Postal censorship#Prisoner-of-war and internee mail

Military mail is not always censored by opening or reading the mail, but this is much more likely during wartime and military campaigns. The military postal service is usually separate from civilian mail and is usually totally controlled by the military. However, both civilian and military mail can be of interest to military intelligence, which has different requirements from civilian intelligence gathering. During wartime, mail from the front is often opened and offending parts blanked or cut out, and civilian mail may be subject to much the same treatment.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Prisoner-of-war and internee mail is also subject to postal censorship, which is permitted under Articles 70 and 71 of the Third Geneva Convention (1929–1949).{{cite web |title=Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949: Correspondence |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |date=12 August 1949 |url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/375-590087?OpenDocument |accessdate=27 March 2021 }} It is frequently subjected to both military and civil postal censorship{{cite book |first=Graham |last=Mark FRPSL |year=2000 |title=British Censorship of Civil Mails During World War I |publisher=Stuart Rossiter Trust |location=Bristol, UK |isbn=0-9530004-1-9}}{{rp|37}} because it passes through both postal systems.

File:IDET2007 StB steam envelope opener.jpg StB for unsticking envelopes during correspondence surveillance and censorship]]

Until recent years, the monopoly for carrying civilian mails has usually been vested in governments,{{cite web |author1=Sylvain Bacon |author2=Michael S. Coughlin |title=Achieving High Performance in A Competitive Postal Environment |work=Pushing the Envelope |publisher=montgomeryresearch.com |date=15 May 2004 |url=http://www.postalproject.com/documents.asp?d_ID=2443 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622071147/http://www.postalproject.com/documents.asp?d_ID=2443 |archive-date=22 June 2009 |access-date=21 August 2006}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210092316/http://www.libertyhaven.com/theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/economics/monopolyandindustrialorganization/postalmono.html The (US) Postal Monopoly] (retrieved 21 August 2006) and that has facilitated their control of postal censorship. The type of information obtained from civilian mail is different from that likely to be found in military mail.{{citation needed|date=November 2010}}

File:1940 Madrid-Paris cens.jpg to Paris opened by both Spanish and French (Vichy) authorities]]

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Throughout modern history, various governments, usually during times of war, would inspect mail coming into or leaving the country so as to prevent an enemy from corresponding with unfriendly entities within that country.{{rp|22}} There exist also many examples of prisoner of war mail from these countries which was also inspected or censored. Censored mail can usually be identified by various postmarks, dates, postage stamps and other markings found on the front and reverse side of the cover (envelope). These covers often have an adhesive seal, usually bearing special ID markings, which were applied to close and seal the envelope after inspection.{{Cite book |editor-last1=Herbert |editor-first1=E.S |editor-last2=des Graz |editor-first2=C.G. |title=History of the Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department 1938–1946 |publisher=Home Office |date=1952 |location=London }}{{rp|55–56}}

During the years leading up to the American Revolution, the British monarchy in the American colonies manipulated the mail and newspapers sent between the various colonies in an effort to prevent them from being informed and from organizing with each other. Often mail would be outright destroyed.{{Cite journal |last=Carson |first=Gerald |title=The U.S. Post Office, 1775–1974 |journal=American Heritage |volume=25 |issue=6 |date=October 1974 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/zip-through-history?page=show |issn=0002-8738 |access-date=16 June 2015 }}[http://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120427192543/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus1.htm#COLONIAL New York Times/ABOUT.COM]

File:Mail Civi War POW.jpg

During the American Civil War both the Union and Confederate governments enacted postal censorship. The number of Union and Confederate soldiers in prisoner of war camps would reach an astonishing one and a half million men. The prison population at the Andersonville Confederate POW camp alone reached 45,000 men by the war's end. Consequently, there was much mail sent to and from soldiers held in POW installations. Mail going to or leaving prison camps in the North and South was inspected both before and after delivery. Mail crossing enemy lines was only allowed at two specific locations.{{cite web |url=http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/andersonville.htm |publisher=New York Times, about-com |title=American Civil War: POW camp at Andersonville|access-date=17 November 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2028296 |publisher=S.N.P.M. |title=Civilian Flag-of-Truce Covers}}{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=1&tid=2027694 |publisher=Prisoner of War mail, Smithsonian National Postal Museum |title=Prisoner mail exchange|access-date=17 November 2010}} {{clear}}

