Volume 32, No. 2 April-June 2016

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

Sketches of the Ras Tafari stamps in the Animals & Rulers set that were used by a Swiss artist to finalize the designs. The sketches were likely made by J.A. Michel. The photos inserted in the frame sketches were possibly taken by Michel.

Volume 32, No. 2 April-June 2016 Whole No. 126 EPS Established in 1985 APS Affiliate #0145—ISSN 1075-2226

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

ETHIOPIAN PHILATELIC SOCIETY 5710 S.E. Garnet Way, Milwaukie, Oregon 97267, USA http://ethiopianphilatelicsociety.weebly.com NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS FOR EPS Doig’s Ethiopian Stamp Catalogue http://doig.net/EthiHome.html Espen Solheim’s Stamp Albums www.ethiopia-stamps.com Cover Frame Design: Bogale Belachew OFFICERS 2014-2015 Hon. Vice-President for Life

Mr. N.R (Tom) Handley Byways, Allerton, Axbridge BS26 2NG, UK Founder of Ethiopian Collectors Club (1959) merged with EPS in 2011

President & Editor

Mr. Ulf J. Lindahl 21 Westview Place, Riverside, CT 06878, USA Cell: (203) 722 0769 Fax: (203) 866 0439 E-mail: [email protected]

Vice President

Mr. Luciano Maria Via Cellini 9/3, 16143 Genoa, Italy Tel: 39 (010) 511698 E-mail: [email protected]

Secretary & Treasurer

Mr. Floyd B. Heiser 5710 S.E. Garnet Way, Milwaukie, OR 97267, USA Tel: (503) 659 5098 E-mail: [email protected]

Directors

Mr. Wondimu Alemayehu P.O. Box 5662, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Patrick J. Dowling Box 7536, Colorado Springs, CO 80933, USA Tel: (719) 598 7307 Fax: (719) 598 7307 E-mail: [email protected] www.20thonline.com Dr. Juha Kauppinen Helakallionk 6F, 33580 Tampere, Finland E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Graham C. Scott 630 E. Hobcaw Drive, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464, USA Tel: (843) 849 8757 E-mail: [email protected]

Librarian:

Mr. Ulf J. Lindahl E-mail: [email protected] for information and to borrow from the EPS Library

MENELIK’S JOURNAL is the quarterly bulletin of the Ethiopian Philatelic Society. NEW MEMBERSHIP DUES are US$ 18 per year for U.S. and Canadian residents and US$ 25 for residents of other countries. The annual membership includes four printed issues of Menelik’s Journal by mail. DIGITAL MEMBERSHIP with email delivery of Menelik’s Journal in the form of an Adobe pdf file is $10 worldwide. Please provide a current email when selecting this version of membership. For information contact Floyd B. Heiser. Payment can be made with bank notes in dollars, euro or sterling or via PayPal to Floyd Heiser at www.paypal.com using [email protected]. Membership can only be renewed for a maximum of three years. ADVERTISING RATES: (4 issues for Dealers, 1 issue for Non-Dealer Members) Dealers Non-Dealer Members

Full Page $50 Full Page $15

2

Half Page $35 Half Page $ 9

Quarter Page $20 Quarter Page $ 5

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

News We take a break from our series about the mail in the Ethiopia Cover List in this issue since David Fourrage has conducted signifycant research in the French archives and has unveiled the genesis of the Animals and Rulers set. David’s findings change the history of the issue as we have known it. Meanwhile, Dr. Giorgio Migliavacca has arranged for us to reprint of an article that appeared in Fil-Italia written by Beniamino Dr. Migliavacca Cadioli about censorship during the ItaloEthiopian War in 1935-1936. Finally, Floyd Heiser has a follow-up article about the Abyssinian Contingent covers. David Fourrage is conducting a survey for his continued research that will result in articles about the mail in the 1920s and 1930s and when small town post offices were established. These will be published in futures issues of MJ. His important survey is enclosed with this issue for you to complete. If you did not earlier completed it, please do so now and return it to David by mail or email before the end of July. I am also pleased to report that we had a fun get together for EPS members at the NY 2016 Stamp Show. Sincerely,

36 versus 39

Inverted 12

Inverted 3

Ulf J. Lindahl

Message from Serge Magallon

It is the year of the meetings. You had one in New York and I had one for three days with Luciano Maria in Genoa on the Mediterranean coast in Italy. I exhibited in Paris on May 1922 my “AOI 1933 Rate.” I was awarded a Large Vermeil at Milanofil 2016.

Table of Contents News

3

World Stamp Show NY 2016 By Ulf J. Lindahl

4

Who Designed the Animals & Rulers By Ulf J. Lindahl

7

New Information on the Genesis of the Animals and Rulers Set of 1919 By David Fourrage Luciano Maria with Serge Magallon and Serge with a Judge.

Mail Censorship During the Italo-Ethiopian War 1935-1936 By Beniamino Cadioli, AIFSP

Helge Skau comments on the Reprise Aerienne

I want to show copies of all the errors mentioned by Theo Michaelides and by Floyd Heiser in Menelik’s Journal in the January 2016 issue. The inverted 4 (position 2) is a bit difficult to recognize, but the others are quite clear. I bought them in various British auctions more than twenty years ago. Note that three of the stamps are used copies.

Inverted 4

3

8

20

A New Abyssinia Contingent Cover By Floyd Heiser

27

Philately and Philanthropy: A Personal Note By Robert Handicott

29

New Issue

31

A December 1911 Postage Due Cover By Ulf J. Lindahl

31

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

World Stamp Show NY 2016 By Ulf J. Lindahl World Stamp Show NY 2016, held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City on May28 – June 4, was the largest stamp show in the United Sates in ten years with an estimated 250,000 visitors. Members of Ethiopian Philatelic Society participated with four exhibits and Menelik’s Journal in the literature competition. Juha Kauppinen’s 8-frame exhibit, “Forwarding Mail from and inside Ethiopia from the 1940s to 1936,” won a Gold medal. As Juha put it; “I received Gold with 93 points. The points are the best ever. Two years back I also scored 93 in the Scandinavian show in Oslo, Norway, and in April a Large Gold without points in the Scandinavian show at Jyväskylä in Finland. But New York is something different from the Scandinavian shows; here were many of the best collections from all parts of the world. It was exciting to look at the Large Gold medal exhibits in the postal history class. I still hope to

The “Jenny Airplane” on exhibit to celebrate the return of the stolen “Inverted Jenny” stamp—America’s most famous stamp. be able to develop my collection towards a Large Gold. Obviously, I have to stop it at the U.P.U. entrance. It means that I need to have one more frame of preU.P.U. material. That is much easier to say than to get. So I am very pleased with my result.” I (Ulf Lindahl) had a 5-frame exhibit, the maximum permitted since this was the first time I exhibited in an international show after previously having won Gold with an 8 -frame exhibit at an APS show. My exhibit, “Postal History of Ethiopia 1895-1909,” received a Large Vermeil, an award just The cavernous hall in the Javits Center with dealer stands.

