The SCM #043

The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 43 (May 2017) Page 1
The Sub-Carpathian Messenger
Newsletter of the Study Circle
for the Postal History of the Carpatho-Ukraine
Number 43 – May 2017
The famous restaurant ‘Speck’

About us and the Newsletter
The Study Circle is a loose group of persons who are interested in the postal (and general)
history of the area known as Kárpátalja in Hungarian, as Podkarpatská Rus during the First
Czechoslovak Republic, which had a short day of independence as Carpatho Ukraine, and
later was integrated into the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union as the ‘Zakarpatskaja Ob-
last’. Since 1991 it is ЗАКАРПАТТЯ, the westernmost administrative district in the now
independent Ukraine.
The Newsletter came out of a meeting of a few collectors during the PRAHA 2008, its first
number appeared in November 2008. In the last years we have always produced at least
four issues per year but may not be able to keep this high level due to a substantial lack of
contributions. On the other hand, as we can see from the access counts at the public web
site, this Newsletter is read by hundreds of people.
This imbalance between supporters and consumers-only has finally brought the editor to
the decision that he will stop editing this magazine after ten years, i. e., with the issue of
November 2018. If someone wants to take over, he (or she) is very welcome.
Cristian Camartin, a member from Switzerland, is showing 377 pages of Czechoslovak
postal history for Carpatho-Ukraine on EXPONET – much recommended for study and view-
ing. We send our regards and best wishes to him as to all members of the Study Circle.
Distribution method
All issues of the »Sub-Carpathian Messenger« can be browsed at and downloaded from the
Internet address
http://www.slideshare.net/subcarpathian
For those who have no Internet access and/or no e-mail, the distribution method is still
the same: you will receive a colour print-out by air/surface mail as you did in the past.
Everybody can freely access the uploaded numbers of the Newsletter but the notification
service for new numbers is limited to the actual members of the Study Circle.
Rules and Regulations
All articles in the Newsletter carrying the name of an author are the sole responsibility of
this author and should not be taken to represent the common opinion of the Study Circle.
Such articles are, if not marked otherwise, copyrighted by the respective author. Free use
within the Study Circle is granted. We thank our authors for their much appreciated work
and contribution.
Participation in the Study Circle is not bound to a formal membership and does not include
the duty to pay a membership fee. There is a moral obligation to support the Newsletter
from time to time by sending some article, some interesting piece of information, some
question, some answer or whatever, although a number of ‘members’ has chosen to dis-
respect even this minimal request for support.
We will “print” everything even only loosely connected with our subject of interest so any
contribution is certainly welcome. Please send it (as Word 2003, 2007 or 2010 document,
graphical elements in JPEG, 300 dpi or better) to the editor’s e-mail address (kb@aatc.at).
His traditional postal address, if you would need it, is:
Helmut Kobelbauer, Untergrossau 81, A-8261 Sinabelkirchen, Austria / Europe

Helmut Kobelbauer
Auction News
The sale of stamps from the first issue of Austria (1850 to 1858) with postmarks from the
then Kárpátalja is going on; in this case by the Austrian auction house MERKURPHILA in its
26th
auction (November 13rd
, 2016):
Lot 950: 9 kr (H IIIa) with cancellation “POLENA” of “1/1” on cut-out
Call 120 Euro, sold for 220 Euro
Lot 951: 1 kr (H Ib, orange) with cancellation “SZEREDNYE” of “25/5”
Call 150 Euro, not sold
Lot 952: 1 kr (M III) with cancellation “UNGVAR” of “22/8” on cut-out
Call 90 Euro, sold for 120 Euro
Lot 2124: 9 kr (M IIIb) with cancellation “HUSZT” of “14/6” on cut-out
Call 30 Euro, not sold
Commissioner’s fee is 18 per cent and must be added to the given prices.
The German auctioneer Peter F. Harlos offered in his 36th
auction (November 19th
, 2016) a
number of interesting postal history items – amongst them two from the Podkarpatská Rus:
Lot 5323: Registered letter, Zalatna, September 13th
, 1920, to Turčianský Svatý Martin.