File:1902 St Helena head office censor card.jpg censored postcard from St. Helena to France in 1902]]

In Britain, the General Post Office was formed in 1657,{{Cite book |last=Campbell-Smith |first=Duncan |title=Masters of the Post |publisher=Allen Lane |date=2011 |location=London |isbn=978-1-846-14324-3 }}{{rp|32}} and soon evolved a "Secret Office" for the purpose of intercepting, reading and deciphering coded correspondence from abroad.{{rp|79–80}} The existence of the Secret Office was made public in 1742 when it was found that in the preceding 10 years the sum of £45,675 ({{Inflation|UK-GDP|45675|1742|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}{{Inflation/fn|UK-GDP}}) had been secretly transferred from the Treasury to the General Post Office to fund the censorship activities.{{cite book |last=Hemmeon |first=Joseph Clarence |title=The history of the British post office |publisher=Harvard University |year=1912 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=46 |url=https://archive.org/stream/historybritishp00hemmgoog#page/n64/mode/1up }} In 1782 responsibility for administering the Secret Office was transferred to the Foreign Secretary and it was finally abolished by Lord Palmerston in 1847.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

During the Second Boer War a well planned censorship was implemented by the British that left them well experienced when The Great War started less than two decades later.{{cite web |last=Fiset |first=Louis |title=Return to Sender: U.S. Censorship of Enemy Alien Mail in World War II |work=Prologue Magazine Spring 2001, Vol. 33, No. 1 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |year=2001 |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/mail-censorship-in-world-war-two-1.html |access-date=9 April 2015 }} Initially offices were in Pretoria and Durban and later throughout much of the Cape Colony as well a POW censorship{{cite web |title=Collecting Interests: Censorship |publisher=Anglo-Boer War Philatelic Society |year=2014 |url=http://www.boerwarsociety.org.uk/Interests.html |access-date=9 April 2015 }} with camps in Bloemfontein, St Helena, Ceylon, India and Bermuda.{{Cite book |last=Fremont-Barnes |first=Gregory |title=The Boer War 1899–1902 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2003 |location=Wellingborough |pages=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9wbSjpIMPwC&pg=PA82 |isbn=9781841763965 }}

The British Post Office Act 1908 allowed censorship upon issue of warrants by a secretary of state in both Great Britain and in the Channel Islands.{{cite web |title=Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department, predecessors and successor: Papers |publisher=The National Archives |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5759 |access-date=3 September 2016 }}

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File:Censorship Board LOC hec.13986.jpg|access-date=March 29, 2021 }}]]

Censorship played an important role in the First World War.{{Cite web|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/censorship|title=Censorship {{!}} International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)|last=Demm|first=Eberhard|website=International Encyclopedia of the First World War|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120151713/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/censorship|archive-date=2020-01-20|access-date=2020-04-03}} Each country involved utilized some form of censorship. This was a way to sustain an atmosphere of ignorance and give propaganda a chance to succeed. In response to the war, the United States Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918. These gave broad powers to the government to censor the press through the use of fines, and later any criticism of the government, army, or sale of war bonds. The Espionage Act laid the groundwork for the establishment of a Central Censorship Board which oversaw censorship of communications including cable and mail.

Postal control was eventually introduced in all of the armies, to find the disclosure of military secrets and test the morale of soldiers. In Allied countries, civilians were also subjected to censorship. French censorship was modest and more targeted compared to the sweeping efforts made by the British and Americans. In Great Britain, all mail was sent to censorship offices in London or Liverpool. The United States sent mail to several centralized post offices as directed by the Central Censorship Board. American censors would only open mail related to Spain, Latin America or Asia—as their British allies were handling other countries. In one week alone, the San Antonio post office processed more than 75,000 letters, of which they controlled 77 percent (and held 20 percent for the following week).