Floyd Heiser and Graham Scott at the show entrance.

Graham Scott and Ulf Lindahl next to the “Jenny Airplane.”

4

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

Two of Ulf Lindahl’s exhibit pages at far left. York, enjoying the city and the Museum of Modern Art, while Floyd, Graham and I went to the show and visited the dealers looking for items for our collections as well as taking in some of the exhibits, running into EPS members along the way. There were also several prominent auction houses holding auctions with some interesting Ethiopia material, including two hand-stamped Obelisk sets, one fake and the other genuine, both offered at an estimated $4,000. They did not sell. In the afternoon, I made an hour-long APS-sponsored presentation on Ethiopia’s pre-U.P.U. period with 40 slides of important covers from that period illustrated with relevant photographs and maps to make it more interesting to the nonexpert. The audience was not large, about 15 people, but the talk was well received, I was told. In the evening, we met for drinks and dinner at a restaurant. Juha, who had just flown in from Finland, attended as did Edgar Hicks from Nebraska, Daryl Reiber from California, Floyd and Anita from Oregon, Graham and Sharon from South Carolina, Björn Sohrne from Sweden, and James Golden from Connecticut, a new member, as well as two friends of Daryl who had carried exhibits from California to the show, and myself from Connecticut. We had a delightful evening centered on stamps but also sharing stories and comparing notes and some of the day’s purchases, including some real gems found by Daryl that will be added to the Ethiopia Cover List. There were 763 exhibits, including literature, with 77 that received Large Gold, 204 Gold, 198 Large Vermeil, 149 Vermeil, and 64 Large Silver. There were also many rarities on show, including the “British Guiana one-cent magenta,” which is the world’s most expensive stamp having recently sold for over $9 million. The long lost, but recently found, copper “Mauritius ‘Post Office’ Issue Printing Plate” billed as the “greatest philatelic treasure existing” was also on show. It is expected to bring in over $10 million when it is auctioned later this year. The Ulf Lindahl making his points.

Floyd Heiser preparing to vie the Ethiopia exhibits. below Gold. It was a disappointing result, but better luck next time when I can enter 8 frames in an international show. Juha felt that the judges may have thought there were too may pages with only one cover, while the coverage of the period and the number of rare items would be hard to match by anyone. Daryl Reiber’s 5-frame exhibit, “Ethiopia 1928-1931: Empress Zauditu and Ras Tafari,” won a Large Silver as did Menelik’s Journal. Björn Sohrne, who is an EPS member but no longer collects Ethiopia, exhibited 8 frames, “Russian (Caucasus)Persian Inter Postal Relations,” and was awarded a Gold medal I was pleased to host Floyd Heiser and his wife Anita, who flew in from Portland, Oregon, and Graham Scott and his wife Sharon, who arrived from South Carolina. During the opening day of the show, Anita and Sharon were sightseeing in New Ulf Lindahl making the presentation at the show.

5

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

At left: Björn Sohrne at far left and James Golden in the middle (unknown person at right) listening to Ulf’s presentation.

Edgar Hicks, James Golden and Ulf Lindahl. NY 2016 was well organized and it was an enjoyable show. EPS can be proud of its modest but important participation in making it a huge success. I am sure it was the first time ever that there were three Ethiopia exhibits in an international stamp show! Special thanks to all Commissioners who received, mounted and returned our exhibits!

Below: Daryl Reiber and Edgar Hicks recently recovered “Inverted Jenny,” likely America’s most famous stamp, was shown as well. It had been part of a block of four that had been stolen at a stamps show in the 1950s and had recently resurfaced in the U.K. It later sold for just over $1.1 million. Of course, there are many one-of-a-kind Ethiopian rarities, and many appeared in our exhibits, but they are not included in the rarified group of world famous stamps. As we know, it is not rarity that determines the price but the demand and the mystique that some philatelic rarities create over decades and therefore become sought after for reasons other than simply rarity.

The British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta—The world’s most expensive stamp.

From left to right: James Golden, Juha Kauppinen, Daryl Reiber, two of Daryl’s friends, Ulf Lindahl, Anita and Floyd Heiser, Edgar Hicks and Sharon Scott enjoying dinner and good company.

Björn Sohrne in the far left corner and Graham Scott up front. A good turnout with eight EPS members attending.

Anita Heiser and Sharon and Graham Scott enjoying drinks in the Buzz Bar before dinner.

6

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

thinking this is correct. As David reveals, the order was placed secretly outside the normal channels of the Ethiopian Posts and Michel had a key role. One of the discovered documents specifically refers to “sketches” that would be provided to the printer before the stamps had been designed. As I wrote in Vol. 26/1; “When Judy Swink’s father (F. G. Swink) visited Michel in Nice in 1925-26 (See MJ Vol. 24/4), Michel gave him a set of photos that were designs of the “Animals & Rulers” stamps. It is likely they represented the “sketches” Adler mentioned since the designs differ from those that were adopted. It is also likely that the photos of the “Rulers” added to the hand-drawn frames had been taken by Michel in Ethiopia since Judy Swink has a large collection of photos of dignitaries that Michel took in Ethiopia.” The photos of the designs are illustrated above and on the front cover. A comparison with the issued stamps reveals that the basic designs, as shown in the photos, were kept but were modified for the final designs used for the stamps. These photos were given to Judy Swink’s father by Michel only a few years after the stamps had been issued and in an envelope to which Judy Swink’s father had added a notation at a later time (see above); hence his information is not entirely correct. He wrote; “Drawn by Adolph Michel at the direction of Emperor Menelik. Adolph took the sketches to France where they were the pattern for what I believe Adolph told me were the FIRST Ethiopian postage stamps.” While Mr. Swink got some of the details wrong, I think the comment clearly points to Michel as the designer of the Animals & Rulers stamps and the person who provided the photos for the “Rulers” stamps. The secrecy that surrounded the ordering of the stamps also severely limits the circle of persons who could have made the designs. That leaves JeanAdolph Michel as the most likely designer.

