Juhani Olamo Introduction

Postal Censoring in Finland 1914 – 1918

By Juhani Olamo Translated by Carita Parker
Edited by Sheldon Tobin & Roger P Quinby

On 31st July 1914, shortly after Finland declared it to be in a state of war, the authorities turned their attention to postal matters. In turn, on 02nd August 1914, Russia issued a temporary ordinance concerning war censoring that was published on 11th September among a collection of other laws and ordinances pertaining to all of Finland. The purpose for the censoring was to prevent the dissemination and publishing of information that might be damaging to the state’s military advantage in wartime. Consequently, the military commander in chief or the commander of a particular army was authorized, in his area of command, during a certain period of time, to prohibit the delivery of mail. Although Finland never fully implemented this right of censorship to its fullest extent, the processes and procedures for checking and examining great volumes of mail caused the postal service some of the most difficult times it had ever experienced. During the first few weeks of the war, the military authorities apparently had more pressing duties to attend to than postal matters. Only mail addressed to abroad, including Scandinavia, was to be immediately directed to St. Petersburg. However, by 05th August the mail sent to St. Petersburg, with the exception of mail addressed to Romania, Turkey, Persia, Japan and China, was for the time being, redirected to Tornio and from there onward via Sweden.

From 1914 to 1918

Not until 08th August, did the post office in Tornio receive the order to immediately hold all mail going abroad from Russia as well as Finland. As a result, large quantities of mail piled up in Tornio and soon filled all post office storage areas necessitating the rental of additional warehouse facilities. The order for holding the mail was revoked on August 12th, and on the next day, mail that filled 13 horse-drawn carts was delivered to Sweden. On 15th August, the Tornio war censoring office went into operation for the inspection of mail from Finland to abroad. The censoring of all the collected regular mail was not completed until the 21st. As for registered mail, it was not to be delayed by the censors for more than twenty-four hours.

At its peak, there were over 50 censors at Tornio, but at year’s end the number had fallen to under 20. The domestic mail would most likely have been spared from censors even longer had it not been for Governor General Seyn. Although he had no actual authority over the war censor ordinance, Seyn nevertheless began in early August to plan for the implementation of war censoring in Finland. The war commander-in-charge confirmed Seyn’s proposal on 01st September 1914. On that same day, The Special War Censor Committee for Finland was established. The Raahe military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Belosfofski, became chairman. The committee began work on 03rd September, its task to organize the censoring of domestic mail.

The first task was to request that the Helsinki postal service take its incoming mail to be censored. The censor- ing operation was located in the new station building, in two spacious rooms. The work done by the censors was so thorough, they barely managed to complete the inspection of the registered mail, which was the first order of business. As a result, in a few days’ time stacks of regular mail had piled up at the censoring office. Because of this problem, the censors had to let go uncensored the collected mail on 07th September. Mail from abroad to Finland was untouched by censors until 26th September, when orders were issued to deliver the mail to Helsinki for inspection.

The Special Censor Committee Direction of Mail to be Censored

On 13th October, The Special Censor Committee had arranged for the censoring of domestic mail also in other cities such as: Helsinki, to cover for the entire Uudenmaan province, Turku; for the Turku and Pori provinces in addition to Åland. Also, Tampere, for the Haameen province; Kuopio for the Mikkeli and Kuopio provinces; Nikolainkaupunki for the Vaasa province and Oulu, for the Oulu province. Consequently, all of the domestic mail had to be henceforth sorted by province and delivered to Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Kuopio, Nikolainkaupunki, Wyborg and Oulu for inspection. However, every postal district did not honor the province system. The postal government therefore, on 24th October 1914, presented a proposal that each district continue directing its mail as before. Ultimately, The Censor Committee decided that mail to be censored, and going to post offices listed below, had to be directed in the following way:

Via Kuopio To Hyrynsalmi, Kajaani, Kiehima, Kuhmoniemi, Kytömäki, Lentiira, Mieslahti, Murtomäki, Paltamo, Puolanka, Ristijärvi, Ruhtinaansalmi, Sotkamo, Suomussalmi and Vuolijoki.

Via Wyborg To Ahveninen, Eno, Enonkoski, Haarajarvi, Hammaslahti, Huhtilampi, Höljäkkä, Ilomantsi, Jakokoski, Joensuu, Joensuu station, Juuka, Kallislahti, Kaltimo, Kaurila, Kelvä, Kerimäki, Kesälahti, Kiitelysvaara, Kitee, Koivikko, Kontiolahti, Kontiolahti station, Kovero, Kuhilasvaara, Kulennoinen, Kuusjärvi, Kylänlahti, Lehtori, Lieksa, Liperi, Makkola, Marjovaara, Martonvaara, Matkaselka, Möhkö, Niittylahti, Nunnanlahti, Nurmes, Onkamo, Oravi, Outokumpu, Polvijärvi, Punkaharju, Punkasalmi, Putikko, Pälkjärvi, Pälkjärvi station, Rasivaara, Romppala, Rääkkylä, Savonlinna, Savonlinna station, Savonranta, Sotkuma, Taipale, Tikkala, Tohmajärvi, Tohmajärvi station Tuupovaara, Uimaharju, Utra, Valtimo, Vieki, Vuonislahti, Värtsilä, Värtsilä station and Öllölä.

