POSTER STAMPS AND LABELS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

      INTRODUCTION

      STATISTICS

      UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

        SUMMER GAMES
1894 - Modern Games Founded
1896 - I Olympiad - Athens
1900 - II Olympiad - Paris
      - Vignettes of the 1900 Paris Expo
1904 - III Olympiad - St. Louis
1906 - Intercalated Games - Athens
1908 - IV Olympiad - London
1912 - V Olympiad - Stockholm
1913 - Berlin prepares for 1916 games
1914 - 20th Anniversary of Rebirth of Games
1916 - VI Olympiad - Berlin
1920 - VII Olympiad - Antwerp
1924 - VIII Olympiad - Paris
      - Post Cards
1928 - IX Olympiad - Amsterdam
1932 - X Olympiad - Los Angeles
1936 - XI Olympiad - Berlin
1940 - XII Olympiad - Tokyo
      - XII Olympiad - Helsinki
      - New Zealand Centennial Games
1944 - XIII Olympiad - London
      - German POW Games
1948 - XIV Olympiad - London
1952 - XV Olympiad - Helsinki
1956 - XVI Olympiad - Melbourne
      - XVI Olympiad - Stockholm
1960 - XVII Olympiad - Rome

1940 - V Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Official (?) poster for the 1940 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games

After Japan gave the 1940 Games back to the IOC in July 1938, the IOC then decided to give the Winter Olympics to St Moritz, Switzerland, which had hosted it in 1928. However, due to controversies between the Swiss organizing team and the IOC, the Games were withdrawn again.

In the spring of 1939, the IOC gave the 1940 Winter Olympics, now scheduled for February 2-11, to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, where the previous 1936 Games had been held. Three months later, Germany invaded Poland, on September 1, to ignite World War II and the Winter Games were cancelled in November.

DuBois lists no poster stamps issued for the 1940 Winter Games in Garmisch- Partenkirchen, but I found the following image on the www - they look like luggage stickers, and the text says Winter Olympic Games - 1940 - Garmisch- Partenkirchen.


1940-x1 and x2
I think these are participant's badges.


11/14/18 - Alvaro Trucchi, collector and prize-winning exhibitor of Olympic vignettes, published the following rather crude image in an article about Winter Olympic labels for Phila-Sport magazine. He has no information about it, but it looks like a design for a semi-postal postage stamp. As such, it is a very borderline entry in this collection, but I show it in case someone can tell us more about it.


1940W-G-x3
Black on white, Downhill skier.
"V. OLYMPISCHE WINTERSPIELE" and Olympic rings at top right,
"42+8" and "Deutsches Reich" at bottom left.
Dimensions unknown.

      SOLVED MYSTERIES!

      STILL MISSING

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      UPDATE HISTORY

       SUMMER GAMES
1964 - XVIII Olympiad - Tokyo
1968 - XIX Olympiad - Mexico City
1972 - XX Olympiad - Munich

       WINTER GAMES
1924 - I Winter Games - Chamonix
1928 - II Winter Games - St Moritz
1932 - III Winter Games - Lake Placid
1936 - IV Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1940 - V Winter Games - Sapporo
      - V Winter Games - St Moritz
      - V Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1944 - V Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo
1948 - V Winter Games - St Moritz
1952 - VI Winter Games - Oslo
1956 - VII Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo
1960 - VIII Winter Games - Squaw Valley
1964 - IX Winter Games - Innsbruck
1968 - X Winter Games - Grenoble
1972 - XI Winter Games - Sapporo

       OTHER TOPICS
      - U.S. OLYMPIC SHIELD DECALS
      - Workers' Olympics

06/17/2020 -I movesd this here from the 1940 Helsinki page, where I had placed it by mistake.

GERMAN POSTCARD FOR 1940 WINTER OLYMPICS

 
#1940-F-x2
148x104mm overall

This one's interesting. I found several examples on the www, with no description of size or origin, so I thought it might be a label.

The German text reads:
OLYMPIADE / GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN 1940 HELSINKI / DEUTSCHLAND-FINNLAND / FAND DURCH DEN UNS AUFGEZWUNGENEN KRIEG NICHT STATT
Rough Translation:
(THE 1940 OLYMPICS)
DID NOT TAKE PLACE BECAUSE OF THE WAR IMPOSED ON US

Wow!

Turns out it's a postcard, and I've seen examples postmarked in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on February 18 and 21 of 1941, during International Wintersports Week of 1941(!)

Text on the address side reads as follows:
MOEGE DIE OLYMPISCHE FLAMME LEUCHTEN DURCH ALLE GESCHLECHTER ZUM WOHLE EINE IMMER HOEHER STREBENDEN, MUTIGEREN UND REINEREN MENSCHHEIT
which translates something like
MAY THE OLYMPIC FLAME SHINE THROUGH ALL GENERATIONS FOR THE BENEFIT OF AN EVER HIGHER ASPIRING, BOLDER, PURER HUMANITY.
This text is attributed to Baron de Coupertin, founder of the modern Olympics.

I'll let you absorb all of that for a few minutes.
Ready to continue?

The mind boggles. Is this the Nazi propaganda machine pretending the war was imposed upon them, and that by February of 1941 they had not attacked and occupied Poland (September 1939), Denmark (April 1940), Norway (April 1940), Belgium (May 1940), the Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg (May 1940), and France (May 1940)? I guess so.

If anyone has further explanation of this card, please write me - email address at bottom of page.

6/17/2020 - an update:

 
#1940-F-x2b

Pavel, a Russian visitor to this site, wrote and sent the image above, with this message:

Hello William! I am finishing work on a monograph for the failed Games of the XII Olympiad (Tokyo, Helsinki). When studying material from the Internet, on Delcampe, a scan of a card issued in Germany and dedicated to the 1940 Olympics in Helsinki was found. On the card below, under "DEUTSCHLAND-FINNLAND", the text "FAND DURCH DEN UNS AUFGEZWUNGENEN KRIEG NICHT STATT" is missing and there is no "ES" monogram at the bottom right. I make the assumption that at first a card was printed without text below. When it was decided to cancel the Olympics, a red overprint of the text about the failed Olympics was made on the card. Cards are known in their pure form and with special cancellations. Earliest cancellation date 11/11/1942. Respectfully yours, Pavel

That's an interesting addition to the story, and makes sense. It would have been silly to issue the card just to complain about the cancellation - they issued it first expecting to hold them, then they were cancelled, and the overprint was added. Thanks, Pavel!


There were no postal stamps issued for the 1940 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Olympics


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I am indebted to Robert J DuBois for allowing me to use images and information from his Catalog of Olympic Labels on these web pages.

All text and images are the property of the author. Any errors are his.
REWARD! If you have better or additional information about anything shown or discussed here, please email the author.
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All text Copyright © 2013, William M. Senkus

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Created -- 07/27/2013
Revised -- 06/17/2020