Who Designed the Animals & Rulers? By Ulf J. Lindahl In the article that begins on page 8, David Fourrage reveals new facts about the Animal & Rulers set; who ordered it, how and when. His detective work in the French archives rewrites the story as we know it. He does not discuss who designed them, but I touched on that in my Animals & Rulers article in Vol. 26/1. Some of those comments are worth repeating. As reported in the September 1919 issue of the America Philatelist; “The order for the stamps was originally placed in 1917, but war-time conditions delayed their completion until now.” David’s research confirms that the stamps were ordered as early as in late 1917. In the June 1919 issue of the American Philatelist, a letter from Ruffy, the Director of the U.P.U., dated March 31, 1919, was reproduced in which he wrote that he was enclosing some of the 1919 values. The stamps were therefore described in the philatelic press before they were issued in June 1919! The September 1919 issue of the American Philatelist included a comment that “The drawings of the designs were prepared by a young Swiss painter named Walter Plattner.” Although Plattner was credited with designing the stamps, it was likely, I wrote, that he had used designs provided by J.A. Michel. As Ivan Adler wrote in his Handbook, Part 2; “The sketches were modified by Swiss artists and the resulting stamps were typo-graphed by Messrs. Busag of Berne.” Although I have no hard proof, I believe the original designs were made by Michel. There are two reasons for

7

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

New Information on the Genesis of the Animals and Rulers set of 1919 By David Fourrage Postal historians of Ethiopia have often learnt the hard way not to trust Michel’s accounts of the history of Ethiopia’s postal service. If this is true for the time when he was the Postmaster of Harar and the Director of the Ethiopian Posts from 1904 to 1908, the likelihood that he “justified his actions more than he reported facts” (Sciaky) may also be true for the Animals and Rulers set of 1919. After all, until recently, the only version of the story of the genesis of the Animals and Rulers set is Jean-Adolphe Michel’s version. It was built as late as the late 1950s when Michel was a very old man in a sequence of two letters which served as the basis for explanation for the appearance of the set in July 1919 in Adler’s books on Ethiopian stamps in the late 1960s, Payne’s Cockrill Booklets on Ethiopia in the early 1980s and Sciaky’s Ethiopia, Stamps and Postal History (1867 -1936) in 1998. The version has been passed on from one author to the next: repetition does not make things true but the echo has certainly been so strong that everything has remained unquestioned. As a result, Michel’s version has almost become validated as truth. Research is born when one is dissatisfied about the perceived truth. Advances are then made towards something closer to the truth and this is the aim of this article. Let us first Photo Michel sent to Ivan Adler claiming it was taken of Michel in Addis Ababa in 1917 when he was Counselor of State. Figure 1: First page of the September 12, 1958 letter that Jean-Adolphe Michel wrote to Ivan Adler enclosing a copy of the September 5, 1918 letter. Written in German. study what Michel would have liked history to record about the genesis of the set. In 1958, after some insistence from Ivan Adler, then one of the leading Ethiopian philatelists, Jean-Adolphe Michel wrote back to his correspondent and sent a photocopy of a letter which we reproduce here. First, a translation of the relevant sections of the letter dated September 12, 1958 (40 years after the events) to explain the situation (Figure 1):

Letter 1a: September 12, 1958 " he first set of stamps came out 27th June 1919 in Addis T Ababa and was put in circulation July 1919. You speak about falsifications of Bela Sekula of 1930/31. This is a mistake because they were no falsifications but officially allowed reprints for collectors, which, I obtained personally from the Post Minister. Wassanie Zamanel was a young friend of Ras Tafari and so he received the permission of the Empress to do their treaty with me. The political situation was very critical at the time. Ras Tafari was having a campaign against King Michael of Wollo, the father of the abdicated Crown Prince Lidj Yassou. The Government’s treasury was bad or empty, and could not provide a new addition. Wassanie wanted to make an unexpected pleasure in producing new stamps without expenses and did not tell him about it. I myself was asked to be silent over the matter and had to give the guarantee of $40,000 in deposit. Unfortunately Wassanie died in November 1918 of the Asian Flu.

8

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

After the end of the guarantee in 1930 I made a new covenant with Bela Sekula and had them reprinted. There were very jealous philatelists in Berne who complained to Bela Sekula because of forged ones. There was a long court case but it finished with a “Nonlieu” because I had the original plates for which I could account thereof. The Ethiopian Government has then not admitted this issue of stamps or edition and has never paid for my recognized loss whereby my friendly and good relations were destroyed. This is the whole truth and I add a copy of the Stamp Collector's of 1936 from Harris and ask you to send it back after having taken notice of it. The Minister of that time was 10-12 years old only and if he was brought up in Addis I must have known him and I must have his photograph."

I also recognize that the cancels from the former Administration of Mr. Ilg which you used to make cancels and overprints between 1900 and 1908 are now your property. You have the right to overprint the ten sheets of stamps of each demonetized value that I have graciously given you to make the promotion of our country. The sum of all this is well-known to specialists of Ethiopian stamps and has become the accepted truth. In Sciaky’s book published in 1998, Sciaky wrote (italics mine): "Ten years had elapsed since the 1909 first definitive issue, and Postal authorities decided that it was time for a new issue. The philatelic press claimed that the order had to be placed with a Swiss firm because of World War I and since it was doubtful that French printing works would be able to deliver the stamps since shipping was menaced by German U boats. J.A. Michel was offered to produce this set in exchange for the credit of 12,000 thalers due to him by the Ethiopian Government for his activity of Chancellor of State to advise on Post Office affairs. In return, for abandoning his claims for wages, Michel was given the right to keep, and sell to collectors, a quantity of stamps only up to the sum required to cover the expenses incurred by the printing plus a 10% commission."

With the September 12, 1958 letter, Michel enclosed a copy of a letter dated September 5, 1918 that we also translate in full (Figure 2):

Letter 1b: September 5, 1918 LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION: Addis-Abbeba, le 5 Septembre, 1918 Monsieur J. A. Michel, Conseiller du Gouvernement Addis Abeba.

