame IV” was incorporated in it.

(ii) The small circles were introduced in all positions and where duplicated are apparently identically positioned to those in ‘IV3’.

(iii) The same lay marks remained when plate V was created.

And just to complete the picture for the ‘platers’:

(iv) In addition to those referred to above, there is an identically positioned small circle in position 29 of both ‘IV3’ and ‘V’ and the top left outer frame lines have the very similar characteristics

Peter Foden in Bulletin #29 (April 1977) verified that Du Four’s original allocation of centre plate ‘D’ was in fact ‘C2’ and stated also:

 “…the normal practice would have been to re-enter the existing plate if at all possible, rather than go to the trouble and expense of constructing yet another.”

 He concluded with:

 “The mystery of the new frame plate (referring to frame plate ‘V’) still remains to be solved, but perhaps further evidence will come to light to indicate that this too is also a re-entered state of a previous plate.”

27 years later and armed with evidence from a complete sheet of combination IV3+C (which Peter must not have known of) - I suggest that what we currently attribute to combination V+C is really IV4+C. Whatever your opinion, I invite you to consider and comment.

………………….

With specific reference to combination IV3+C and by way of summary, the knowledge we now have confirms the following plating characteristics:

    1.      (Already recorded) There are re-entries in the fifth column to 5,15,25,35 and 45. This is apparent in the top         right hand corner in the form of an extension of the horizontal outer frame line as well as the doubling of the         upper vertical frame.

2.      (New information) The presence of tiny green circles engraved in both the left and right margins about 1mm from the top on each side (formerly attributed to plate V only) exists in positions 5,15,25 and 35.

3.      (New information) A similarly positioned tiny green circle exists outside the left hand margin in position 29 and the right hand margin in 45.

4.      None of these characteristics exist in combinations IV1 and IV2.

………………….

            Internment Camps in the Belgian Congo        

      1940-1945

  By - Emile Hoorens

It is no secret that several aspects of Belgian Congo postal history for the period 1940-45 still need clarification.  The existence and the history of ‘Internment Camps’ is definitely one such matter, about which scarcely anything is known.

According to discovered documents, the only camps known are those of N’GULE and ELISABETHVILLE, both in Katanga .  There may have been others in the north of the Congo or at Leopoldville .  On this subject, the newspaper ‘Le Soir’ dated 18^th October 1990, published a short extract from its 18^th October.1940 issue, concerning the existence of an internment camp for Italians on board a boat at Leopoldville – though at that time the newspaper was in the hands of the Germans, and called ‘Le Soir volé’ (Fig.1).

Whilst remembering that Nazi sympathisers throughout the war managed both the printers and the ‘Soir’ newspaper, the translated content reads as follows:

 ‘FIFTY YEARS AGO

One could read in <Le Soir volé> of 18^th October 1940 - <In the Belgian Congo >.

Grave complaints have been received in Rome about the treatment of Italians in the Belgian Congo , where Italian citizens have been interned on a boat, in unhealthy conditions.

Women have to deal with the worst injuries among the population.

According to the <Popolo d’Italia> the attitude of the Belgian authorities is not acceptable, especially since there is no state of war between Belgium and Italy .  But it is the British Consul at Leopoldville who gives orders to the Belgian Governor-General.”

With regard to the camps at Elisabethville and N’Gule, known dates range from 30^th March.1942 (Fig. 2) to 28^th October 1947 (Fig. 9).  From sparse information gathered from former Colonial inhabitants, Italians and Germans living in the Congo in 1940 were interned as civilians - they included doctors, missionaries and businessmen!

The following illustrations provide some information but also raise several questions.

Figure 2. This letter to Florence ( Italy ) came out of the Elisabethville internment camp on 30^th March 1942 and was carried (by air?) via Lisbon .  It was censored three times: successively in the Belgian Congo, Great Britain and on arrival in Italy .  It is the only letter I own relating to the Elisabethville camp

Figure 3 illustrates a letter from N’Gule Camp, posted to Switzerland on 5^th May1942.  It has no censor or transit markings.  The 8 francs postage does not tally with the airmail rate to Switzerland .

In accordance with international agreements and the Geneva Convention, internees could use the Red Cross message service.  The example illustrated in figure 4 departed Geneva on 5^th December 1943 for Ganyo Sake via Albertville and Bukama.  It bears the Belgian Congo censor strike.  On arrival at its destination, it was forwarded to the N’Gule camp.  

Note the over-use of the term ‘concentration’ camp instead of ‘internment’ camp. In 1942 it is very doubtful that anyone in the Belgian Congo knew the realities of German concentration camps.

The internee sent his reply on 29^th March 1944 (Fig.5) and an arrival cachet was applied (in Geneva ?) on 22^nd June 1944.  

The same Italian internee wrote a memo on 13^th October 1943 to a missionary at Irumu to thank him fort taking care of his son. (Fig.6)

The last three letters post-date the end of the war. (Figures 7, 8 and 9.)  For some unknown reason, German civilians were apparently still interned in 1947.  These three letters date from 7^th January, 17^th March and 28^th October 1947.  The British Occupation authorities in Germany censored two of the three letters.

“Despite much research, no official information can be found concerning these camps.  Every archive consulted remains silent on the subject!  Any information, from other collectors or former Congo inhabitants can provide any information; will be most welcome, as would photocopies of any. similar covers.

(This article is a reformatted version of that previously published in Bulletin 116 – Editor)

-------------------------------