1940 Third Reich, Germany, Censored Cover of one of the first Pririnors of Concentration Camp Mauthausen Gusen to Tarnowitz (Upper Silesia) Censorship Postmark, More Details in Description

Official concentration camp stationery cover designed for restricted prisoner correspondence under the Nazi regime.
Letter from Mauthausen / Gusen Concentration Camp (Oberdonau branch), routeing through the local civilian post office Post St. Georgen an der Gusen in 1940 to Tarnowitz in Upper Silesia Poland.

On the left side are the Camp rules
The printed block dictates absolute authority under the Camp Commander (Der Lagerkommandant):
Prisoners could send and receive exactly two pieces of mail per month. Letters were capped at 15 lines; postcards at 10 lines. Envelopes had to remain completely unlined, photography enclosures were strictly illegal, and a maximum of five 12-pfennig stamps could be enclosed for return postage.
Financial transfers were strictly regulated, while outside packages were entirely prohibited under the false, cynical pretense that "everything can be bought inside the camp." Appeals for release were outright ignored as "completely useless."

The document contains an explicit, hand-applied ink line over the postal rules and a physical examiner mark/signature cutting across the prisoner detail section. This acts as visual proof of the rigorous SS mail monitoring system. Every piece of outgoing mail had to be vetted by the camp's postal censorship department (Postprüfstelle) to ensure no forbidden information or hidden messages left the facility.

The sender was Modest Bregulla, born October 6, 1901 with the very low prisoner number 76. He was one of the first inmates during the founding phase of the Gusen sub-camp, which began independent prisoner registration in early 1940.

Provenance: Ex Werbizky.