Postal censorship 3968551 219704049 2008-06-16T14:21:11Z Ww2censor 631250 Reverted 1 edit by [[Special:Contributions/124.184.250.114|124.184.250.114]]; Remove badly written, unsourced edit. ([[WP:TW|TW]]) {{Censorship}} '''Postal censorship''' is the [[inspection]] or examination of [[mail]], most often by [[government]]s, that can include opening, reading or marking of [[Cover (philately)|covers]], [[postcard]]s, [[Parcel post|parcels]] or other postal packets. Postal [[censorship]] primarily takes place during [[war]] time or periods of unrest, though occasionally during other times, like; periods of [[civil disorder]] or a [[state of emergency]], as was the case in [[The Emergency|Ireland during 1939-1945]]. Both [[covert]] and [[overt]] postal censorship have taken place. Historically postal censorship is a very old practice; it is usually linked to [[espionage]] and [[Intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence gathering]]. Mail subjected to postal censorship can be civilian mail, or military mail, and in most countries where postal censorship takes place, or has taken place, different organisations perform censorship on these types of mail. In 20th century wars the objectives of postal censorship encompass economic warfare, [[security]] and intelligence. The study of postal censorship is a [[Philately|philatelic topic]] of [[postal history]]. == Military mail == [[Military mail]] is not always censored by opening or reading the mail, but military mail can include mail during war time or during [[military campaign]]s. Military mail is most often distributed by a totally military controlled postal system separate to that of civilian mail. [[Military intelligence]] has different requirement than civilian [[Intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence gathering]]. During times of war mail from the front is often opened and offending parts blanked or cut out. == POW and Internee mail== [[POW]] and [[Internment|internee]] mail is also subject to postal censorship, under Articles 70 and 71 of the [[Third Geneva Convention#Article 70|Third Geneva Convention]] (1929-1949). It is frequently subjected to both military and civil postal censorship because it passes through both [[mail|postal systems]]. == Civil mail == Until recent years, the [[Government monopoly|monopoly]] to carry civilian mails has usually been vested in governments<ref>[http://www.postalproject.com/documents.asp?d_ID=2443 Pushing the Envelope] (retrieved 21 August 2006)</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060210092316/http://www.libertyhaven.com/theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/economics/monopolyandindustrialorganization/postalmono.html The (US) Postal Monopoly] (retrieved 21 August 2006)</ref> so they have had the ability to easily control and enact postal censorship within the postal distribution systems they control. The type of information obtained from civilian mail is different from that likely to be found in military mail. [[Image:1940 Madrid-Paris cens.jpg|thumb|left|275px|1940 civil [[Cover (philately)|cover]] from [[Madrid]] to [[Paris]] opened by both Spanish and French ([[Vichy France|Vichy]]) authorities]] <br style="clear:both;"> == Countries known to have enacted postal censorship == === Pre-World War I === === World War I === * [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] * [[Finland]] [http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ww1finland/c_ww1finland.html] * [[Romania]] * [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] * [[Canada]] [http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/overtop/CWM_Over_the_top_Propaganda_and_Censorship.pdf pdflink] === Between the wars === Following the end of World War I there were a few situations where postal censorship was practiced. During 1919 [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[Weimar Republic|German Weimar Republic]] and the [[Soviet Union]] had it. Other conflicts during which censorhsip existed were in 1935-1936 during the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|Italian occupation of Ethiopia]][http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ethiopia/c_btw_ethiopia.html] and especially during the [[Spanish Civil War]] of 1936-1939. === World War II === During [[World War II]] the main protagonists, both [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] and [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] all instituted postal censorship of civil mails. The largest organisations were those of [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]] who each employed about 10,000 censor staff. British censorship was mainly based in [[Aintree]] (near [[Liverpool]]) with nearly 20 other censor stations around the country. Additionally the British ensured censorship control of colonial and dominion mail by instituting an extensive system of censor stations in the following places: :Dominions: [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], [[New Zealand]], [[South Rhodesia]] and [[Union of South Africa]] :Colonies: [[Aden]], [[Antigua]], [[Ascension Island]], [[Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Bermuda]], [[Ceylon]], [[Cyprus]], [[Dominica]], [[Egypt]], [[Falkland Islands]], [[Fiji]], [[Gambia]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]], [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Granada]], [[British Guiana]], [[British Honduras]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Jamaica]], [[Kenya]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Malta]], [[Mauritius]], [[Montserrat]], [[New Hebrides]], [[Nigeria]], [[North Borneo]], [[Northern Rhodesia]], [[Nyasaland]], [[Palestine (mandate)|Palestine]], [[Penang]], [[St. Helena]], [[St. Lucia]], [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|St. Vincent]], [[Sarawak]], [[Seychelles]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[British Solomon Islands]], [[Somalia]], [[Sudan]], [[Tanganyika]], [[Trinidad]], [[Tonga]], [[Uganda]], [[Virgin Islands]] and [[Zanzibar]], The USA censor staff count rose to 14,462 by February 1943 in the censor stations they opened in [[New York]], [[Miami]], [[New Orleans]], [[San Antonio]], [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]], [[Brownsville]], [[El Paso]], [[Nogales]], [[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[Seattle]], [[Chicago]], [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]], [[Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands|Charlotte Amalie]], [[Balboa]], [[Cristobal]], [[David, Panama]] and [[Honolulu]]. Neutral countries like, [[Éire|Ireland]], [[Portugal]] and [[Switzerland]] also performed postal censorship even though they were not directly associated in the conflict. <!