The emergency stamps of 1945
During the liberation of the southern part of the Netherlands, much destruction was caused by both German and Allied fire. A large number of large and smaller post offices were partially or completely destroyed, and in most cases, the inventory was lost.
Emergency stamps were put into use by post offices in the liberated southern part of the Netherlands as quickly as possible. How did these offices obtain those stamps? The British had emergency post offices with them, which they called 'postal units'. Such a unit contained all the materials necessary to operate a post office. The weight of such a unit was five tons, and the standard equipment included: mail bags, masks or labels, paper, forms, pencils, ink, stamps, and other items. Sufficient for the operation of a simple postal service for a population of approximately 200.000 inhabitants for three months. The stamps were simple in design. It was a holder, similar to an ordinary rubber date stamp, that could be turned with a small wheel. The holder could be closed with a hinged lid, and rubber letters could be mounted on that lid to form the office name.
All office names were applied in capital letters, except Siebengewald. Some offices had more than one stamp.
Most offices that used an emergency stamp received new steel stamps manufactured by De Munt in Utrecht starting in September 1945. However, other offices continued to use the stamp until 1946. Which stamps are known? The following is the list, with the formal period of use following the office name, when the new steel stamp was put into use: 1. Afferden (Limburg), July 12, 1945 to November 9, 1945 2. Ammerzoden, late July 1945 to November 19, 1945 3. Bergen (Limburg), July 4, 1945 to November 9, 1945 4. Eelde (Zeeland), June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 5. Ellewoutsdijk, June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 6. Gennep 1, June 26, 1945 to November 9, 1945 7. Gennep 2, July 3, 1945 to November 9, 1945 8. Grubbenvorst, March 23, 1945 to November 9, 1945 9. Hedel, late July 1945 until November 9, 1945 10. Heyen, July 4, 1945 to November 9, 1945 11. Kerkdriel, late July 1945 to April 29, 1946 12. Klundert 1, June 16, 1945 to November 9, 1945 13. Klundert 2, June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 14. Meerlo (Limburg), June 16, 1945 to November 9, 1945 15. Ottersum, July 4, 1945 to November 9, 1945 16. Overloon, May 29, 1945 to September 14, 1945 17. Sambeek, June 16, 1945 to ?? 18. Sevenum, March 26, 1945 to November 9, 1945 19. Siebengewald, July 4, 1945 to November 9, 1945 20. Tegelen 1, June 9, 1945 to November 9, 1945 21. Tegelen 3, June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 22. Tegelen 4, June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 23. Velddriel, late July 1945 to November 19, 1945 24. Velden, May 30, 1945 to November 9, 1945 25. Vierlingsbeek, June 16, 1945 to September 14, 1945 26. Well, stamp existed but was not used 27. Wellerlooi, stamp existed but was not used 28. Woensdrecht, June 16, 1945 to November 9, 1945 29. Ysselstein (Limburg), June 18, 1945 to November 9, 1945 
Thanks Cees for the detailed list.
And now off to look for those stamps!
KWF Cancer Foundation advertisement: Smoking is soooo stamp collecting. Thousands of collectors will love that, including PostNL, who will support this great slogan with an extra donation to the KWF.
You can find this advertisement with images on Twitter at spaarpostzegel or, with a bit more difficulty, on the KWF site. Stamp collecting, in particular, provides the generation where cancer is most prevalent with a distraction that few hobbies can match. In my opinion, this is a shameful text that deserves a response from stamp collectors, and for which the KWF should not get away with it lightly and should remove this text from the advertisements as soon as possible.
'@Little reaction to the KWF advertisement, so we are indeed out of date and can be portrayed by marketers as outdated. Come on people, make your voices heard and send an email to http://www.kwf.nl so they know what they have gotten themselves into. Check Twitter and search for spaarpostzegel; the advertisement will then become visible.
A nice example of a stamp from the US Postal Service with a breast cancer theme: Total Stamps Sold: 944.9M Total Raised, Net: $76.3M: By law, 70 percent of the net amount raised is given to the National Institutes of Health and 30 percent is given to the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense. Kicking at collectors—via the KWF—but happily profiting from the revenue of, among others, those same collectors.