File:Censoring prisoner mail, Doeberitz.jpg, Germany, during World War I]]

Soldiers on the front developed strategies to circumvent censors.{{Cite web|url=https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/circumventing-censorship-and-self-censorship|title=Circumventing the censorship and "self-censorship"|website=The World of the Habsburgs|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221102438/https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/circumventing-censorship-and-self-censorship|archive-date=2018-12-21|access-date=2020-04-02}} Some would go on "home leave" and take messages with them to post from a remote location. Those writing postcards in the field knew they were being censored, and deliberately held back controversial content and personal matters. Those writing home had a few options including free, government-issued field postcards, cheap, picture postcards, and embroidered cards meant as keepsakes.{{Cite web|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war_letters_communication_between_front_and_home_front#Postcards_2C_Parcels_2C_and_Family_Correspondence|title=War Letters: Communication between Front and Home Front {{!}} International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)|last=Hanna|first=Martha|date=2014-10-08|website=International Encyclopedia of the First World War|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326175924/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war_letters_communication_between_front_and_home_front|archive-date=2019-03-26|access-date=2020-04-03}} Unfortunately, censors often disapproved of picture postcards. In one case, French censors reviewed 23,000 letters and destroyed only 156 (although 149 of those were illustrated postcards). Censors in all warring countries also filtered out propaganda that disparaged the enemy or approved of atrocities. For example, German censors prevented postcards with hostile slogans such as "Jeder Stoß ein Franzos" ("Every hit a Frenchman") among others.

Following the end of World War I, there were some places where postal censorship was practiced. During 1919 it was operating in Austria, Belgium, Canada, German Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union as well as other territories.{{rp|126–139}} The Irish Civil War saw mail raided by the IRA that was marked as censored and sometimes opened in the newly independent state. The National Army also opened mail and censorship of irregulars' mail in prisons took place.{{cite book |first=Cyril I. |last=Dulin |year=1992 |title=Ireland's Transition: The Postal History of the Transitional Period 1922–1925 |publisher=MacDonnell Whyte Ltd |location=Dublin |pages=94–97 |isbn=0-9517095-1-8}}

Other conflicts during which censorship existed included the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Chaco War,{{cite book |first=Karl Kurt |last=Wolter |year=1965 |title=Die Postzensur: Band I - Vorzeit, Früheit und Neuzeit (bis 1939) |publisher=Georg Amm |location=Munich }}{{rp|138}} were the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1935–36){{cite web|url=http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ethiopia/c_btw_ethiopia.html |title=Between the Wars – Italian Occupation of Ethiopia |publisher=Postalcensorship.com |access-date=2008-10-24}} and especially during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.{{rp|141}}{{cite book |last=Shelley G. |first=Ronald |title=The Postal History of the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 |year=1967 |location=Hove }}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-134-0793-30, Polen, Ghetto Warschau, Postzensurstelle.jpg during 1941]]

During World War II, both the Allies and Axis instituted postal censorship of civil mail. The largest organisations were those of the United States, though the United Kingdom employed about 10,000 censor staff while Ireland, a small neutral country, only employed about 160 censors.{{cite book |last=Ó Drisceoil |first=Donal |title=Censorship in Ireland, 1939–1945 |year=1996 |publisher=Cork University Press |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mAR0GI5ggf8C&pg=PA62 |isbn= 978-1-85918-074-7}}

Both blacklists and whitelists were employed to observe suspicious mail or listed those whose mail was exempt from censorship.

Germany had an extensive censorship system both in Germany and in their occupied territories. Each station was assigned a letter code that was used in their handstamps and censor labels.{{cite book |last=Landsmann |first=Horst |title=Die Zensur von Zivilpost in Deutschland im 2 Weldkrieg |publisher=BoD |date=2019 |location=Germany |language=German |isbn=978-3-74948-050-0 }}{{rp|2}}

File:Littlewoods Building.jpg building where much of the British postal censorship took place]]

File:1940 censored letter to Lawrence Ogilvie.jpg letter from neutral US to England, where it was censored because they were already at war, using a P.C.90 coded censor sealing label]]

British censorship was primarily based in the Littlewoods football pools building in Liverpool with nearly 20 other censor stations around the country.{{cite book |year=1952 |title=History of the Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department 1938–1946 Volume I & II (CCSG reprint 1996) |editor=Herbert, E.S. |editor2=des Graz, C.G. |publisher=Home Office |pages=355 }} Additionally the British censored colonial and dominion mail at censor stations in the following places:

:Dominions: Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia (not a dominion but supervised by the Dominion office) and Union of South Africa

:Colonies: Aden, Antigua, Ascension Island, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, Ceylon, Cyprus, Dominica, Egypt, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Gold Coast, Grenada, British Guiana, British Honduras, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaya, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Nigeria, North Borneo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Palestine, Penang, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, British Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tanganyika, Trinidad, Tonga, Uganda, Virgin Islands and Zanzibar,

File:1944 Cyprus-India censor.jpg

File:Censored WPA poster.jpg poster, 1943]]

In the United States censorship was under the control of the Office of Censorship whose staff count rose to 14,462 by February 1943 in the censor stations they opened in New York, Miami, New Orleans, San Antonio, Laredo, Brownsville, El Paso, Nogales, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, San Juan, Charlotte Amalie, Balboa, Cristóbal, David, Panama, Honolulu, Pago Pago and Washington, D.C.{{cite book |author1=Broderick, Wilfred |author2=Mayo, Dann |title=Civil Censorship in the United States During World War II |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group & War Cover Club |date=1980 |location=USA }}{{rp|25–27}}

The United States blacklist, known as U.S. Censorship Watch List, contained 16,117 names.{{Cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/finding-aid/civilian/rg-216.html |title=Civilian Agency Records: Records of the Office of Censorship (RG 216) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2010-11-22 }}

Neutral countries such as Ireland, Portugal{{cite book |author=Stich, Dr. H.F., Stich, W., Sprecht, J. |year=1993 |title=Civil and Military Censorship During World War II |publisher=Stich, Stich and Sprecht |location=Canada |isbn=0-9693788-2-3 }}{{rp|18–187}} and Switzerland{{cite book |last=LaBlonde |first=Charles J. |title=World War II Mail from Switzerland to Great Britain, Canada & the United States |publisher=American Helvetia Philatelic Society |date=2003 |location=Colorado Springs |isbn=0-9742619-0-4 }}{{rp|16, 83}} also censored mail even though they were not directly involved in the conflict.{{rp|600–611}}

File:1946 German censored mail.jpg then in the US-controlled zone of West Germany to England. Note "English" as the language of the enclosed letter.]]

Following the end of hostilities in Europe, Germany was occupied by the Allied Powers in zones of control. Censorship of mail that had been impounded during the Allies advances, when postal services were suspended, took place in each zone though by far the least commonly seen mail is from the French Zone.{{Cite book |last=Beede |first=Benjamin R. |title=From the Reichspost to Allied Occupation |publisher=Buckhard Schreider |year=2005 |location=Frankfurt am Main }}{{rp|78}} When most of the backlog had been cleared regular mail was controlled as well as in occupied Austria.{{rp|101–107}} Soviet zone mail is considered scarce.{{rp|92, 109}}

In the German Democratic Republic, the Stasi, established in 1950, were responsible for the control of incoming and outgoing mail; at their height of operations, their postal monitoring department controlled about 90,000 pieces of mail daily.{{cite web |title=Ministerium für Staatssicherheit |language=de |publisher=Gedenkstätte Berlin |year=2015 |url=http://www.stiftung-hsh.de/document.php?nav_id=CAT_165&subcat_id=CAT_186&recentcat=CAT_165&back=1&special=0 |access-date=2015-12-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222111314/http://www.stiftung-hsh.de/document.php?nav_id=CAT_165&subcat_id=CAT_186&recentcat=CAT_165&back=1&special=0 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |df=dmy-all }}

Several small conflicts saw periods of postal censorship, such as the 1948 Palestine war,{{Cite journal |last=Parren |first=Marc |title=Post WWII – Syrian Censorship During 1948 |journal=Civil Censorship Study Group Bulletin |volume=38 |issue=169 |pages=32–37 |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group |location=Bristol |date=July 2012 }} Korean War (1950–1953), Poland (1980s), or even the 44-day Costa Rican Civil War in 1948.{{Cite journal |last=Mayo |first=Dann |title=Post WWII – Small Event Censorship – Costa Rica 1948 & 1955 |journal=Civil Censorship Study Group Bulletin |volume=39 |issue=175 |pages=125 |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group |location=Bristol |date=July 2012 }}