Via Tampere To Ahlainen, Eura, Eurajoki, Haistila, Harjavalta, Heinoo, Hinnerjoki, Honkajoki, Honkilahti, Hämmeenkyrö, Ikaalinen, Illo, Jumehniemi, Jämijärvi, Kaasmarkku, Kankaanpää, Karkku, Karvia, Kauvatsa, Kauvatsa station, Keikyä, Kihniö, Kiikka, Kiikoinen, Kiukainen, Kokemäki, Kuivalhti, Kullaa, Kyröskoski, Kyttälä, Kärppälä, Köyhiö, Lassila, Lappi T.1., Lauttakylä, Lavia, Luhalahti, Luvia, Merikarvia, Mouhijärvi, Mäntyluoto, Nakkiha, Noormarkku, Panelia, Parkano, Peipohja, Pihlava, Poomarkku, Pori, Pori station, Reposaari, Riitiala, Riste, Sammaljoki, Siikainen, Stormi, Suodenniemi, Säkylä, Tevaniemi, Tuorila, Tyrvää, Ulvila, Uotsola, Vammala, Vihjakkala, Vuojoki and Äetsä.

The same circular also indicated that a censor office would open in Rauma. All mail addressed to Rauma had to be sent to the Rauma censor office and not the Turku post office. It was further stated that The Censor Committee had granted all banks, operating in cities where war censoring was undertaken, were granted the right to have their outgoing mail inspected when deposited at the post office. In those locations where censorship was not available, the banks’ outgoing mail was sent for inspection in same manner as all other private mail.

In November 1914, Finnish postal authorities announced that The Censor Committee had exempted from inspection those postal mailings sent or received by the country’s governors. The order was, however, annulled on 21st June 1915.

Initially, the war censorship affected only letters and post cards, however, on November 14th a new order was issued: The Censor Committee decided to inspect, to the exclusion of newspapers, all printed matter in wrappers, as well as reserving for itself the right to oversee the mailing of periodicals in wrappers. Post offices were asked to submit to the proper censors all wrapped mail- ings, except for newspapers and merchandise samples in wrappers, sent by newspaper publishers.

It was also announced that Pori (Björnborg) had opened a local censoring office where all mail addressed to Pori, Pori station, Mäntyluoto, Pihlava and Reposaari postal mailings were to be first delivered for censoring instead of the Tampere post office. On 09th December 1914, post offices were requested to return to Helsinki those foreign newspapers and periodicals in wrappers that lacked the war censor mark. On 24th December 1914, it was noted that domestic postal mail addressed to Tornio had to be directed to the Oulu censor for inspection.

1915 – New Directives for Censorship of Mail

On 01st February 1915, Finland’s postal authorities announced that mailings addressed to Prisoners of War abroad definitely had to be directed to the nearest censor’s office along the route. Such mail from Finland was sent to St. Petersburg.

Because of censoring, arrival of letters at their destinations had become slow and unreliable. The general public began to rely more on the one mark (1 Fmk) postal order, using the coupons for urgent business. When The Censor Committee learned about this, word went out, on 01st June 1915, that all postal orders and address cards with writing on them were to be submitted to the proper war censors. Even those specimens without any writing ended up at the censor’s, quite needlessly. For parcels, an address card, subject to inspection, was required with instructions for delivery to the addressee. The package was then sent to the proper post office, as requested on the card, but could not to be redeemed until the card had been inspected and cleared by censor.

On 07th May 1915, it was decided that from that date on mail addressed to Tornio should go to Tornio for censoring instead of Oulu. In August of 1915, a warning went out to post offices not to release any mail shipments arriving from enemy territory, whether or not the mail carried a war censor mark. The mail had to be returned instead to the Helsinki war censor’s office. The order, however, did not apply to mail sent from abroad by Russian Prisoners of War if the mail carried the required markings because it had become impossible to inspect all of the mail sent for war censoring. Therefore, The Censor Committee, in the beginning of October 1914, issued more specific orders in the matter. Accordingly, all of the mapped mail and shipments from abroad and from the front had to, without exception, be checked. Subject to random inspection was every fifth bundle containing 100 letters from Russia. As for domestic mail, it had to be inspected according to a compiled list containing the names of individuals who, for whatever reason, had come under suspicion. Post cards did not require inspection, although they had to be sent to the censors and many examples exist of these cards with a censor’s mark.

Secret Files of the Censorship Committee

The Censor Committee had two secret files printed: one containing the names of those individuals whose mail was exempt from being opened; the other, of persons whose mail had to be seized and taken to The Censor Committee chairman. The first file contained a number of totally unknowns, possibly individuals operating as spies in various places in Finland as well as St. Petersburg.

Later, the same files proved disastrous to the Censor Committee’s first chairman, Lieutenant Colonel Belosfofski. He was accused of having revealed war secrets and was given a lengthy prison sentence in St. Petersburg. Belosfofski was relieved of his duties as chairman on 22nd February 1915. His successor was the Finnish-born albeit, to some extent, Russianized Lieutenant Colonel Holmberg.