The above letter carries a provisional Hungarian registration, Romanian stamps of in total
125 Bani, a Romanian censorship mark and – this is the new detection – a Czech two-lines
censorship mark “VOJENSKÁ CENZURA | V UŽHORODĚ” with a hand-written date of October
4th
, 1920.
The newly detected censorship mark from Užhorod.
(Contrast enhanced and colours adapted)
The Hungarian ‘Zalatna’ corresponds to German ‘Klein-Schlatten’ and Romanian ‘Zlatna’,
being a small town in the Alba county in Transsylvania. This letter proves an interesting
postal route from Romania to Slovakia, passing through the Czech military censorship
office in Užhorod.
This item was offered for 30 Euro and sold (to me) for 310 Euro.
Another piece is from the short 1938 civil censorship period:
Lot 5530: Postal stationery 50H, CDS “UŽHOROD 2 / * УЖГОРОД 2 *”,
September 29th
, 1938, to Č. Budějovice. Large one-line censorship
mark “CENSUROVÁNO” in violet.
This nice item was offered for just 20 Euro and sold for 55 Euro.
Commissioner’s fee for this auction is 20 per cent and must be added to the given prices.
We have also been told by some British dealer of Eastern Europe that Otto Hornung’s Car-
patho-Ukraine collection has been sold at Spink’s auction in London; a check with Spink’s
has revealed that this is a unfounded rumour. If you know more, we would be interested to
hear.

Helmut Kobelbauer
A Third Cover to Szőllősvégardó
In SCM #020 (April 2012, page 16) we have shown a registered letter from Pest(h) to the
postal station Szőllősvégardó of September 1836; then in SCM #023 (November 2012, page
16) another such cover of February 1836.
By good luck we have now found a third such letter:
Cover of official letter, Ujhely, August 19th
, 1830, to Szőllősvégardó. With large paper seal.
Date as noted down on the reverse of the cover.
This cover was sold as lot 64 in Darabanth’s auction of November 29th
, 2016, for the price
of HUF 38.400 (approx. 127 EUR). The red oval mark “UJHELY” has 300 points in Tamás
Gudlin’s »Classic Postmarks of Hungary« and has 140 points in the »Handbook of the
Hungarian Pre Stamp Mail«. This mark (in black or red) was used from 1819 to 1840.
The postal route was probably (Sátoralja-)Újhely – Velejte – Tőketerebes – Vécse – Nagy-
mihály – Szobranc – Ungvár – Szerednye – Munkács – Nyíresújfalu – Nagyszőllős – Szőllős-
végardó. This would be 9 (full) postal stations, for a letter with one lot(h) weight equi-
valent in 1830 to 12 xr to be paid by the receiver. (Please be reminded that the leg Mun-
kács – Beregszász – Szőllősvégardó was probably not opened before 1836.) This “12 xr” can
also be seen in the top right corner of the cover.
Although rather expensive, this cover is worth its price, being the earliest known that was
sent to Szőllősvégardó. Comments are – as always – welcome.

András Jakab
Early Letter from Kaszony
According to Tamás Gudlin’s »Classic Postmarks of Hungary« (p. 226), the postal office
Kaszony was opened in 1858. Its single-circle canceller is not known on the first Austrian
issue (1850 – 1858) and is considered “R[are]” on the second Austrian issue (1858 – 1859).
The shown cover was written and cancelled in Kaszony on February 8th
, 1859, and was
going to Pest through “BEREGSZÁSZ” (8/2) and “DEBRECZEN” (9/2), arriving in “PESTH” on
February 10th
, 1859. This is the earliest known use of the “KASZONY” single-circle cancel-
ler.
This postal office was renamed to Mezőkaszony in 1870.

Text side of the letter.
Front of the letter.

Certificate of Dr. Ulrich Ferchenbauer.
Mr. Ferchenbauer says that the letter is probably of the first weight class and the third
distance class, giving 15 Neukreuzer as the letter’s fee. The additional 10 Neukreuzer
indicate that the letter was meant to be registered, but for whatever reason the letter was
neither handled nor sent that way.
Since – according to Edwin Müller – the postal office Kaszony was opened on October 1st
,
1858, and the second Austrian issue became valid only on November 1st
, 1858, there is a
(very slim) theoretical chance that one may eventually find the “KASZONY” canceller on
the first Austrian issue.
Comments are welcome.

Czirok Dénes
More on the First “Correspondenz-Karte”
The world’s first “Correspondenz-Karte”, issued on October 1st
, 1869, was at the same
time set into circulation by the Austrian and by the Hungarian Postal Administration (which
were two separate entities).
Helmut Kobelbauer has shown an example of the variety “Hungarian coat-of-arms, text in
German” in SCM #042 (p. 3). The following picture proves the use of the variety “Austrian
coat-of-arms, text in German” in the then Kárpátalja:
2 kr. Correspondenz-Karte, MUNKÁCS, 15/5 (1870 or 1871), to Vienna.
We can also show an example for the “Hungarian coat-of-arms, text in German” variety:
2 kr. postal stationery, BUSTYAHÁZA (in blue !!), 8/1 71, to Kassa.