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• American Civil War prisoner of war mail
• Black room
• Cabinet noir
• Comstock Act
• Israeli Military Censor
• Mail censorship in Ireland
• Secrecy of correspondence
• United States Office of Censorship

Notes

{{reflist}}

Books

• {{cite book |first=Graham |last=Mark FRPSL |year=2000 |title=British Censorship of Civil Mails During World War I |publisher=Stuart Rossiter Trust |location=Bristol, UK |isbn=0-9530004-1-9}}
• {{cite book |first=D.J. |last=Little |year=2000 |title=British Empire Civil Censorship Devices, World War II: Colonies and Occupied Territories - Africa, Section 1 |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group |location=UK |isbn=0-9517444-0-2 }}
• {{cite book | author = Torrance, A.R., & Morenweiser, K. |year=1991 |title=British Empire Civil Censorship Devices, World War II: United Kingdom, Section 2 |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group |location=UK |isbn=0-9517444-1-0 }}
• {{cite book |author=Stich, Dr. H.F., Stich, W., Sprecht, J. |year=1993 |title=Civil and Military Censorship During World War II |publisher=Stich, Stich and Sprecht |location=Canada |isbn=0-9693788-2-3 }}
• {{cite book |first=Karl Kurt |last=Wolter |year=1965 |title=Die Postzensur: Band I - Vorzeit, Früheit und Neuzeit (bis 1939) |publisher=Georg Amm |location=Munich }}
• {{cite book |year=1996 |title=History of the Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department 1938–1946 Volume I & II |editor=Herbert, E.S. |editor2=des Graz, C.G. |publisher=Civil Censorship Study Group by permission of Public Record Office, Kew, UK }}
• {{cite book |first=Galen D. |last=Harrison |year=1997 |title=Prisoners' Mail from the American Civil War |publisher=Galen D. Harrison (?) |location=Dexter, MI }}

Papers & reports

• {{cite web |last=Pfau |first=Ann |title=Postal Censorship and Military Intelligence during World War II |publisher=National Postal Museum |url=http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/symposium2008/Pfau-Postal_Censorship.pdf |date=2008-09-27 |access-date=2014-08-01 }}
• {{cite web |last=Price |first=Byron |author-link=Byron Price |title=Report on the Office of Censorship |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |date=1945-11-15 |url=http://bl-libg-doghill.ads.iu.edu/gpd-web/historical/Reportontheofficeofcensorship.pdf |access-date=2014-04-09 }}
• {{cite web|last=Whyman |first=Susan E |title=Postal Censorship in England 1635–1844 |publisher=Postcomm |url=http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/about-the-mail-market/uk-market-reviews/postalcensorship.pdf |access-date=2008-02-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228094011/http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/about-the-mail-market/uk-market-reviews/postalcensorship.pdf |archive-date=28 February 2008 }}

{{Commons category|Postal censorship}}

• [https://www.historyextra.com/period/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-secret-spying-arm-of-the-post-office/ The secret spying arm of the Post Office] BBC History Extra magazine
• [https://www.linns.com/news/postal-updates-page/history-comes-to-life-with-censored-covers.html History comes to life with censored covers] Linn's Stamp News
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131110151240/http://libcudl.colorado.edu/wwi/pdf/i73648942.pdf Why Mail Censorship is Vital to Britain] (1916) Interview with Lord Robert Cecil, British Minister of Blockade (Wayback Machine archive link)
• [http://www.postalcensorship.com/ Postalcensorship.com] Website devoted to postal censorship with many examples of censored mail
• [http://www.c-c-s-g.org Civil Censorship Study Group]
• [https://www.forcespostalhistorysociety.org.uk/ Forces Postal History Society]
• [http://www.MilitaryPHS.org/ Military Postal History Society]

{{Censorship|state=expanded}}

{{Postal system}}

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Censorship

Category:Censorship

Category:Law of war

Category:Civilians in war

Category:National security