Consulate & Diplomatic Mail

On 16th October 1915, it was announced, that consulate mail which carried the consulate office seal had been exempt from war censoring. On 25th October, the Censor Committee decided to inspect all domestic parcels. The earlier order concerning only the inspection of the address cards was revoked. Henceforth, all domestic parcels including the address cards, were to be directed to the proper censors in the same order as letter mailings. The censored parcels and address cards were attached with the war censor seal, which was considered sufficient proof that the package had been checked.

As earlier stated, all mail from abroad to Finland had to be inspected at the Helsinki war censor’s office. On 04th November 1915, it was decided, that all mail from Sweden, Norway and Denmark was to be inspected, as usual, in Helsinki. However, mail from elsewhere abroad, including that from the army stationed in Russia, was to be taken to the address location censor office. Only mail already inspected in Russia was allowed to be delivered straight to its destination post office address. Then, on 24th November 1915, the Censor Committee ordered all parcels containing light sensitive photographic material to be taken to the Helsinki censor’s office. Again, on 30th November 1915, revisions and improvements were made to earlier existing orders:

1. Excluded from war censoring were postal mail- ings and telegrams from or to diplomats and consulate representatives of the Allied Powers.
2. In order to be exempt, postal mailings and telegrams of the Allied Powers’ diplomatic corps had to be distinguished as such, by some outer markings, when deposited at post and telegraph offices.
3. The postal correspondence of the diplomatic corps of neutral states abroad had to be inspected according to the following rules:
   1. Not to be opened or censored:
      1. Mail sealed with the official crown seal, addressed to a foreign diplomatic establishment in St. Petersburg from its own government, as well as its country’s other diplomatic establishments abroad, in addition to its consulate representatives stationed in the Empire.
      1. Mail with the official crown seal, sent by foreign diplomatic establishments in St. Petersburg to governments and establishments (as mentioned in paragraph a.)
      1. Mail with the official crown seal, addressed to foreign consulates in Russia from their own governments, in addition to mail from their own respective power delegations and diplomatic missions in St. Petersburg.
      1. Mail with the official crown seal, sent by foreign consuls to their own governments’ power delega- tions and diplomatic missions in St. Petersburg.
   1. All other correspondence sent or received by foreign diplomatic establishments and consulates in Russia had to be censored regardless whether furnished with the proper crown seal.
   1. Official letters with the proper crown seal, sent by foreign diplomatic establishments and consulates or their government branches. (A warning is inserted into this paragraph, to absolutely not include any private correspondence with the official mail).
   1. Official parcel post, exchanged between foreign diplomats in Russia as well as abroad, and carrying the proper crown seal, were not to be tampered with since exempt from censorship. Likewise, not to be tampered with and exempt from inspection and censoring was official mail by messenger from foreign diplomatic establishments, when carrying the proper seal and writing “Expedition officielle” on the cover.
   1. Official parcel post, exchanged between foreign diplomats in Russia as well as abroad, and carrying the proper crown seal, were not to be tampered with since exempt from censorship. Likewise, not to be tampered with and exempt from inspection and censoring was official mail by messenger from foreign diplomatic establishments, when carrying the proper seal and writing “Expedition officielle” on the cover.

1916 – New Rules, Routing Changes & Double Censoring

On 10th January 1916, The Censor Committee announced that mail from Tornio, Kemi and Karunki to the Empire were to be sent to St. Petersburg instead of Helsinki. On 12th February 1916, it was decided that mail to Alatornio and Ylitornio were to go to Tornio for censoring.

On 1st May 1916, postal authorities let it be known,
The Censor Committee had decided, that mail from the front-line troops stationed in Finland, was to be sent only to those censors in whose districts post office deposits were located. Excluded were mailings by the military government institutions, hospitals and active navy.

New orders were issued on 16th September 1916: All mailings destined for inspection from Finland to the Empire, were to be taken to that particular censor office in whose district the post office deposit was located. Excluded were postal orders, which still had to be sent strictly to Wyborg. Although The Censor Committee had informed the postal authorities on 14th August 1916, about double censoring, the postal government, nevertheless, immediately resisted such an idea, mainly because of a labor shortage as well as mounting expenses. After all, it was the postal government that had to pick up the tab for all war censor costs. In the end, however, double censoring was implemented on 21st September 1916. Apparently, The Censor Committee had passed the word prematurely on to the censor offices because double censoring has been found to exist well before the order went into effect. Double censoring became effective in the Wyborg censor area on 23rd September; in Helsinki on 03rd October, in Turku 14th October and the other censor locations on 28th October. On 07th October it was decided that local mailings would be sent to the censors for inspection. A week later, on 14th October, word went out that local mail deposits in the cities were exempt.

The post offices, however, had apparently not, in all instances, followed instructions closely enough. In November 1916, post offices were reminded that once censored mail did not have to be returned a second time to the same censor. That month, post offices again received new directives: Only the address card on a parcel had to be sent to the censoring office of the parcel’s origin with the marking “TO BE RETURNED TO” (Name of office where deposited). The parcel, on the other hand, had to be kept at the post office of deposit until the address card had been returned from the censors at the departure location. Only in those cases where one of the senior war censors requested it, the parcel was returned also to the censors at the point of origin.