I sent the following message to KWF:
You know just as well as I do how people with cancer face negative stereotyping. I therefore find it incomprehensible that you think you are serving the fight against cancer by portraying other groups negatively in your publicity. As a stamp collector, I know from my own experience and that of others how much joy collecting stamps can bring to people, certainly those suffering from a serious illness. Unfortunately, you can therefore no longer count on my support for your extremely important work if you think you can serve it at the expense of others.
Has there been a response from the NVPH yet?
I received this response to my complaint, written by Elly van Coesant of KWF:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to our campaign 'Smoking is really no longer acceptable'.
We deeply regret that this campaign, and specifically the commercial about stamp collecting, was not well received by you. We take your comment seriously and will take this lesson into account for the next campaign period, reviewing commercial choices even more critically.
In this campaign, for the first time in the history of smoking and non-smoking campaigns in the Netherlands, the non-smoker is being addressed. With this campaign, we aim to de-hip smoking, and it is targeted at young people so that they do not start smoking or quit smoking. After all, 80% of addicts start during puberty.
Our aim is not to get (stubborn) smokers to quit. Smoking is an addiction, and quitting is an almost impossible task to attempt through advertising campaigns.
That is why KWF Kankerbestrijding has given careful thought to which message we could effectively convey in a campaign. Given that 75% of the Dutch population does not smoke, we can state that smoking is outdated – smoking is simply no longer acceptable. For several years now, we have no longer accepted smoking on airplanes, trains, buses, or in the workplace. There is still room for improvement in the hospitality industry, as unfortunately, people still smoke too much there, despite the fact that it is no longer permitted in most places. Many people have also already made their homes smoke-free and ask smokers to smoke outside. We are continuing the trend that smoking is no longer acceptable and is no longer accepted everywhere, and we are making this visible in our campaign.
If no one smoked anymore, there would be 20 to 30% less cancer. That is the most important reason for us to advocate for preventing young people from starting to smoke. Until the beginning of this century, tobacco industry advertisements portrayed smoking as an exciting and cool activity. It was something you wanted to be a part of. In a longer-running campaign, we now want to portray non-smoking as something cool that you want to be associated with. Of course, that cannot be achieved after just two weeks of campaigning. That is why we are also lobbying politicians to make tobacco less attractive.
Should you have another or better suggestion to make it clear that smoking is truly no longer acceptable, we would like to invite you to share it. This can be done, for example, by creating a slogan on Facebook that we can use in our campaign (www.rokenkanechtnietmeer.nl).
I hope this has provided you with sufficient information and answered your question or complaint.
Yours faithfully,
Surely this answer is not an answer to the complaint!
Cees, no, beating around the bush and asking to contribute something yourself. The Advertising Code Committee, on behalf of its chairman, states that it will not handle the complaint; the statement 'Smoking is sooooo much like collecting stamps' is intended humorously. Here is another slogan that I intended humorously: 'smoking is sooooo much' blaming Moroccans; to ramp up the humor a bit more, Jews, Belgians, Turks, and Poles may also be included. Whether there will be any reactions to this if it is published in the Telegraaf is the question; the norms and values are such that smoking is the norm in our country.
I received the following response from the KWF today. Am I the only one who has received this response?
We deeply regret that this campaign, and specifically the commercial about 'collecting stamps', was not well received by you.
After internal consultation, we have decided not to use this campaign message for the upcoming campaign flights anymore.
On September 23, 2013, the campaign will launch again with mass media.
We will no longer use this communication via mass media or online as of September 23.
We will then use an updated message. This is currently being developed.
It is possible that the post can still be found on social media. (via Facebook and Twitter)
Because the image in campaign flights I and II (Jan and May 2013) was shared via private social networks..
Unfortunately, we have no influence on that.
If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Yours faithfully,
Elly van Coesant
I have also received this response.
