Military censorship in Belgium

During political tensions such as wars, censorship services were established by many countries. The aim was to check whether matters constituting espionage or the dissemination of undesirable information were being transmitted via letters and other postal items. Various types of censorship existed, but usually, censorship was carried out on the orders of the Ministry of Defence. Like this letter, which was sent from neutral the Netherlands to the former part of Belgium occupied by German troops. The so-called Etappengebied, to which Antwerp also belonged. The street name is written in tiny letters between the words "avocat" and "Anvers," in a completely different handwriting. By whom? During the First World War, the German censorship service operated here, but after the war, censorship continued, now by the Belgian military censorship service. The letter was sent on March 3, 1919, from Rotterdam as a registered express shipment. The rate and fee were: 10 cents as postage for the letter to Belgium. This rate was an agreement between the Dutch and Belgian postal services, as the rate to other countries was 12 cents. The registration fee was also 10 cents, and the express fee was 15 cents. All together 35 cents, paid by affixing two 17-cent stamps. In Rotterdam, a registration slip was affixed and two EXPRESS prints were also applied. The first print was merely blurry, and probably for that reason, a second print was placed below the address. There wasn't much space! In Antwerp, the letter was opened by the Belgian censorship service and, after being inspected, sealed with a gummed strip bearing the words CENSURE MILITAIRE. The strip was roughly torn off the front of the envelope, but by whom? On the back of the envelope, the strip is complete and bears a violet initial. In addition, the number 52 is written below the sender, also in violet. Probably the number of the person who carried out the censorship. Unfortunately, the contents of the envelope are no longer present; what would Mr. Michel Dinerman have written to the Antwerp lawyer? It is clear that the sender stayed at a hotel in The Hague. Mr. Michel Dinerman used an envelope from that hotel. The hotel no longer exists, as it merged with the adjacent Parkhotel in 1968. But the envelope still exists and is a fine addition to the collection.