Because previous instructions had obviously not been understood in most places, the postal authorities on 01st December gave more detailed directives: A parcel addressed within its own district had to be sent simultaneously with the address card from the postal office of origin. A card belonging to a parcel addressed to another censor district was to be sent, after first having been furnished with the appropriate marking (“Return to…”) by the post office of deposit, initially to its own censor district. From there the address card was returned to its location of departure stamped with the local mark and not the censor’s mark. Only after this stage was the originating post office to forward both the parcel and address card to the censors at the address location. A parcel addressed to another censor district was supposed to be returned to the censors at the place of origin only if the senior censor had requested it.

These rules were not, under any circumstances, to be applied to parcels addressed to the Empire or abroad, as some post offices had erroneously done. Postal mailings already furnished (at point of origin) with the war censor mark and arriving from the Empire to Finland had, nevertheless, to be forwarded to the proper censors in Finland. The addressee could thus only receive the mail that carried the Finnish war censor mark, beginning on 01st December 1916.

1917 – New Directives for Foreign Mail End of Censoring of Domestic Mail

On 02nd January 1917, The Censor Committee ordered all foreign letter mail to be sent first to Helsinki for inspection. Only then could it be forwarded to the proper local censors and from there to the addressee.

Next, on 9th January, The Censor Committee also decided that postal mailings from the following companies had to be sent directly to the censors’ office served by the addressee’s location instead of censor office at the departure locations: G. Svanljung, Viktor Ek, Lars Krogius, F. Grundstrom, John Nurminen, Siimes, Nieminen and Bore Incorporated; In February it was announced, that all mail addressed to: “Styrelsen for Aktiebolaget Transito Tukholma” (Board of Directors of Transito Incorporated in Stockholm) were to be sent directly to Tornio for inspection. The company’s mailings to Finland had be taken immediately to the war censors in Helsinki and from there delivered to the address destinations as soon as possible. These orders were most likely implemented because of pressure from merchants. Censoring slowed down and generally complicated commercial trading.

After the Bolshevik Revolution began, Finland’s postal government, on 23rd March dispatched a letter announcing that all mail was free from censorship. The exception was mail arriving from or going to abroad, which was to be censored in Helsinki. Mail arriving from or going to the theater of war was also to be inspected and taken to Helsinki for censoring.

Although the postal government letter was dated 23rd March 1917, it seemed as if censoring had already ceased on 20th March, judging from a couple of memorial letter envelopes discovered in Kuopio. These were likely made up by one of the censors. In addition, a censored specimen with the writing: “Last day of Kuopio censoring” has been reported. Most postal historians agree that the final day for the censoring of domestic mail was 20th March. Only Pori had ceased censoring on March 19^th. However, a letter from abroad was discovered in Nikolainkaupunki that was censored there as late as April. A new censorship Committee in charge (formerly The Censor Committee announced on 28th March 1917 the cessation of censoring in Tampere, Kuopio, Nikolainkaupunki, Oulu, Pori, Tornio and Rauma. Instead, censoring was to be concentrated in three loca- tions: Helsinki, where mail from Finland to abroad and vice versa was to be inspected, as well as that from and to Russia and the war fronts. Exceptions were the Turku, Pori and Wyborg provinces. Postal mailings from the Wyborg province to Russia and the war fronts and vice versa were to be inspected in Wyborg. Likewise, mail from the Turku and Pori provinces and Åland to Russia and the front lines and vice versa had to be inspected in Turku.

On orders from The Committee, five censors remained in Tornio to ascertain that no uncensored mail from Helsinki be sent abroad by way of Tornio. This explains why the name Tornio appears as the place of censorship on the postal government circulars although the Tornio censor office, according to earlier information, had ceased to be.

As early as March 14^th The Censor Committee chair- man Holmberg seems to have informed Finland’s postal administration (judging from some correspondence) about the end of censorship. However, it is not clear, from the letter, to whom it had been sent. The Committee in charge of the army, navy and the port of Wyborg had confirmed the war censorship regulations.

On the last day of March it was announced that mail to and from the Mikkeli, Kuopio and Hame provinces as well as Russia and the Front to Finland had to be sent to Wyborg for inspection.

On April 11th, the companies: Karl Bostrom, Oy. (company), Nordberg, Oy. Heine, G. Matsson and A. Styrman, in addition to the firms Vahlroos and Lundsten were added to the previous list of companies whose mail abroad could be directed to Tornio for censoring.

On 02nd May 1917, there were changes made concerning parcels. The Censor Committee let it be known that only the address cards of parcels destined for Russia had to be censored. The packages were to be kept at the post office until the cards had been returned, furnished with the cen- sor mark. However, on 30th May, it was announced that The Censor Committee had prohibited the address cards from being censor marked. Consequently, post offices in cities with censoring were urged to stamp the cards with the local mark, before returning them to the postal offices

of origin. This was to signify that the address cards had been through the censor’s office.

On 14th May, the postal authorities complained that some domestic mailings have been mistakenly sent to the censor’s office. As a result, post offices were admonished to be more vigilant in separating censor free mail from that bound for inspection.