@Rob, a letter from the KWF with the same tenor, but adjusted here and there, has been sent to a number of people. In one instance, they express regret, while in another, they turn the tables and encourage the complainant to contribute new ideas and bring the KWF and smoking to the attention of the public. It is commendable that they admit, in various wordings, that they are wrong with this advertisement. The fact that the matter cannot be reversed is one of the downsides of social media and takes on a life of its own. Members of the NVPH also reacted promptly to this advertisement, and they too received a response. The fact that the KNFB has not given or has not given any response is concerning; they, in particular, ought to be alert, as they represent the stamp collectors. I personally agree with the KWF's response. The advertisement reminds me of a song by André van Duin titled "Beltu maar" (Just call me), which can be found on the internet—a hilarious song that pokes fun at the lyrics in a song that is not appreciated by everyone.
Aad, I CANNOT find myself in the KWF's answer and have asked the following:
Dear Ms. Van Coesant,
I would like to hear from you what the motivation was for choosing the negative slogan 'Smoking is sooo much stamp collecting' for your campaign. Surely your advertising agency must have substantiated this? Do you not realize that in the past, stamp collectors have purchased series of stamps for their own collections on several occasions where the theme was 'KWF' and a surcharge had to be paid 'for the benefit of a good cause'? And that others, non-collectors (referred to by you as 'stickers', a new term?), have likewise bought these stamps 'for the benefit of a good cause' and affixed them to their correspondence? You have indeed used the stamp collector and buyer of the series to generate funds, and now those same collectors are being vilified. The reasons for choosing the offending slogan may be of importance to us, stamp collectors, in order to adjust our policy regarding the promotion of the hobby of 'philately'.
Incidentally, I would like to draw your attention to the website: https://www.postzegelblog.nl/2013/08/20/de-noodstempels-van-1945/, not regarding the 'emergency stamps' but the reactions at the bottom of this article in response to the KWF advertisement.
I look forward to your response and answer to my question.
Hopefully, I will receive an answer to this.
@Cees one of the answers is also that a question was asked to a number of people about what they think of smoking. One of the answers was that it is something like stamp collecting. They let someone else say it, but it doesn't have to be the opinion of the KWF. If I go out into the market now asking what you think of the KWF, the remark 'money grabbers' will certainly be included; if I write that down, I don't have to agree with it, but hide behind the anonymous person who said it. It would be to the KWF's credit if they issued a statement to the media that they are refraining from this advertising message, and not, as is currently happening in various standard letters, just adjusting the text here and there. We know by now that stamp collecting has a dusty image; the fact that the KWF completely overlooked the fact that the contribution of the stamp buyer has been very substantial testifies to a modern naivety that fails to know history.
Below is the KWF's response to my questions of September 1, 2013:
Dear sir,
As my colleague has already informed you, we have decided to no longer use the slogan about stamp collecting in our campaign from now on.
We regret it if you feel that this slogan has caused you harm.
As you may know, our "Smoking is Absolutely Not an option" campaign is a youth campaign. The slogans used for the campaign were provided partly by the advertising agency and partly by young people, and are aimed at (non-smoking) youth. Therefore, we looked for things that are no longer common among the target group, are no longer in fashion, and/or are not manufactured. The campaign slogans were tested among this target group, as well as among the elderly and smokers. The slogans do not pass judgment on the hobby of stamp collecting, but merely indicate that today's youth (probably) do not do so as often anymore. We understand that you may feel personally addressed by this and that you have called upon your network to contact us regarding this message.
We had not received any criticism regarding this message up to now; otherwise, we probably would have removed it from the campaign earlier. After all, slogans that receive many negative reactions are closely reviewed and reassessed.
Once again, we apologize that this slogan did not go down well with you.
I hope this answers your question sufficiently.
Yours faithfully,
Fleur van Bladeren
No excuses for this blunder! Just a platitude: 'we are sorry' that we do not accept the slogan.
Cees, nowadays I just wear a thong, white socks, sandals, and a turtleneck with a necklace; I have a cassette recorder, still watch video, and put my floppy disk in my computer; I certainly let my armpit hair grow and still convert my stamp collection into guilders. They can put me wherever they want; as long as a person is happy, let them be themselves—that should be the starting point, it's that simple!