Parallel to the Western powers, the Soviet Union also formed its own state from its occupation zone. It was under the domination of the SED. The military authorities call communist people’s congresses, which are supposed to give the founding of…

A Lady, her Maid, and her Male Servant – an urgent need for a new passport Lady Georgiana Grey By the mid-ninetieth century, an ever-increasing number of Britain’s wealthy nobility traveled to Europe with servants, visiting the great cultural and…

This East-German passport was issued on 23 November 1989, just a few days after the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. german passport Karl-Marx Stadt This passport is fascinating on multiple levels. First, it keenly portrays the…

A recent TV report inspired this article. The story was new to me, and I believe the brave actions to save looted artworks must be told to a broader audience. Rose Antonia Maria Valland (1 November 1898 – 18 September 1980)…

Dr. Gisela Pelzl passed away at the age of 80 years On Friday, March 06, 2020, Gisela Pelzl (born von Mülmann) passed away at the age of 80 after a long illness. Gisela Pelzl earned her spurs as a competitive…

The following diplomatic passport was offered on an auction platform and is THE rarest passports in general. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta or SMOM. It is reported in 2018 that the order issued only about 500 diplomatic passports. There…

Meet Hildegard Kihn, nee Lessing, born 1906 in Koenigsberg, Prussia, Germany. Her Federal German passport was issued on 21 January 1952 at the Consulate General in Pretoria, South Africa. The passport booklet is the very first ever printed series in…

The following fantastic document set of a female ambulance driver found its way into my archive. Meet Miss Marjorie McMahon. She drove an ambulance for the British Red Cross in London during the Blitz and later into Europe after D-Day….