After the Post and Telegraph War Control Office (formerly The Special War Censor Committee for Finland), on 06th November, decided that censoring of all mail to Russia should be done in St. Petersburg, all previous orders concerning the matter were revoked. Thus mail from Finland to the war front was, on November 6th, taken to St. Petersburg uncensored. On 26th November, mail from the Front, already censored in Russia, began arriving at destinations in Finland. And on 26th November 1917, the Turku and Wyborg censorship offices were closed. Censorship remained only in Helsinki and Tornio. Censoring of foreign mail continued until the War of Independence. The last day of censorship was most likely 28th January 1918.

On 25th April 1918, Finland’s postal administration in a general letter stated that all orders, because of the war, (including any measures resulting from them, and concerning postal mailings) from Russian postal and military authorities had been rescinded.

Censor Inspection Marks

Manifestation of censorship is divided into three main categories:

1. Censor stamps (marks).
2. Resealing tapes or resealing paper strips.
3. Censor wax seals.

Censor marks are further characterized into three categories:

1. General censor marks often with the text: “Avattu” = (Opened), “Tarkastettu” = (Inspected), “Naytetty sotasensuurille” = (Viewed by war censor). Additionally, the name of censor location appears and/ or the word “Sotasensuuri” = (War censor). Also, various date, machine, and letter marks.
   1. Personal censor marks with name of censor, censor’s number or a blank space for censor to write his/ her name or initial.
   1. Censor stamps are further classified by appearance/type:
      1. Box shaped, square or rectangular
      1. Number
      1. Straight line with four rows of text
      1. Straight line with three rows of text

• Straight line with two rows of text
  • Straight line with one row of text
  • Circular (single or double ring)
  • Letter
  • Machine
  • Date
  • Oval (single or double ring)

Letter or envelope enclosures (resealing tapes) are divided into three categories:

1. Strips without locality identification
   1. Mittel Standard printed 14 point tapes
   
   
   1. Tapes w/ serif-style lettering
2. Tapes with locality marking
3. The Tornio resealing tapes

The wax seals used by censors constitute two categories:

1. Actual censor wax seals
   1. With letter-number identification
   1. W/out letter-number identification
2. On the letter enclosure strips there were, especially early on into the censoring activity, handwritten notations by the censors themselves; usually initials and in rare instances, the full name.

Censor Stamps & Marks

Nearly all postally traveled objects carry censor marks. Censor half marks have been found on parcel address cards as well as postal orders, from which the coupon part had been removed. Nevertheless, these have to be considered complete objects in cases where the type of mark and censor location can clearly be distinguished. The order to inspect parcel address cards and postal orders containing some information went into effect on 01st June 1915.

Some invoice copies remain, but the billings do not identify the handstamps used by the censors. Most of the stamps were made by K. Sundstrom in Helsinki. The other manufacturers were the Helsinki Stamp Company, the Wyborg Metal and Kautschuck Cancel Factory and the Turku Stamp Company. Censor stamps for Nikolainkaupunki only were ordered from a local firm there. Reviewing several remaining invoices from Oulu, two loose letter kits (replacement letters), were purchased from a local bookstore in that city.

The censor stamp was constructed much like a rubber stamp today. The stamp part was glued to a wooden handle. Manufacture of the stamp was complicated. Soft plaster was spread into a base mold and another mold with assembled lettering was pressed into the plaster, once or several times, producing an indentation. After the plaster dried, a piece of rubber was placed on top. Under pressure, the vulcanized rubber seeped into grooves in the plaster. The rubber was then removed and cut into the proper shape and attached to the wooden handle. Since several stamps were made in the same plaster mold, all stamps did not come out exactly the same. The reason for this was that the lines or letters in the plaster were often only fractions of a millimeter apart and damage could have occurred in the making of the additional stamps. The plaster molds were kept for later additional stamp making.

The fact that some stamps had become worn out, a ring or letter missing or merged with another proved to be a dilemma in doing this research. Should the apparently new type of stamp be classified as new or as a sub-category to the original? Solution; if only one letter or part had been removed from the stamp, it would just the same be classified as new. The exceptions turned out to be a few specimens with missing pieces. Possibly the censor himself had deliberately tampered with them, in order to identify which one was his. Examples include Helsinki CS Nos. 15 and 18.

Parts or pieces missing from stamps prompted the railway district postal inspector in Helsinki to ask the postal government on 12th October 1916 about the purpose of various censor marks on mailings. The matter concerned the double censor marks that had been taken into use in different cities. Oulu was CS No.15, Kuopio CS No. 12, Nikolainkaupunki CS No. 17 and Wyborg CS No. 10. Double censoring took effect in September 1916. Regardless, numerous objects have been found censored only at the address destination location censor office, although they often do carry the point of origin location censor postmark as evidence that the object had at least been directed to the censors. Specimens with two different censor inspection marks are rarely seen.

When viewing letters inspected by censor, the envelopes clearly indicate both the existence of a so-called active and passive censoring process. In the active type, sealed letters were opened and inspected and envelopes re-sealed using a strip or seal. In passive censoring, a censor mark was simply been stamped on the unopened envelope.

