Question about gestrichen?

[jerryrehr]

Howdy; Would somebody tell me the proper translation of this German term in English. Thanks Jerry

[Gran Sasso]

Either "cancelled" or "marked out" - depending on the context. Could also mean "painted".

[Larry deZeng]

Howdy; Would somebody tell me the proper translation of this German term in English. Thanks Jerry

It means "deleted" and is in reference to the Feldpostnummer as it appears in the Feldpostübersicht (FpÜ - Field Postal Directory). The FpÜ was a multi-volume printed directory put out by the Heeres-Feldpostmeister (the Postmaster of the Army) in Berlin. New updated editions were printed periodically, usually every 6 months. In between reprints, changes to the numbers were printed every day in 4 - 6 page updates that were sent out by both mail and teletype message to the main post offices responsible for distributing mail. These changes were then entered by hand in pen and ink or by cut-and-paste by postal clerks in the current printed edition of the FpÜ. At the end of the war, the U.S. troops that captured Munich on 28 April 1945 eventually found a complete set of all of the FpÜ volumes in the main post office there, in many cases for multiple editions over the entire course of the war, together with many of the 4, 5 and 6 page daily changes. It was these volumes that Norbert Kannapin and his wife slaved away over during the 1970's to produce the following reference work for Biblio Verlage in Osnabrück:

Kannapin, Norbert. Die deutsche Feldpostübersicht 1939-1945. 3 Bde (I – III) (Osnabrück, 1980-82).

This is the 3-volume set that we all use for looking up Feldpost numbers.

So, wherever the abbreviation "gestr." appears, it means that FpN was deleted in the Directory because the unit it was assigned to was disbanded, incorporated into another unit, or changed Feldpost numbers. Once a number was "deleted", it could not be reused for approximately a year. After that it could be reused for another unit.

HTH,

BHS1956

[jerryrehr]

Thanks guys I was watching some of the FPN#s and knew it ment something as you've explained. Again Thanks. Jerry