German Post Accidentally Prints Nazi Stamp

The Deutsche Welle web site is reporting Germany's national postal system inadvertently printed a set of stamps featuring a picture of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess.

According to the site, Neo-Nazis used a customized postage stamp service offered by German mail carrier Deutsche Post to issue 20 stamps. Post spokesman Dirk Klasen at the company's offices in Bonn is quoted as saying, "It was a slip-up. We are very sorry about it."

The stamps are considered to be embarrassing to Germans, who are anxious to live down the country's Nazi past

Hess, who served as Hitler's deputy before he flew to Britain in 1941 on an apparent peace mission, was tried at Nuremberg for war crimes and sentenced to life in Berlin's Spandau prison. He committed suicide in 1987 at age 93 according to a Reuters report on the mixup.

Earlier this year, the company intercepted a request to have stamps printed featuring Hitler as a small child.

Deutsche Post began offering the customized stamp service, Plusbrief Individuell, in February. It allows clients to upload a digital photograph of a loved one or a commercial product. A week later they receive printed, post-paid envelopes showing the same picture.

Deutsche Post is now going to review its oversight procedures.

Shown above is a postcard on the The History Buff web site bearing both Hitler's and Hess's autographs under their pictures.

To read the entire article, click here.