Post cards were exempt from censoring since October 1914, although these had to be taken to the censors where they were routinely stamped with a censor mark. Furthermore, post cards without any particular information have been found censored. Generally, censor marks had been stamped on mail in an unorganized fashion, though certain marks were positioned in a particular spot on the mail. An example is the Turku Censor Stamp No. 1. Apparently, no coherent order about the matter had ever been issued, thus the unorganized impression. Commonly the mark is found inverted or sideways on an object. A mark positioned level with the address is quite a rare occurrence. The censor marks are more often than not, partially indistinguishable. Beautifully struck, clean and sharp balanced marks are rare indeed.

Generally, the censor mark was stamped only once, but there are objects with two or three marks. The censor mark has rarely been used in canceling, although some censors working for the postal service, on occasion cancelled uncancelled objects in the mail with censor marks.

Censor Mark Dates and Cyrillic Text

Under the category of marks, I have included, as closely as possible, the translation from Cyrillic into Latin lettering, although the Finnish (and English) does not always appear perfect. In a couple of instances it has been extremely difficult to know the correct meaning, because the words are abbreviations or consist only of the first few letters. For example, the often seen abbreviation “D.Ts.” could mean either D(osmotr) Ts(enzury), for censor inspection, or D(ozvoleno) Ts(enzuroi), for censoring allowed. I have opted for the latter translation.

There are several censor stamps on display at the Finnish Post and Telegraph Museum. However, none of these marks have been discovered on any objects. Some of the stamps were used for internal censorship business and may never be found on any objects. Regardless, I have enclosed illustrations in the hope that perhaps one day such a specimen or some part of it may appear on mailed item. The same applies to other stamped material located in the Finnish Government Archives.

The dates on censor stamps usually follow the Finnish (Gregorian) and only occasionally the Russian (Julian) calendar. Exceptions being the Nikolainkaupunki oval cancels where the Julian calendar was rather common. This fact might have caused confusion about dates of stamp usage, since the Russian is 13 days behind the Finnish calendar.

The censor date is the same as the later dated postmark of the censor city on an object. This was because mail was canceled as soon as it arrived at the post office, and then taken to the censors for inspection. Thereafter, the mail was returned for delivery, but often an exit postmark was once more applied at the post office.

In Helsinki, the mail was taken to the censors four times a day. At 9 AM and 11 AM and 1 PM and 3 PM. The 3 o’clock mail was not handled until the next morning, although it had been postmarked the previous day. The

size of the stamps with the censor’s name varies slightly as far as its length and height. The name cancels have been categorized as one single type according to the text and not by the variations in size. The name stamp sizes are approximate. Both smaller and larger sizes exist.

As far as the colors are concerned, they are the main ink colors of the stamp. By the time the censor was added more ink to the pad, many color hues and shades appear. These have not been taken into consideration when classifying the ink colors.

Of the number stamps, all known numbers including dates of usage have been taken into account. It is not known, however, whether all stamps with numbers had been in use.

The dates of censorship orders have been obtained from postal government circular letters. Thus, the dates may not be quite accurate because the Censor Committee would inform the Finnish postal administration, and they, in turn, would inform post offices about any new requirements. On occasion, it appears that The Censor Committee had also directly informed the person in charge at the censor location. For instance, double censoring appears on objects much earlier than the date in the postal administration directive indicates. The Censor Committee files have been destroyed and the exact dates remain unclear.

Mail was generally directed in accordance with existing regulations, but there were exceptions in the Kuopio, Tampere and Wyborg areas. Mail addressed to these post offices had already come under the authority of the censors on 24th October 1914. Rauma, another exception, also censored its outgoing mail from the beginning, but no documentation of orders has been found.

In 1916, the veterans’ movement had caught The Censor Committee’s attention. Supposedly as a result, although a documented order has yet to be discovered, all mail from Northern Finland was sent to Helsinki for inspection and only then to the appointed address destina- tions. Thus, a letter from Tornio to Kemi took four days. The tight reign the Empire had on Finland was reflected in the censor stamps: At first, the cancels were in either three languages or only in Finnish (Oulu). Soon, however, Russian became the dominant language and the censor’s name also appeared in Russian on the stamps, regardless whether he was Finnish or not.

The shape of the stamps were generally the same in all censor cities. The box cancels came first, then the circular, followed by straight-line stamps with one to four rows of text. Later, there were the oval stamps and lastly, the two-tiered straight-line stamps. Of course, there are also exceptions to be found. Different stamp-types appear intermingled until 1916, when censor stamps, by Censor

Committee influence, became more uniform. This was the case, at least, in the cities with censoring. The censor stamps were in use, with one exception, solely in the appointed censor cities. Only the Helsinki censor stamps CS Nos. 9 and 11 were used in Tampere in December of 1915 and January 1916. The reason was a rush at the Tampere censor office because of the Arvi K. Karisto Christmas competition.

Additional censors from Helsinki apparently had been summoned to Tampere to help out and they brought their cancels with them. When the situation cleared, the censors with their censor stamps returned to Helsinki.

