Children's stamp campaigns 1950 – 1965 & 'The Good Shepherd' Monastery

During the preparation phase of a number of stamp blog articles about the 100th anniversary of the children's stamp organization 'Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland' (SKN), I came across my article 'Pegmine bags' (p. 45) once again in the richly illustrated reference work 'De kinderpostzegelacties vanaf 1924 door de verzamelaar voor de verzamelaar'. The booklet was published in 1980.

Preface

After reading, I discovered, surprised, shocked, and horrified, thatThe Good Shepherd' from Zoeterwoude was involved in filling the parchment bags with children's stamps for the children's stamp school campaign 'For the child by the child' up to and including 1965! This monastery 'De Goede Herder' in Zoeterwoude is featured in the 4-part documentary series 'Girls of the Good Shepherd(Director Britta Hosman) examined in detail and incisively on television on June 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2024! Three women (Lies Vissers, Joke de Smit, and Roos Riet), who as girls were forced to work in convents under appalling conditions, file a lawsuit against the nuns fifty years later.

Subchapter 'Powder bags'

For the purpose of providing accurate information, here is the substantive account I wrote in 1980, the source of which I can no longer recall. At that time, the subject and the information still had a neutral, factual content for me; this undoubtedly applied to the SKN leadership as well. Up until 1964, the bags for the school campaign were filled with children's stamps by the staff and girls of Huize 'De Goede Herder' in Zoeterwoude. In 1965, the first sheet of stamps *) was folded and placed in the bag. In 1966, the first mechanical filling of envelopes took place. What happened for years bordered on the unbelievable. For the 1963 campaign, for example, 25 million children's stamps were torn into blocks of 4 and 6 stamps. These blocks were placed into 2.125.000 bags, and each bag contained a rebus card. Afterwards, all these bags were checked for their correct contents and bundled in sets of 10 or 25, and then assembled into units of 100 or 250. Finally, 2.000 bags ended up in boxes, and with that, the 'order' was ready for shipment. The time-consuming operations could effectively no longer be completed in a short period. The The solution to the problem was found in 1966 with the issuance of the children's stamp sheet. The many steps were reduced to a few, and with that, contact with 'De Goeder Herder' was terminated.” *) Folded copies are less attractive than unfolded stamp sheets.

Labor-intensive and mind-numbing activity!

Using the information from the Special NVPH Catalogue 2024, you gain an even better insight into the labor-intensive and soul-numbing activity for young employees involving many varied tasks. Thanks to the sales method using schoolchildren, many hundreds of thousands of children's stamps were sold with great success in the period before the issuance of children's blocks, but it caused the 'employees' of 'De Goede Herder' an enormous amount of work. Some children's stamps were sold exclusively through schoolchildren, while others were only available for purchase at the post office. The print run figures for 1963, for example, convincingly illustrate the 'Good Shepherd activities':

• 4 cent children's stamp: over 10 million stamps
• 12 cent children's stamp: over 19 million stamps
• 6 cents 1.151.136 stamps, 8 cents 1.200.328 stamps, 30 cents 1.108.556 stamps. So all well over one million stamps.

One of the head nuns of the nuns' staff at 'The Good Shepherd' had a brilliant idea! Fortunately, she remembered the story and the role of the Good Samaritan!

Termination of assistance from 'De Goede Herder'

The fact that the cooperation of 'De Goede Herder' was terminated in 1964 is evident from the number of packets that had to be filled with children's stamps. Every year the print run of children's stamps grew larger; in other words, the nuns' staff stopped their 'approach / guidance' out of compassion: “It was no longer manageable, too voluminous!” In 1949, the majority of the 4.618.834 2-cent children's stamps had to be placed in glassine packets. The same had to be done with the 3.913.762 10-cent children's stamps. Over the years, the number of children's stamps increased continuously:

• 1959: 4 cents 7.714.520 children's stamps 12 cents 14.105.687 children's stamps
• 1960: 4 cents 8.028.755 children's stamps 12 cents 14.446,471 children's stamps
• 1961: 4 cents 9.352.180 children's stamps 12 cents 17.052.467 children's stamps
• 1962: 4 cents 10.998.783 children's stamps 12 cents 18.047.148 children's stamps
• 1963: 4 cents 10.504.446 children's stamps 12 cents 19.227.049 children's stamps

Thank you!

All staff involved in the school campaign are thanked afterwards from the very start. Teachers receive a children's stamp thank-you card and the students receive a class thank-you sheet (1950/59), blotting paper (1955/62), calendar (1963/74) or sticker (1975/89). Dear young people, You helped a lot with the sale of my children's stamps. Thank you very much... and when you go out again, I have some very good advice for you. Always do what is written below, and everyone will say: “Let him go, he takes good care of himself.”

• Everlasting calendar: Many greetings from your Aunt Nans, flying along on the back of a goose. Below it is an idealistic advertising text on behalf of the Association for Safe Traffic: “Before you cross . . . stop and look carefully!”
• Every reader will undoubtedly wonder: “What did the young girls from 'The Good Shepherd' receive?” A TRAUMA!!!

Appalling working conditions!

• The strict way of life of the nuns played a dominantly large role in the upbringing of the girls.
• Performing long-term unpaid labor in laundries and sewing workshops: the proceeds went to the congregation. Undoubtedly, the working hours applied to a large extent to the children's stamps of 1963!
• Hardly any free time, privacy, or loving attention.
• Refusal to work? Punishment and/or isolation in an isolation cell.
• For years, many have continued to struggle with nightmares, traumas, and stigmatization (negative self-image) to this day.
•  Many girls even died there; they were buried anonymously (de-personification).