A new letter now owned by Ulf Lindahl was sold to him privately by a dealer in January 2016. It made me want to delve deeper into the situation because I felt that many parts of the jigsaw puzzle were missing and that this new element was the first bead of a long necklace. For instance, why did Michel conceal this letter to Adler? With Ulf’s kind permission, I can illustrate this article with this letter, written on January 14, 1918 (Figure 3). As I used to be an English teacher I feel fluent enough to offer the translation thereafter. The italics are mine.

Regarding the new stamps that I have ordered from your brother in Switzerland last January 14, Her Imperial Majesty authorizes me to grant you the following: 1. You can retain for sale to collectors a quantity of stamps as long as the amount of the sale would cover the value plus a commission of 10%. 2. Since you are in charge of all costs you will retain the ownership of these plates and will have the right to reproduce the stamps but solely for sale to collectors and this only after a delay of 10 years from the day of the delivery of the order. On condition that the Ethiopian Government does have recourse for a reimpression, or if the Government in the meantime would have printed new stamps.

Letter 2: January 14, 1918 "By recommendation of your brother, I have the honor of addressing myself to you with the hope that you will personally confer with the different top firms in Switzerland for the making of our new stamps. Six months ago, your brother contacted the KummerleyFrey and Balmer and Schwitter firms in Bern. It is possible that the prices will have changed since then so that is why I am asking you to take charge of it all in Switzerland. The 15 different model pictures will be given to you by the Bureau International des Postes. It is understood that all the subjects must be printed in lithography, in two colors, on good white paper, gummed and perforated. Size will be 2.6*4 cm. 5 million stamps must be made: 500,000 for n°1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 400,000 for numbers 6, 7 and 8, 300,000 for numbers 9 and 10, 200,000 for number 11, 150,000 for numbers 12 and 13 and 100,000 for numbers 14 and 15. As soon as a decision is taken on the firm and a price settled, you will cable immediately the cost in Swiss francs to the Minister of Ethiopian Posts in an uncoded message. After reception of the telegram, I will send you the money by check. This order must be accelerated as much as possible. I'm asking you to send the stamps by lots of 10,000 of each value by special mail through the service of the Bureau International. Also, I'm asking you to ask the chosen firm to give you a receipt for the execution of the order as well as a pledge that it did not make more stamps than was required."

3. In any case, regardless, you cannot introduce the stamps into Ethiopia without special authorization from the Government at any time. 4. You will have the right to sell to collectors mint or cancelled with the cancels of the Ethiopian Government as reproduced below. (Six postmarks) (Signed - Wassanie Zamanel in Amharic and Latin script) As agreed with you I add that you drop your salaries that the Government owes you for the last two years for the amount of $12,000 instead that you render your services for 3 years if we so desire without any claim for salary. I have received your contract to counsel signed by Bitiwold Haile Gorgis that I will send to the Government on guarantee of our present agreement. (Seal of British Consulate, Lausanne).

9

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

Figure 2: The September 5, 1918 letter to Michel that gave him certain rights to reprint the 1919 issue and to use some of the old cancelors. The less known page 2 of this letter is shown on page 9.

10

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

Figure 3: The January 14, 1918 letter to Fritz Michel, J.A. Michel’s brother in Olten, Switzerland setting out the number of stamps to be printed of each of the 15 values of the Animals & Rulers set initially conceived in 1917.

11

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

Not satisfied with the general state of knowledge about Ethiopia’s postal history from 1908 to 1936, and certain that French Ministeries had surely archived away a lot of documents from those times (diplomatic dispatches, Legation correspondence, letters from French postmasters in Ethiopia, statistics...), I decided that I was in a position to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in that field and I started searching for documents in late 2015. This has enabled me to harvest many documents that will subsequently be broken down into later articles. The perusal of these archives as well as statistics regularly published by the U.P.U. partly rewrites the period 1908-1936. Finally, a decisive breakthrough was made when I found the whole correspondence between Maure, Maurice de Coppet (the then French Embassador in Ethiopia), Lidj Wassanié and Tafari Makonnen in early 1918 in the archives left by the French Legation to the Foreign Office for the period 19181940 and now known as « K-Afrique, Sous-dossier Ethiopie » amongst historians. This enabled me to elaborate a new timeline of events and a new analysis on Michel’s role in the whole sequence of events in Ethiopia and, later, in Europe. Everything written thereafter has been personally checked from archives. I take responsibility for errors of interpretation of these archives.

Figure 4: The Wassanie and Nasibu Zamanuel brothers. Nasibu died in 1936 in exile in England from consequences of mustard gas poisoning by the Italians whilst he was in combat in the Ogaden in 1935. He was a big influence in the Government during the mid-1920s through to the mid-1930s and would surely have played an eminent role in Ethiopian politics had he survived. made in an attempt to mislead Adler. His mistakes were understandable since the letter was written 40 years later.

The Political Situation in Ethiopia in Early 1918

Administrative and Financial Situation of the Ethiopian Posts in Early 1918 From the start of French involvement in Ethiopian postal

Michel’s letter to Adler states a number of historical facts that need some interpretation. In his 1958 letter, he mentioned that the political situation was “very critical” because Ras Tafari Makonnen was having a campaign against King Michael of Wollo, father of the deposed King Iyasu. He also mentioned that Ethiopia was hit by Asian flu in November 1918. All these facts are untrue or imprecise. Indeed, one could have described the situation in Ethiopia as critical in 1918 but not because of the campaign against King Michael. He had been beaten at the Battle of Segale in October 1916 by Tafari’s and Haile Giorgis’ troops. King Michael and the Abuna Petros had been made prisoners (the Abuna was rapidly freed). However, 1918 was not an easy year and M. De Coppet’s reports to the French Foreign Office on the period are very enlightening in that respect: after dissent from members of the Army (the mahal safari) in March 1918 on charges of incompetence and corruption from Ministers (probably manipulated by Ras Tafari but evidence on this is scant and is still very much debated by historians), Empress Zawditu was forced into a very important Cabinet reshuffle that put or confirmed into power a few of Ras Tafari’s men, including the Zamanuel brothers (Wassanie and Nasibu, who would later be an important figure in Ethiopia in the 1920s and 1930s) from March 26, 1918 (Figure 4). The men replaced were mostly representative of the old guard and they had conservative views on the future of Ethiopia. The last four months of 1918 were also difficult: like all other countries of the world, Ethiopia was hit by the epidemic of Spanish flu from late August 1918. The epidemic was particularly widespread. Witnesses of the period (see Maurice de Coppet, K-Afrique 1918-1940- French Foreign Legation), claim that the epidemic hit Addis Ababa particularly hard until mid-December 1918. There was a government shutdown for many weeks and evidence of this period shows a temporary meltdown of the Postal service. (I intend to write an article on that later.) More will be reported on this later in this article. From this, we should conclude that Michel’s historical reminiscences were not very accurate but may have not been