Earlier Reported Censor Marks

I have failed to observe or copy anywhere the following stamps indicated in earlier catalogs:

Libertas Philateliae No. 4, 22nd December 1952, stamp IAc:10, Helsinki: round two-ring, inner ring very thin, inside the rings text in circle: “Sotasensuuri Helsingissa” for Helsinki war censorship, two asterisks, center lettering D.Ts., size 43 mm, violet, January – February 1916. This same stamp is included in the book on Finnish censor stamps, round cancel number 1.

Libertas Philatehaen No. IAc:30, double row, without frame, text: “Avattu sotasensuurissa/Kuopion sotasensori” = War censor opened/Kuopio war censor, size 33 x 8 mm, violet-red, October 1916 – January 1917. The stamp is Libertas Philatehaen No. IAc: 39, circular, single-ring (possibly double-ring), inside lettering D.Ts. size 25 mm, red, July 1916, Kuopio Included in Finnish Censor Stamp Book, round stamp number 22.

The following are also included in the Finnish Censor Stamp Book: Circular, number 13, Turku, 29 mm, red, February 1916, date in the middle correctly positioned. Circular, number 25, letter stamp H.Ts., 31 mm, violet, double-ring, May 1915, Helsinki. Circular, number 26, letter stamp D.Ts.Y., 32 mm, violet, single-ring, December 1914. Turku. Circular, number 27, middle D, 29 mm, July 1915 – January 1917, Wyborg. Oval number 5, Tampere, 40 x 29 mm, red or violet-red, triple-ring without rosettes, June 1916 – August 1916. Double-tiered, number 14, war censor name, 35 x 12 mm, minus location mark, text in cursive writing, October 1915 to April 1916, Wyborg.

Libertas Philatehaen No. IAc: 30, possibly a cutout version of the Kuopio stamp, number 13. The number IAc: 33, possibly the Wyborg stamp, number 6, as is the double-row stamp number 14, in the Finnish Censor Stamp Book.

Libertas Philatehaen No. IAc: 39 could be the Wyborg stamp number 4.

The round number 26, in the Finnish Censor Stamp Book, is most likely the St. Petersburg censor stamp, because I have in my possession several specimens. All of them have come via St. Petersburg and are seen on foreign. I have not discovered any object that traveled solely in Finland.

In addition, I have seen a double-tiered stamp (with Swedish and Finnish text) “Anonyma adresser forbjudna/ Salaiset osotteet kielletyt” for Anonymous addresses prohibited. It is in black and found on domestic mail, 31st May 1917, in Helsinki. Whether the cancel had been used in censoring or not is uncertain, because the censoring of domestic mail had ceased by then. The address on the card reads: “Tidningen U.S kontor” for the journal/ newspaper U.S office.

The Resealing Strip/Censor Tape

To the general public, the resealing or enclosure strip or censor tape was the first indication of censorship. The strips began appearing immediately after the censoring locations had been established.

At first, the Tornio strips were used entirely on foreign mail, and according to research so far, these strips seem to constitute the greatest variety of all. The censor tapes were usually fastened at the narrow end of a letter. Exceptions to this are rarely found. Both censor wax seals and handwritten markings as well as censor marks are seen among the strips. To date, as the handwritten marks are concerned, the censor’s initials usually appear on the object. Much less common is the full name. The mark is almost always the censor’s own personal one. The strips without location marks have been divided into two main categories according to letter style, and then further subdivisions according to text length and strip color.

Decisive differences in paper quality have also been taken into consideration when discovered, as well as sealing tapes without censor office location identification. The text is written in Cyrillic, Finnish, and Swedish. Translation = “Opened by war censor.”

Printed Mittel Standard Type A 14 point strips can be divided into three types according to length:

Type A Resealing Tapes

The Type B strips are printed without serif style of lettering and can be divided into four different types according to apparent irregularities. The text is written in Cyrillic, Finnish, and Swedish. Translation = <“Opened by war censor.”>

Type B I Cyrillic: Letter “s” in the Russian word Vskryto is different.

Type B II Finnish and Swedish text: The letter “r” in the Finnish Sotasensuuri and the letter “k” in the Swedish Krigscensuren (both meaning “War Censor) are directly below each other.

Type B III Finnish and Swedish.The letter “r” in the Finnish word Sotasensuuri is located by the right serif of the second letter “u”.

Type B IV The serif on the letter “r” in the Finnish Sotasensuuri, is slanted.

Censor Stripes with Location Identification

Strips (also called resealing tapes) with location marks have, so far, been found only on Tornio, Helsinki, Wyborg, Kuopio and Oulu mail. The strips have been divided into different type categories according to length of text, paper quality and color. Tiny strips, used expressly on small letters have been discovered on Helsinki and Wyborg mail. Before this, the strips were cut short in order to fit small-sized letters.

The texts on the Tornio strips are more varied than that on others. Early on, the Tornio strips were in Finnish and Swedish, but lacked location names. Not until December 1914 did strips with location names appear. Since the Tornio strips were almost exclusively used on mail to abroad, they have been divided into a separate group. The dual-language Tornio strips had apparently been delivered to the censor’s in whole, perforated sheets and then separated there. At the Tornio censors, the letters were first opened by female employees and only then taken to the censors for inspection. Thereafter, the mail was removed from the censor’s desk, to be handled by said females who attached the strips to the short ends of the letters.