And finally we can show the third variety “Hungarian coat-of-arms, text in Hungarian”:
2 kr. postal stationery, KÖRÖSMEZŐ, 9/11 70, to Pest.
This is final proof that all three varieties were used in Hungary and especially also in the
area under the Carpathians.

Tom Cossaboom
From the 1905 Baedeker for Austria and Hungary
Tourism was becoming one of the principal national income sources in the late 19th
and
early 20th
centuries in Central Eastern Europe, in parallel with the growing production of
picture postcards.
The following excerpt is from the Baedeker (in English) for Austria and Hungary as publish-
ed in 1905 (we apologize for the reproduction quality and for the geometrical distortions):

This interesting overview of the train lines allowing to visit some of the natural beauties of
the Kárpátalja doesn’t mention the line from Máramarossziget to Körösmező although the
latter had been opened in December 1894 (see SCM #018, page 17).
Another nice addition is the “Money Table” which shows monetary conversion rates at the
time of print of this much sought-after Baedeker (1905).

Helmut Kobelbauer
Railway Building in 1905
By chance I have come across an interesting photograph from the year 1905, showing the
building of a bridge for the railway from Ungvár to Uzsok and then over the border into
Galicia. On the back of the photograph there is a remark that this bridge is near Csorba-
domb.
Photograph: Building a railway bridge near Csorbadomb (1905).
Handwritten remark on the reverse of the photograph.
Csorbadomb is famous for the railway viaduct – the next railway station being Volosianka
(see next article). Winter of 1914 and then early January of 1915 saw heavy fighting as the
Russian forces captured the Uzsok pass and tried to press southwards into the Ung valley.
Meeting the desperate defense of Hungarian soldiers, they were eventually driven back
into Galicia proper and – after the break-through of German and Austro-Hungarian troops
of Gorlice in May 1915 – were forced to a retreat of several 100 kilometres.
If you would have other pictures of railways or their construction, we would be interested
to receive scans or (good quality) copies. Thank you.

Helmut Kobelbauer
Some Other Postal Items from Volosyanka / Волосянка
Continuing our series of pictures and postal items from Volosianka (see SCM #022, p. 5 – 9;
SCM #035, p. 6; SCM #036, p. 5 – 7), we show another picture postcard:
Picture postcard of Užok, cancelled “VOLOSIANKA | * ВОЛОСЯНКА * | b”,
August 12th
, 1929, addressed to Prague - Nusle.
This card is correctly franked with 50h Masaryk (1926) for a domestic destination. As the
respective canceller was used 1929 to 1939, this is an early use of this canceller. In 1929
the name of the village was officially changed from Volosjanka to Volosianka.
Although many postcards from Uzsok are known, this is one which is not seen so often. Its
lower edge is completely slanting – probably a production error. The picture of Užok is by a
local photographer, J. Šolc from Vel. Berezný, the card was published by J. Jirásko in Vo-
losjanka.

From the early Czechoslovak period we can add also two postal items with the “HAJASD |
P. U.” canceller, both originating from the Hans-Dieter Hanus collection:
Christmas card, Hajasd, December 18th
, 1919, to Příbram (Moravia).
Part of money transfer order, Hajasd, July 3rd
, 1920; with – another
addition to Juan E. Page’s list in SCM #034 - district mark 2291 in violet.
The strikes of this elusive canceller are in bluish-black and violet. The post office Hajasd
was closed during the year 1920 and re-opened (as Volosjanka) on January 1st
, 1924.

Helmut Kobelbauer
Another Hungarian District Mark
In the SCM #034 (pp. 7 – 9) Juan E. Page put the question of the list of Hungarian district
marks (‚Bezirksstempel’ in German) used in the then Kárpátalja until 1918. We have
already seen that such marks occasionally were still used in the first years of Podkarpatská
Rus until replaced by Czechoslovak district marks.
The above picture shows a Czechoslovak money transfer order from “BĚLKI | * БЂЛКИ * |
Č. S. P. | a” of “16. XII. 21 --“ to Prague, arrival mark of “21 XII 21 IX –”. This money trans-
fer order carries the Hungarian district mark 2071 which is a new entry for Juan’s list.
This postmark of the village called Bilke in Hungarian is listed in volume 17/II of the
»MONOGRAFIE ČESKOSLOVENSKÝCH ZNÁMEK« on page 357:
This postal item is a nice combination of Hungarian and Czechoslovak elements.