affairs in 1908, the French Director of the Posts had been under the nominal supervision of an Ethiopian Minister of the Posts. Following a law suit against Cuchetie, the Minister of the Posts in early 1917, Wassanié Zamanuel was named Minister from September 30, 1917. His previous post had been as Consul for Ethiopia in Asmara. By early 1918, the number of French postmen had fallen to just three when, just a decade earlier there had been six. The names of the first six by order of seniority were Cardot, Guillet, Maure, Sourin, Bousson and Armand. Armand left in 1911 and had not been replaced. Then Guillet left in 1912 and his post in Dire-Dawa was filled by Henri Roque (a relative of André Roque, who had reorganized the Ethiopian Post in 1908). Sourin had left in 1913 and had not been replaced. Cardot, the Director of the Ethiopian Posts left in 1916 and was not replaced. Bousson, the youngest of the six (and the most appreciated by the Ethiopians and the French Legation) also left when he was called up by the French army. He was a telegraphist for the French infantry during the last two years of the war (he came back to Ethiopia in 1919) and was replaced by Baixas, a clerk from Djibouti, who took over the Post Office of Harar. The most senior of the three was Maure and he worked under the title of “Chef du Service des Postes et Télégraphes d’Ethiopie.” Under the previous regime, the French Director had been afforded a large degree of autonomy in postal affairs and was either the initiator or consulted for any important change of service. The French postmen had conducted rapid reforms and had the trust of the ever-growing foreign community in Ethiopia from 1909 onwards. Their administration of the postal service was very precise considering the demanding circumstances of Ethiopia and they felt that it was their duty to report to the French Legation and to the Universal Postal Union regularly. In this respect, I will use documentation that I found in the archives of the French Foreign Ministry and more importantly, documentation from the Universal Postal Union to answer a few questions.

12

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2 TABLE 1

April-June 2016

1st diplomatic pouch December 1908

¼ guerche

2nd diplomatic pouch January 1909

100,000

3rd delivery March 1910

4th delivery September 1910

TOTAL

150,000

850,000

1,100,000

½ guerche

100,000

287,500

412,500

800,000

1 guerche

100,000

225,000

375,000

700,000

2 guerches

100,000

112,500

337,500

650,000

4 guerches

100,000

37,500

262,500

400,000

37,500

62,500

200,000

12,500

37,500

150,000

8 guerches

100,000

16 guerches

100,000

Was a New Set Badly Needed in Early 1918?

100,000 stamps of the ¼ guerche, 2 guerches, 4 guerches and 16 guerches were sent by the diplomatic pouch on November 25, 1908 and 100,000 stamps of the other three values on December 15, 1908. Both pouches had arrived by mid-January and the set was put in service in late January 1909. The earliest recorded use in Addis Ababa is January 29, 1909 (Table 1). A second order was placed to “perfect the order of 4,000,000 stamps” on May 6, 1909. A first delivery was made in March 1910 for 862,500 stamps but problems in payment delayed the final delivery of 2,437,500 stamps until September 1910. During the years between 1909 and 1918, the French Directors of the Posts dutifully answered the U.P.U.’s demands and provided statistics about post forwarded, stamps sold (….). All this data was subsequently published by the Postal Union in yearly books on statistics in Bern. For Ethiopia, the number of stamps sold is of interest. Statistics become fuzzy after 1914 but make for interesting reading. Given that 1917 mail is not very abundant (and certainly quite as rare as that of 1916, if not rarer), my estimate is that between 1,500,000 stamps and 1,700,000 stamps of the 1909 Definitive set had been sold by December 1917 (Table 2). This figure takes into account the estimated figures for the “Askefil” overprints. This is generally confirmed by the figures given for the three overprints that were made in 1917 (Table 3). Both ways of calculating the number of stamps still in the Government’s stock paint a similar picture. There were still about 60% of the stamps left so ordering a new set would have entailed an important financial loss and been detrimental to the Ethiopian Postal Service’s best interests. I believe that a professional like Maure would have considered that the Coronation overprints of the old set in 1917 had given it a new lease of life until the early 1920s. However, a political decision does not have to be based on a strictly financial basis and it is perfectly possible that the new regime overlooked the remaining stock and wanted to be legitimized at home and abroad by the production of a new set of stamps. With no other archive found in France so far on the subject, this question must remain open to debate.

Whereas communication between the French Legation and the then Director of the Ethiopian Post (Mr Roque at first and then Mr Cardot) about the need for what would be the 1909 Definitive set is extremely abundant (this is mentioned extensively in Tristant’s l’histoire postale de l’Ethiopie written in 1977) and for the 1928 set. (I am at the moment writing an article on this that will complete Ulf’s 2010 article.) It seems that Maure was perfectly content with the stock of stamps from the 1909 Definitive set. Though Maure was deeply disliked by most Abyssinians working with him in Ethiopia, he was described as a good Postmaster and was quite thorough in his administration of the Ethiopian Post. He left behind quite a few documents and statistics, especially in a letter dated March 5, 1918 which is here mentioned for the first time. The statistics given hereafter offer a clear picture of the situation regarding the stock of stamps that the Ethiopian Posts had. Exchanges between the Ethiopian and French Governments record that the first order for the 1909 Definitive set was made on May 12, 1908. An estimate was transmitted to the Ethiopian Government on June 13, 1908.

TABLE 2

Stamps Sold

Value in Thalers

1909

218,835

18,975 th 06g

1910

196,170

15,811 th 06g

1911

200,000*

15,903 th 00g

1912

177,848

15,708 th 0 8g

1913

180,816

20,262 th 06g

1914

164,004

18,192 th 06g

1915

120,000*

13,278 th 15g

1916

120,000*

13,394 th 15g

TOTAL December 1916

Was France Unable to Deliver in 1918?