There was no specific order as to which censor inspected what mail. Instead, inspecting was determined by each censor’s language skills.

The art of censoring often proved to be rather superficial, because the censors were not always fond of their work. Whenever the senior or supervising censor’s attention was diverted, a letter was quickly marked and tossed into the “inspected” pile, uncensored. A Russian officer with the rank of colonel acted as chief of censoring in every censor location. The chief’s aid being one of the censors, whose title was that of a “senior” censor.

The printing of the Tornio letter enclosure strips took place at a Kemi printing company until 14th November 1914. According to surviving invoices, seven lots amounting to a total of 373,500 white, gummed strips were printed there. At the end of one particular invoice, dated August 28 1914, the text: “If at all possible, payment is most humbly requested for the goods already delivered.” Invoices prior to August 28th, have been lost. The printing location of the Tornio censor tapes after November 1914 is unknown.

The Mittel Standard as well as the strips with the Helsinki location marks were both printed at the Helsinki Senate printing office. The printing places of the other strips with location marks remain uncertain as are the locations where strips with serif-styles lettering were printed.

A remaining unused Mittel Standard letter enclosure strip from the Kuopio censors measures 128 x 49 mm. The strips were delivered from the Helsinki printing office already cut and gummed. At Tampere the strips printed on brown paper had arrived at the censor office in whole sheets. Indicative of this are the black “cutting” lines seen on the edges of the strips. In order to fit small- sized letters, the strips were cut short. In a few instances the tape was folded over the envelope edge.

In December 1914, on the order of the Censor Committee chairman, a part of the mail was to be delivered directly to him uncensored. The order concerned the following individuals living in Stockholm: Jonas Castren, Konni Zilliacus and Albert Goldbeck- Lowe, in addition to two representatives to the Tomski government, Messrs. Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and Vilhelm Hasselblatt as well as Helsinki resident Viktor Braun. Mail with the address “Poste restante N.K.P. xxii” was also to be taken directly to the chairman. To ensure that letters had been censored for certain, this writer has chosen the censor city later date found on envelopes sealed with strips. On Oulu mail, it is interesting how the strips have often been postmarked before being attached to the end of the envelopes. Thus, the mark follows the strip fold onto the other side.

Censor Wax Seals

The wax seals used by censors appeared on envelopes at about the same time as the letter enclosure strips. The seals can be found only on registered and insured letters. The quantity varies between one and three seals, although two are the norm. Originally, the seals with the location name in Finnish, Swedish and Russian had been used by the postal service. A letter and number combination is often found below the insignia, on both sides of the post horns. This helped identify the postal employee in charge of the seal. Similarly later, the censor was identified in the same manner.

The actual seals with the text “War Censor” and city name in Russian appeared in use in 1915. In addition, a seal with initials on the envelope’s reverse side is occasionally seen. The initials could possibly have been the censor’s, since the censor mark seems partially obscured by the seal. However, cases like this are extremely rare.

An object in Oulu has been found with the censor initial seal on top of the censor wax seal. Usually, a letter was first sealed with a strip and then on top, the censor seal. Letters with a double folded edge and sealed only with a seal are considered to be rare. Envelopes with both seals and censor marks are seen. This almost always constitutes a censor’s personal mark.

The Censors

As to the employment of a new individual, the Censor Committee always performed a thorough background check. This was true also of any person in the Russian army. The Hameenlinna post office issued the following criteria for evaluating candidates for employment as postal censors:

1. Must be totally trustworthy politically.
2. Must never to have participated in any secret or unlawful alliances.
3. Must have an unwavering political conviction.
4. Post office must not have any reservations about employment in censor service.

In addition, all the usual information on previous and current employment as well as applicant’s parents and their livelihood was required.

Many individuals in the censor service displayed a negative attitude towards their work. According to remaining documents, it is obvious that most of the complaints against the censors came, almost without exception, from individuals working for Russian censors.

References:

S. Gronroos: “Postal Matters During Our Previous War Times.” The War Museum 1948.

P. Jamalainen: “Finland’s Postal Service Around The Time Of The World Wars.” Manuscript at the Post and Telegraph Museum.

E. Kaskimies: The Post and Telegraph Administration. Helsinki 1937.

K.A. Wegelius: Routaa ja Rautaa (Finnish, Frost and Iron), part I, 1926.

K.K. Wolter: Die Postzensur (Postal Censoring), part I and II, Nurnberg 1965 and 1966.

K.K. Wolter: German Zur Geschichte der Postzensur. Archiv fur Deutsche Postgeschichte, 1968.

B-E Saarinen, Erik Johanson, Valter V. Johansson: Suomen sensuurileimat (Finnish censor marks). Tapiola 1963. Post and Telegraph Museum: Finland’s postal administration circular letters 1914-18.

Post and Telegraph Museum: Censoring stamps kept in the museum. Government archives: Documents concerning censoring, kept in the archives.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft i. (German) Bund Deutscher Philatelisten: Suomi-Finnland-Finland, Heft 18, December 1964.

International Encyclopedia of Stamps: Volume 2, part 3, London 1970.