Juan has reproduced the list of Czechoslovak district marks from the Podkarpatská
Rus on page 7 of the cited reference. We bring this list again for ease of use – but
now strictly in (Czechoslovak) alphabetic order – the entry 7/28 is not mentioned:
District
mark
Location Ascertained District
mark
Location Ascertained
7/95 Antalovce 7/49 Rachov ‼
7/5 Barkasovo 7/50 Rákošín
7/6 Baťovo 7/51 Rosvegovo
7/1 Berehovo ‼ 7/55 Sekernice
7/75 Berehy 7/52 Seredné
7/7 Bílky ‼ 7/53 Sevluš
7/9 Bohdan 7/93 Sinovir ‼
7/8 Brod nad Iršavou 7/54 Sirte
7/10 Buštino 7/4 Slatinské Doly ‼
7/12 Černohlava 7/57 Stavné
7/13 Černý Ardov 7/58 Strabičovo-Goronda
7/11 Čiňaďovo 7/56 Střední Apša
7/14 Dovhé ‼ 7/59 Svalava ‼
7/15 Drahovo ‼ 7/60 Šalanky
7/16 Dubové ‼ 7/61 Šom
7/17 Dubriniče ‼ 7/65 Tačovo ‼
7/18 Eseň 7/21 Tarnovce
7/33 Friděšovo 7/62 Terebla ‼
7/19 Hať u Berehova 7/63 Teresva
7/20 Horinčovo ‼ 7/97 Torun
7/23 Chlumec u Užhorodu 7/66 Trebušany ‼
7/22 Chust ‼ 7/64 Trnovo nad Teresvou
7/24 Ilnice 7/68 Tuří Bystrý
7/25 Iršava ‼ 7/67 Tuří Remety
7/91 Izky 7/89 Usťčorna
7/26 Jasiňa 7/3 Užhorod, Užhorod 1 ‼
7/30 Kerecky 7/69 Užhorod 2 ‼
7/32 Kivjažď 7/71 Vary
7/27 Kobylecká Polana 7/74 Veliká Běhaň
7/34 Kosino 7/72 Veliká Dobroň
7/31 Královo nad Tisou ‼ 7/73 Veliká Kopaňa
7/35 Kvasy 7/78 Veliké Gejovce
7/36 Lalovo 7/96 Veliké Komňaty
7/37 Lipča 7/79 Veliké Loučky
7/36 Ljutá 7/76 Veliký Bočkov
7/92 Majdan ‼ 7/77 Veliký Palad
7/39 Malý Berezný 7/80 Velký Berezný
7/40 Močola 7/94 Volosianka
7/2 Mukačevo ‼ 7/83 Volové
7/81 Mužijovo 7/82 Volovec
7/41 Neresnice 7/43 Vulchovce
7/42 Nižní Verecky 7/84 Výlok
7/44 Palanok 7/85 Výškovo nad Tisou
7/45 Perečín 7/86 Záhatí ‼
7/46 Petrovo 7/87 Záluž
7/47 Polana u Svalavy 7/88 Žděňovo
7/48 Poroškov
The district marks 7/29, 7/70, and 7/90 have not been assigned. Whether such marks were
assigned to (temporary) postal offices Hudlovo, Kalník, Užok, and Veliká Tarna is an open
question. On the other hand, the postal office Sirte is not listed in the »MONOGRAFIE«.

Peter Cybaniak and Roman Dubyniak
Polish Refugees in Hungary
We have a card from what we think was a conscripted Polish soldier from Lviv (Lemberg)
sent from Nyzhni Vorota (Alsóverecke) which lies just over the border from Halychyna
(Galicia) in Hungarian Kárpátalja (Carpatho-Ukraine). It was written on September 22nd
,
1939, so in the first month of German occupation of Poland. So it appears that there was a
camp in Munkács for Polish soldiers as early as September 1939.