This has often been argued. France had been at war for the previous four years and a shipment from France could have been intercepted by German U-boats (Sciaky). This assessment does not resist scrutiny. The Ateliers du Boulevard Brune were active throughout the First World War and made stamps for France (the Semeuse, Sage and the

1,377,673*

When * it is an estimate based on the value in thalers and comparison with earlier years.

13

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

TABLE 3

1909

April-June 2106

1917 Coronation Handstamp

1917 Coronation Typography

Stamps still in stock March 1917 (minimum)

¼ guerche

1,100,000

24,000

864,000

888,000

½ guerche

800,000

20,000

440,000

460,000

1 guerche

700,000

150,000

150,000

have expected to be given “first refusal” on account of the ties between the French P.T.T. and the Ethiopian P.T.T.

Was the Ethiopian Imperial Posts Struggling Financially in Early 1918?

“The Government’s treasury was bad or empty, and could not provide a new addition” Michel to Adler, 1958. 2 guerches 650,000 12,000 302,500 314,500 Following the difficult reign of Iyasu, it was quite naturally assumed 4 guerches 400,000 6,000 345,500 351,500 that this assessment was right. However, things were not as clear cut. 8 guerches 200,000 4,000 175,000 179,000 To disprove Michel’s claim, we 16 guerches 150,000 3,000 130,000 133,000 turn again to U.P.U. statistics and the March 5, 1918 letter that Maure sent to 2,476,000 the French Legation. In this letter, TOTAL 4,000,000 69,000 2,407,000 (minimum) Maure announced to De Coppet that the Ethiopian Imperial Posts had been Stamps sold 19091,524,000 profitable from 1909 to 1915. 1916 early 1917 (maximum) had seen a small loss but Maure was optimistic about 1917 but had to await figures from Dire-Dawa to be more precise. I have so far been Merson Definitive sets, the War and Orphans stamps) and unable to retrace in detail the years 1915-1917 but in any case, shipped many sets to its colonies. Also, the shipments would the Postal Union statistics also offer a positive picture of the have left from Marseilles and used the Mediterranean and the profitability of the Ethiopian Posts. (The period between 1918 Red Sea which remained under the full control of the French and 1923 would prove far more difficult, but this will be the and British Admiralty so it is very unlikely that the German Usubject of another article.) boats would have represented the same threat as in the North All in all the profitability of the Imperial Posts would have Sea or the Atlantic. In any case, forwarding Swiss stamps to permitted the ordering of a new set, especially because it Ethiopia would have been as “dangerous” as forwarding would have been seen as an investment. French stamps since there is no such thing as a Swiss Navy! Notwithstanding this, if the years when Iyasu had acted as However, from 1917 onwards, the Ateliers du Boulevard Emperor had been difficult financially, Ras Tafari Makonnen’s Brune started using a second-rate Grande Consommation approach towards taxation immediately reaped rich dividends paper (as part of the war effort). Maybe the insistence of the for the State. From 1916, he started employing « Young EthioJanuary 14, 1918 letter for “good, white paper” refers to this pians » to collect taxes as nagadrases. The difference with the problem but this is open to debate. old system was that they earned a monthly salary and were not In his excellent site on Ethiopian stamps, Ken Doig authorized to skim off the profits to cover their expenses. mentions in passing that “a new set of stamps to commemorate Income immediately soared into the state coffers and the first the Coronation was ordered in France with a 15,000 francs months of 1918 were extremely profitable. (See K-Afrique deposit in gold. Because of the war in Europe, the order was Archives Diplomatiques and Marcus: Haile Selassie: the never completed and the deposit was lost.” I have failed to Formative Years 1892-1936). retrace the origin of this assertion but having perused the bulk Therefore, the Ethiopian Treasury was in quite a reasonable of the correspondence between the French Legation and situation in 1918, certainly much better than in 1915 or 1916. Ethiopian authorities from 1908 to 1936 (thousands of pages), Ethiopia would experience another slump in the early 1920s I have failed to find any trace of such a transaction and with a sharp devaluation of the thaler and depressed trade, but therefore feel that it must be groundless unless subsequent that is another story. proof is shown. In conclusion, France was undoubtedly in a position to Was Michel Owed 12,000 Thalers? prepare an order for a new set from Ethiopia and would surely

How Much did it Represent in 1918?

TABLE 4

Revenue (in francs)

Expenditure (in francs)

Here again, I am indebted to Ulf Lindahl for previous research. Evidence in French records point towards the fact that Michel had no official capacity but items in Lindahl’s archives seem to be conclusive proof that he was indeed a Councilor of State. Whether this entitled him to payment or not is a moot point and certainly 12,000 thalers is an enormous sum of money for the period: it amounted to four years and a half’s work for Cardot or Maure. In any case, no official record points towards any sort of influence or counsel that Michel may have had during the previous decade. Moreover, such influence would surely have been resented on many counts. First and foremost, Michel was viewed with considerable suspicion by French authorities (see below) and his tenure as Director of the Ethiopian Posts had

Balance (in francs)

1909

129,358

120,147

9,211

1910

123,420

111,095

12,325

1911

138,505

115,248

23,556

1912

160,143

122,012

38,130

1913

157,577

107,020

50,557

1914

161,112

116,204

44,908

14

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

left his professional reputation in tatters in the eyes of the French postmasters who viewed him with contempt. Such was the background at the time of the ordering of the Animals and Rulers set in the early months of 1918 after they had been conceived in 1917. Things were not as simple as Michel would have liked to make out…As we are about to find out, Michel’s role was evident throughout but not in the way we had come to consider as accepted.