-- ==== Africa ==== *[[Egypt]] ==== America ==== *[[Argentina]] *[[Bolivia]] *[[Brazil]] *[[Costa Rica]] *[[Cuba]] *[[Dominican Republic]] *[[El Salvador]] *[[Guatemala]] *[[Haiti]] *[[Honduras]] *[[Mexico]] *[[Nicaragua]] *[[United States of America]] [http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ww2civilus/c_ww2civil_us.html] ==== Asia ==== *[[China]] *[[Iran]] *[[Iraq]] *[[Japan]] *[[Thailand]] ==== Europe ==== *[[Belgium]] :[[Belgian Congo]] *[[Bulgaria]] *[[Croatia]] *[[Czechoslovakia]] *[[Denmark]] *[[Estonia]] *[[Finland]] *[[France]] :French Protectorates: [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]] and [[Morocco]] :French Possessions Overseas *[[Nazi Germany |Germany]] :Occupied Territories: [[Belgium]]. [[Denmark]], [[France]], [[Greece]], [[Norway]] and [[Serbia]] *[[Greece]] *[[Hungary]] *[[Éire |Ireland]] *[[Italy]] :Occupied Territories: [[Albania]], [[Greece]], France [[Monaco]] and [[Savoie]], and Italian [[East Africa]] *[[Latvia]] *[[Lithuania]] *[[Netherlands]] :Colonies: [[Dutch Antilles]], [[Surinam]] and [[Dutch East Indies]] *[[Norway]] *[[Poland]] *[[Portugal]] *[[Romania]] *[[Slovakia]] *[[Soviet Union]] *[[Spain]] *[[Sweden]] *[[Switzerland]] *[[United Kingdom]] :Dominions: [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], [[New Zealand]], [[South Rhodesia]] and [[Union of South Africa]] :Colonies: [[Aden]], [[Antigua]], [[Ascension Island]], [[Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Bermuda]], [[Ceylon]], [[Cyprus]], [[Dominica]], [[Egypt]], [[Falkland Islands]], [[Fiji]], [[Gambia]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]], [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Granada]], [[British Guiana]], [[British Honduras]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Jamaica]], [[Kenya]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Malta]], [[Mauritius]], [[Montserrat]], [[New Hebrides]], [[Nigeria]], [[North Borneo]], [[Northern Rhodesia]], [[Nyasaland]], [[Palestine (mandate)|Palestine]], [[Penang]], [[St. Helena]], [[St. Lucia]], [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|St. Vincent]], [[Sarawak]], [[Seychelles]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[British Solomon Islands]], [[Somalia]], [[Sudan]], [[Tanganyika]], [[Trinidad]], [[Tonga]], [[Uganda]], [[Virgin Islands]] and [[Zanzibar]], *[[Yugoslavia]] --> ===Post-World War II=== {{Expand|date=November 2007}} == References and Sources == ;Notes {{reflist}} ;Books {{cite book | first = Graham | last = Mark FRPSL | year = 2000 | title = British Censorship of Civil Mails During World War I | publisher = [http://www.rossitertrust.com/ The Stuart Rossiter Trust Fund] | location = Bristol, UK | id = ISBN 0-9530004-1-9 | url = }} {{cite book | first = D.J. | last = Little | year = 2000 | title = British Empire Civil Censorship Devices, World War II: Colonies and Occupied Territories - Africa, Section 1 | publisher = Civil Censorship Study Group | location = UK | id = ISBN 0-9517444-0-2 | url = }} {{cite book | author = Torrance, A.R., & Morenweiser, K. | year = 1991 | month = | title = British Empire Civil Censorship Devices, World War II: United Kingdom, Section 2 | publisher = Civil Censorship Study Group | location = UK | id = ISBN 0-9517444-1-0 | url = }} {{cite book | author = Stich, Dr. H.F., Stich, W., Sprecht, J. | year = 1993 | title = Civil and Military Censorship During World War II | publisher = Stich, Stich and Sprecht | location = Canada | id = ISBN 0-9693788-2-3 | url = }} {{cite book | first = Karl Kurt | last = Wolter | year = 1965 | title = Die Postzensur: Band I - Vorzeit, Früheit und Neuzeit (bis 1939) | publisher = Georg Amm | location = Munich }} {{cite book | year = 1996 | title = History of the Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department 1938–1946 Volume I & II | editor = Herbert, E.S., & des Graz, C.G. | publisher = Civil Censorship Study Group by permission of [[Public Records Office]], Kew, UK | location = | id = | url = }} {{cite book | first = Galen D. | last = Harrison | year = 1997 | title = Prisoners' Mail from the American Civil War | publisher = Galen D. Harrison (?) | location = Dexter, MI | id = | url = }} ;Papers {{cite web | last = Whyman | first = Susan E. | title = Postal Censorship in England 1635–1844 | publisher = [[Postcomm]] | url = http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/about-the-mail-market/uk-market-reviews/postalcensorship.pdf | format = pdf | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-19 }} ==See also== * [[Black room]] * [[Secrecy of correspondence]] == External links == *[http://www.Postalcensorship.com/ Postalcensorship.com] Website devoted to ''postal censorship'' with many examples of censored [[mail]] *[http://ccsg.postalcensorship.com/ Civil Censorship Study Group] *[http://fphs.postalcensorship.com/ Forces Postal History Society] *[http://www.MilitaryPHS.org/ Military Postal History Society] [[Category:Postal system|Censorship]] [[Category:Censorship|Postal censorship]] [[Category:Laws of war|Postal censorship]] [[Category:Civilians in war|Postal censorship]] [[Category:National security|Postal censorship]]