To the victor go the spoils. Memel was Germany’s easternmost city and had a large Lithuanian minority. It’s position on the Baltic made it a revenue rich trading city that attracted the French. The Treaty of Versailles gave far off Memel to them and it was valuable source of war reparations. This left out the view of the people, whose will then took a surprising turn. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Who the heck are these French people and why are they here? How else to react to a standard French stamp issue just overprinted in German for use during the occupation. This might have told the Lithuanian minority something they needed to know. The French wouldn’t be there long, they would have made a definitive stamp issue. The German overprint further indicates that they are not thinking of the Lithuanians at all. Well as Gomer Pyle might say, “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!”
Todays stamp is issue A18, an 80 Pfennig on 45 Centimes stamp issued by the French administration of Memel in 1920. It was a 43 stamp issue of overprints in various denominations on a French stamp issue that began in 1900 and lasted into the 1920s. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents unused. If this isn’t a big enough overprint for you there is also a version with an additional airmail overprint that ups the value to $13 used. Used Memel stamps tend to be more valuable. France was in Memel to raise revenue, so naturally their printing presses worked overtime.
Memel had been a part of Prussia for a long period and the old city fortified and converted to Lutheran. The Lithuanians in the area, about 40 percent of the population were mainly in the countryside. It was a port city and being a part of Prussia saw much development and industrialization. The Prussians also did much work foresting what was essentially a sand bar to make sure the Baltic Sea would not reclaim it.
After World War I the French arrived. It was thought that after war reparations were repaid the city would become a free state in the manner of Danzig. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/19/danzig-1923-a-very-early-airmail-stamp-from-a-german-city-that-suddenly-found-itself-outside-germany/ . This was not what the new neighboring state of Lithuania wanted. Poland also wanted Memel given to Lithuania but then the whole of Lithuania given to Poland. Ambitious but not realistic. Lithuania decided to act quickly. Non uniformed troops marched in with three goals, the main German border crossing the port and the old city. They pretended to be trying to throw off the slavery of the Germans but the reality was that it was coordinated with Germany and the still German police force did not resist. The French in Memel old city refused to surrender and there were skirmishes with the Lithuanians until the French retired to barracks. A French ship arrived offshore with reinforcements but stayed offshore and instead it was decided to evacuate the French Army. French protests went out to Lithuania but taking of Memel was recognized internationally in 1924. The German residents stayed.
Having a relivily prosperous German city in Lithuania was quite a boom for the much poorer Lithuania. Memel’s 5 percent of Lithuania’s territory accounted for a third of it’s industry and 75 percent of it’s trade. The 1939 nonaggression treaty between Hitler and Stalin saw Memel returned to Germany. However toward the end the war the approach of the Red Army saw ethnic Germans flee west never to return. Memel became Klaipeda and declined economically, although the Soviets built a large shipyard there. Today Klaipeda is 87 percent Lithuanian, 6 percent Russian, with hardly any Germans. The population is in decline but the city hopes to come back based to cruise ship tourists visiting the old city.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Lithuania. For the boldness to take the city and the smarts to let the Germans be to lay their golden eggs. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.