Danzig - Postage stamps (1920 - 1939)

The philatelic history of the Free City of Danzig centers on a short but highly distinctive stamp era from 1920 to 1939, when Danzig was a League of Nations–protected city with its own postal system and its own stamps. Its first issues were overprinted German stamps in June 1920, followed by a full Danzig stamp series in 1921 that remained in use until the city’s annexation by Nazi Germany in 1939.

Postal setting
Danzig’s stamp history is unusual because the city had a dual postal structure during the interwar years. German-run post offices handled ordinary Danzig mail, while a Polish post office in the harbor area served mail between Danzig and Poland using Polish stamps overprinted “PORT GDANSK”.

This arrangement made Danzig a politically charged postal territory as well as a fascinating collecting area. Conflicts over mail handling, franking rules, and sovereignty are a major part of its philatelic story.

Stamp issues
The earliest Danzig stamps appeared as overprints on German stamps on 14 June 1920, and the first regular Danzig issues followed in January 1921. These stamps carried the identity of the Free City, often reading “Freie Stadt Danzig,” and were used until the outbreak of World War II.

Collectors value Danzig for its mix of definitives, commemoratives, postal stationery, and later overprints tied to political change. The issue structure reflects the city’s changing status rather than a long stable national postal program.

Postal history
Postal history from Danzig is especially rich because it includes both everyday local usage and internationally significant material. Mixed-franking covers are particularly sought after, though they were generally not permitted at Danzig post offices, making surviving examples rare and interesting to collectors.

Mail from the city also changed sharply in 1939, when Germany annexed the Free City and Danzig stamps began appearing with German overprints in the wartime period. That final phase marks the end of Danzig as a separate philatelic entity.