I didn’t know of this letter when Ouassanie came to see me on the morning of April 17th. He had come to tell me that he held things against Maure and without giving any precisions, asked as a personal favor to give my consent to his replacement by another French agent. I answered that I could not condemn a compatriot, in service for the Ethiopian Government for a long time, without even knowing what he was accused of and that, if he had committed a serious fault, I would be the first to ask for his return to France. In any case, I said that such a measure could hardly be taken without a written and motivated letter from Ras Tafari. Instead of a letter from Ras Tafari, I received a letter from Ouassanie two days later (which I enclose to this letter) which simply informed me that Maure had been sacked. I immediately asked to be received by Ras Tafari and he obliged on April 20th. After having shown him Ouassanie’s letter, I asked him to examine this feud and find a solution to it. The Prince, who seemed very embarrassed by the whole incident, asked me to write to him on the subject which I did (my letter is also enclosed to this letter). Many days passed and Maure was still holding his job so I had hopes that the whole situation had found some solution when Maure came to see me, visibly moved, to tell me that he had not been invited to the “Guebbeur” given for Easter. This was tantamount to telling him that he was no more a European Civil Servant because all of them are invited to the table of the Diplomatic Corps. Faced with such a brutal procedure, I immediately decided to have Ras Tafari informed by phone that if Maure did not receive an invitation to the “Guebbeur,” I would not go and the Legation would not be represented. By this decision, I didn’t think so much of saving Maure from the axe since I felt that his fate was sealed as much as protesting energetically against such off hand measures. My decision was certainly not modified by the letter I received the same day (May 11th) which I enclose with this letter. Its tone is hardly polite and the compensation offered to Maure is absolutely derisory. Our abstention at the Guebbeur did not fail to be noticed and convinced Ras Tafari that I was not uninterested in the fate of my fellow countryman. With the help of the interpreter of the Legation and of the personal physician of the Ras, a Syrian under our protection, I obtained the promise that Maure would receive a compensation of 1,000 thalers and the payment of his journey back to Djibouti. At the same time, Mr Maure was giving me the accounts and receipts of the Post Office, money, stamps that were in his possession. I have the documents co-signed by the Verification committee of the Abyssinian government under my eyes and no irregularity has been found in Maure’s administration of the post office. This man may have erred because of tactlessness and rigidity but his honorability cannot be suspected and I can affirm that his sacking was only due to the fact that he didn’t get on with Wassanie. Because Wassanie had since left the General Direction of the P.T.T. to become the Kantiba or Lord Mayor of AddisAbaba, Maure kept hoping that he may ingratiate himself to the new Director, a man named Ato Desta. This is why I took upon myself to withhold the telegram that I sent you on June 28th until yesterday in which I ask your Excellency to act to replace Maure. During that time, I had asked the Governor of Djibouti and obtained from him to send André Roque, a clerk who is the brother of the Director of the Post office of DireDawa. It was important to keep a French element to the post office in Addis Ababa especially since it is probable that if he gives satisfaction the Ethiopian Government will probably keep him even after the arrival of Maure’s successor. Thus, we

The Conflict Between Wassanie Zamanuel and Maure

In a long letter to the French Foreign Minister dated June, 1918, Maurice de Coppet, the French Ambassador in Ethiopia described a conflict between Wassanie Zamanuel and Maure, retracing its origins and its consequences. Since it has never heretofore come to the notice of the readership of Menelik’s Journal and that it is of the utmost interest to understand the genesis of the Animals and Rulers set, I have endeavored to translate it in full:

Letter 3: June 29, 1918 Addis-Ababa, June 29th 1918 While exposing to your Excellency the situation of the Ethiopian P.T.T. in my letter n°27 of March 21 st, I did not conceal to You the difficulties that beset our administration of such a service. Since then, these difficulties have increased further as Your Excellency may have noted by reading my telegram n°24 of June 28th. The relationship between Lidj Ouassanie (who was named Director General of the P.T.T. in 1917) and M. Maure (Head of Service) had never been good. I have already had the occasion to signal to the Foreign Office’s attention the personality of the former. He is at the moment the most influential councilor of the Abyssinian Government. He is not bereft of intelligence or activity, far from it, but he is extremely proud like most of his fellow countrymen and is extremely touchy. Used to work with incompetent and idle Directors or Ministers who gave him almost unbounded freedom, Maure failed to notice that his new Director was of a different ilk and that it was necessary to have special consideration towards him. An extremely deferential attitude would have been especially suited since one of Ouassanie’s close friends amongst Europeans is a Swiss from Bern whose name is Michel, who is protected by the Germans. A few years ago, Michel was dismissed by Menelik because of his dishonesty and soon after, he was replaced by French agents. This man, because of his dishonest past, and in spite of his demand founded on the fact that his wife is French, I decided not to place [him] under our protection. Michel has a relatively strong influence on Ouassanie and he certainly used his influence to discredit Maure in the eyes of his superior. As early as April, Maure informed me that, advised by Michel, Lidj Ouassanie had ordered a new series of stamps in Switzerland without consulting him. Since then, he has given me detailed information about this order and Maure’s letter is enclosed within this letter. I leave it to Your Excellency to judge if this affair should be followed by an investigation from our Ambassador in Switzerland. In my opinion, even though I feel it is regrettable that the Ethiopian Government should now order its stamps from other countries, I believe that we cannot deprive it from this right. Be this as it may, when Maure discovered the truth, he took great exception and, without my knowing, wrote to Lidj Ouassanie the letter which I also enclose. Its form is certainly not correct and I blamed him for having sent it to his Director.

15

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106 who was the only person entitled to inform the Minister about the production of a new set of stamps. Ouassanie understood this so well that he did his best to conceal this affair that I managed to bring to light nevertheless. Answering to Ouassanie’s December 7th letter, M. Ruffy, Director of the International Bureau sent a telegram from Bern dated February 21st:

would get back one of the three postmen that we have lost since 1911. As for the job of Chief of Service successively held by F. Roque in 1908, then Cardot (1908-1916) and Maure (19161918), it should logically be handed over to his successor. However, the Abyssinian Government is very jealous of its authority and will probably question the preeminence given to his predecessors and which entitled the Chief of Service to 50 thalers more than the other agents. We cannot hold the Abyssinian Government to this gratification by virtue of the 1908 agreement with Menelik to favor one of our agents. Nevertheless, I believe that the choice of replacement for M. Maure should be made with great care. If this man is experienced and tactful, he will be able to exercise (de facto but not de jure) all the prerogatives of Chief of Service and, once he is known and appreciated by Ras Tafari will be given a housing indemnity as well as an increase in wages. Evidently, it would be desirable that the status of our postmasters working for the Ethiopian Government should be better defined but one should not expect the Abyssinians will make changes that tend to increase their engagements towards us and give more independence to our agents. In fact, it is up to our agents to personally improve their situation in a country where being in the Prince’s favor plays such a role.

