Help with stamp translation

Grant Cummings

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Aug 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/18/97

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I hope I'm in a proper news group for this... I work for a foundation
founded by Joseph Schedel. We have a huge box of letters from his
mother in Germany to him here in Ohio. One letter in particular
contained a paper affixed to the inside of the envelope. The paper
consisted of four stamps of Adolph Hitler and a phrase:

"WER EIN VOLK RETTEN WILL KANN NUR HEROISCH DENKEN"

Could anyone translate the phrase and/or tell me the purpose of these
stamps inside the envelope?

Thanks for your help!

Grant Cummings

-- cumm...@glasscity.net --
"I've failed over and over and over again in my life...
and that is why I succeed." M.J.
http://208.13.0.1:80/users/rgross/strongsam.html -- Check out our beer!!

Grant Cummings

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Aug 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/18/97

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I neglected to mention I have scanned in the stamps and put them on the
web:

http://www.glasscity.net/users/cummings/stamps.jpg

Thanks again!

Andreas Heib

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Aug 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/19/97

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"You must think heroically to save a folk (tribe, nation)"

Grant Cummings schrieb im Beitrag <33F8DD46...@glasscity.net>...

Thomas Schenk

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Aug 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/19/97

to Grant Cummings

> "WER EIN VOLK RETTEN WILL KANN NUR HEROISCH DENKEN"
>
> Could anyone translate the phrase and/or tell me the purpose of these
> stamps inside the envelope?
>

"He who would save a nation can only think heroically"
....sounds like "Mein Kampf" Hitlerian babble.
It's somewhat difficult to make out, but it appears to be
postmarked May 3, 1937, probably a date-of-issue cancellation
group for a collector. Can't make out the post office location.

Tom

Ingolf Markhof

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Aug 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/20/97

to Grant Cummings

In article <33F8DD46...@glasscity.net>, Grant Cummings
<cumm...@glasscity.net> writes:

> "WER EIN VOLK RETTEN WILL KANN NUR HEROISCH DENKEN"
>
> Could anyone translate the phrase and/or tell me the purpose of these
> stamps inside the envelope?

My translation:

"Who wants to save a tribe can only think heroically"

I don't know if "to save" is the correct translation for "retten"
in this case. I think, "to save" can also mean "to maintain",
"to protect" or "to care". But the german word "retten" implies
that there is some real danger or threat.

Moreover, I'm not sure if the word "heroically" exists in Englisch.
If not, you might read it like "think as a hero". But I guess that's
not an exact explanation of the sematic of "heroically" / "heroisch".

Mark Melichar

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Aug 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/20/97

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The phrase would translate to something like:

Someone who wants to save a people must think heroically.

"a people" could also be translated loosely here as "his people"

Mark Melichar
ma...@twics.com

In article <33F8DD46...@glasscity.net>, Grant Cummings

<cumm...@glasscity.net> wrote:

> I hope I'm in a proper news group for this... I work for a foundation
> founded by Joseph Schedel. We have a huge box of letters from his
> mother in Germany to him here in Ohio. One letter in particular
> contained a paper affixed to the inside of the envelope. The paper
> consisted of four stamps of Adolph Hitler and a phrase:
>

> "WER EIN VOLK RETTEN WILL KANN NUR HEROISCH DENKEN"
>
> Could anyone translate the phrase and/or tell me the purpose of these
> stamps inside the envelope?
>

> Thanks for your help!
>
> Grant Cummings
>

Schopfers

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Aug 28, 1997, 3:00:00 AM8/28/97

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I concur with the others' translations; for the second part of your
question, you should post to rec.collecting.stamps. By the way, the numbers
after the date (looked like "23" or "33" on your jpg) are the postal zone,
which will tell you where it was postmarked. It could be that the stamps
were inside simply because a collector was storing them that way (it's not
uncommon to do so).