The sender gave his name as “Anton Borsuk, Węgry” [the later word meaning Hungary in
Polish] and the card was addressed to “W(ielmożna) Pani Janina Borsuk, Lwów 26, Polen
Lemberg, ul(ica) Wielkopolska 19” [Mrs. Ivanna Borsuk, Lviv 26, Lviv Poland, Velykopolska
street 19].
The card carries the following postmarks:
- Hungaro-Ukrainian Alsóverecke dated September 22nd
, 1939,
- Russian Moscow dated October 3rd
, 1939,
- Russian L’vov dated November 13th
, 1939.
Also there is a violet handstamp “retour | non admis(sible)” in French [return – not admis-
sible] that was crossed out in blue.
The Polish text on the card is (as far as we could decipher it):
Kochana Janino, Mamo, Dzieci i […] !
Jestem obecnie na Węgrzech. Od czasu wyjazdu z domu nie miałem od Was rzadnej wiadomości.
Wprawdzie telefonowałem do p. Padeckij, to mnie uspokoiła, że w domu wszystko w porządku, ale
wolałbym uslyszeć Twój głos. Z drogi wysłałem do domu 4 kg sadła I 3 kg cukru: Czyście to otszymali?
Razem z Felkiem, Chabatowskim I cała grupą wojska, którzy pszekroczyli granicę, i po złożeniu broni
maszerujemy do “Munkacza”. Gzdie nas dalej zaprowadzą to nie wiem. O mnie bądźcie spokojni.
Chciałbym bardzo być już w domu i Was zobaczyć. Ktoby temu miesiąc spodziewał się że tak będziemy
daleko od siebie. Proszę Was bardzo dbajcie o soebie, a da Bóg że zlistu się zobaczymy. Je caluję Was
wszystkich i pozdrawiam. Toni
In our translation:
Dear Yanina, Mother, Children and […] !
I am now in Hungary. Since leaving home I have heard nothing from you. I have telephoned Mrs. Padetski
and she assured me that you are all well, but I would have liked to have heard this from yourself. I have
sent you 4 kilograms of salted pork fat and 3 kilogramps of sugar – have you received them? I along with
Felko, Khabatovski and a large number of Polish soldiers who have crossed the border, after laying down
our arms, are marching to Munkács. Where we will be taken to from there, I do not know. Do not worry
about me. I would love to be back home with you. Who would have thought a month ago that we would be
so far apart? I beg you, look after yourselves, and with God’s help we will establish postal communications
with one another. I kiss you all and send you all my best wishes. Toni
Detail of the sender’s address: Anton Borsuk, Węgry …
Additions by the editor:
This is really a very interesting card. The route taken by the Polish soldiers was obviously
from the Verecke pass down through Volóc, Polena, Szolyva to Munkács. Whether there
already was a full internment camp in Munkács seems a bit unsubstantiated but certainly
there was at least some temporary precaution for the internment of the large number of
Polish soldiers coming over the border.

Helmut Kobelbauer
Hungarian TPO 61 – Examples from 1941 and other Pictures
One of the T. P. O. marks mentioned and described in Jan Verleg’s monograph is that of
railway line number 61:
with its postmark:
Jan doesn’t give periods of use for the Hungarian T. P. O. stamps but it is reasonable to
assume that they were used not longer than from the forced “return” of the Podkarpatská
Rus to Hungarian administration (in March 1939) until the Soviet military occupation of that
area (in October 1944).
Picture postcard (Zsdenyova), TPO „VOLÓC ВОЛОВЕЦЪ – MUNKÁCS | 61”,
January 8th
, 1941, to Szeged.

(65 per cent)
Reverse of this picture postcard.
The other direction of the railway line can be demonstrated as follows:
Picture postcard (Volóc), TPO „MUNKÁCS - VOLÓC ВОЛОВЕЦЪ | 61”,
December 2nd
, 1941, to Budapest.
(70 per cent)
Reverse of this picture postcard – winter sport.

The railway section from Munkács to Volóc had as its southern terminus the railway station
at Bátyú. We show this station on a rare photocard from winter:
Photocard: Railway station Bátyú covered in snow.
As we have mentioned before, pictures from the winter season are rather uncommon if not
showing some winter sport events.
Another not so common picture is that of the Tatar (Jablonica) pass from the Polish side:
Przełęcz Tatarska – Granica i Placówka Węgierska
[Tatar pass – border and Hungarian border station].

Reverse side: Polish CDS „PRZEŁĘCZ TATARSKA”, April 9th
, 1939.
We are also showing a recent map of the Ta(r)tar (Jablonica) pass – thanks to Google Maps:
The H09 road leads through Körösmező (Jasinja) down into the Tisza (Tisa) valley and on to
Máramarossziget (now Sighetul Marmaţiei in Romania). The corresponding railway is not
functional anymore.

The SCM #043

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