German Democratic Republic
Sonderflugverkehr (special air traffic) Cover
Air post cover from Sondershuasen, DDR to Tom's Lake, B.C.,Canada
Sonderflugverkehr (special air traffic) was a special service run twice-yearly during the Leipzig Trade Fair by the East German authorities. The special flights were mainly used to bring foreign business people to East Germany to visit the fair. The fair was held in the spring (Fruhjahrmesse or Spring Fair) and and in the fall (Herbstmesse or Autumn Fair). The Communist government sought to use it to showcase and sell Soviet technology and other eastern block products for "hard" currency, dollars, pounds, other western currencies.
This cover, postmarked March 16, 1972, was apparently carried on the special air traffic service between March 10 and March 22 of that year. It is addressed from Sondershuasen, DDR to Tom's Lake, British Columbia, Canada and is franked with a 35 pf Ulbricht definitive of 1971, a 20 pf 25th Anniversary of U.N.I.C.E.F. commemorative of July 13, 1971, and 10 pf and 15 musical instruments commemoratives of October 26, 1971.
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