Received your telegram from December 7th . Please telegraph the exact spelling of your name. Signed: Ruffy Ouassanie received it February 23 and answered the next day: Received telegram February 21st. Confirm reception letter January 14th. What price? Personal correspondence. Signed: Wassanie-Zamanuel This was the transmitted text but in order to conceal it, Ouassanie wrote this telegram that he wanted me to believe was the original. Received telegram February 21st.With my sincere gratitude, Signed: Wassanie-Zamanuel” His last telegram seemed suspect to me and I asked the DireDawa office to give me a copy of the transmitted text. This is how I discovered the fraud. On March 30 th, Michel sent the following telegram to his brother:

Signed: Maurice de Coppet The sequence of events is well sketched out by De Coppet but he is more intent in showing the diplomatic situation and his interest in France’s influence in Ethiopia rather than the postal situation. This letter is completed by a report by Maure to De Coppet which, in my opinion, gives all the precisions that the postal historian needs to understand the situation, as it was in June 1918.

Telegraph reception in code. Urgent matter. Check will follow. Signed: Michel Ten days letter, Michel’s brother answered from Olten:

Letter 4: June 14, 1918

To the Minister of the P.T.T. Cost 42,000 francs. Please pay. Signed: Michel

Addis Ababa, June 14th 1918, I have the honor of giving you the information that you asked about the order of stamps made by Ouassanie and Michel. As I had told you at the time, I had understood that those two men were conducting trade that they felt it was better to hide from me. Unfortunately, I had not seen the recommended letter that was sent on December 7th and was not in a position to signal it to my colleague in Djibouti. With this letter addressed to the Director of the International Bureau of the U.P.U. Ouassanie sent to Michel’s brother who is First Secretary of the Direction of Telegraphs in Olten (Switzerland), an order for stamps to be made from 15 drawings. Michel being suspect, his corre-spondence is always censored in Djibouti and nearly all his letters are stopped there. It was thus impossible for him to communicate with his brother, especially on such a subject. That is why he asked that this letter should be written to the International Bureau and that this letter was forwarded without being censored in Djibouti. As I told you before, I am adamant that this order of stamps was going to be made in Germany because I do not believe that private stamp-making firms exist in Switzerland. The proGerman feelings of the Michel brothers make me believe that they would use the service of a German firm. In any case, Ouassanie, who acted then as the Minister of the Posts, behaved in a way that offended the French Government to which the 1908 stamps were ordered. His behavior was also a slight to the Director of the Postal Service

Ouassanie answered: Telegram received. Understood Signed: Ouassanie. I do not know if the check for 42,000 francs was sent. Here is a copy of the letter sent on January 14th in question in the February 24th telegram: Addis-Ababa, January 14th 1918 The Representative of the Minister of the P.T.T. of the Empire of Ethiopia to the Director General of the International Bureau. I have the honor to inform you that I was named as administrator of the Ministry of the P.T.T. of the Empire of Ethiopia on September 30th 1917. Please accept my high consideration. Signed: Wassanie Zamanuel. On April 16th, in an official letter addressed to the General Direction of the Ethiopian Post, I found the following letter written by Ruffy: Bern, February 22nd 1918,

16

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

Figure 5: Back of a postal card sent to Michel’s brother in Switzerland by J.A Michel on April 22, 1904. Note the coding of the letter in the middle. Are there more messages like these around? Following my telegram of February 21st, I am honored to inform you that I transmitted to F. Michel, 1 st Secretary of the Direction of Telegraphs in Olten the 15 drawings of stamps that were enclosed in your letter of December 7th 1917. I will gladly send you the stamps as soon as Mr Michel gives them to me. Signed: Ruffy. By my letter number 9 of April 16th of which you received a copy, I gave Ouassanie this letter from Ruffy. This was the pretext that Ouassanie used to sack me.

On top of all that, we may also speculate that Michel was suspect to Ras Tafari. The Regent was avowedly in favor of a victory of the Allies against Germany, Austria and Turkey. Michel had pro-German feelings and had dallied with Lidj Iyasu during his ephemeral reign. Iyasu had clearly been in favor of a victory of the Turks. In 1915, he had gone as far as sending an Ethiopian flag with an embroidered crescent in the middle in the hope that he would later earn a sea-port for Ethiopia. He had caused great antagonism by promoting the Moslem cause in Ethiopia and was even accused of having rejected his Christian faith to become a Moslem. In this context, maybe Tafari wanted Wassanie to be distanced from the potentially poisonous Jean-Adolphe Michel… As De Coppet had noticed, the two were close and had been so for some time. A letter found in Michel’s archives (now in Ulf Lindahl’s collection) written on September 23, 1916 (Figure 6) when Wassanie was Consul in Asmara shows the depth of feeling of this man for Michel and his general feeling of insecurity (in the letter, he indicates that he feels he cannot trust anyone except Michel and asks him to secretly arrange for his return to the capital). As for Maure, he left Ethiopia on July 2, his honor intact but an embittered man. From his “embarrassment” when he met De Coppet on April 20 and the general early secrecy of the affair, we should deduce that Tafari was previously not privy to the ordering of new stamps. This can also be deduced from the fact that later on, the stamp representing Tafari with a crown was objected to by the Empress and that the 4 thaler stamp was overprinted as early as August 1919 to become the 4 guerches Definitive stamp. This can also be deduced by the fact that the pictures of Ras Tafari and (especially) the Empress Zawditu are quite unlike the photos of the time. Who made the drawings remains a mystery. [See article on page 7.]

Signed: Maure” In my view, this lengthy correspondence is key to fully understand the sequence of events until late June 1918.

Ras Tafari’s Position

At that time, Ras Tafari had only been Heir to the Throne and Regent for a year and a half and in a difficult political landscape was only starting to assert his authority. He was facing stiff opposition from the conservative elements in the Empress’ entourage and Cabinet of Ministers. This conservative element viewed Ethiopia as a fortress and believed that if the country wanted to remain independent, it had to cut itself away from European influence and progress. Therefore, everything that was deemed “un-Ethiopian” was considered suspect. Ras Tafari was himself suspect to this crowd and considered as somewhat “exotic”: educated by French Catholics, fluent in French, he was open to new ideas and fascinated by Western Europe but could not be too open about this way of thinking in the face of xenophobic attitudes before he had elevated more of his men, later dubbed “the Young Ethiopians” (Wassanie Zamanuel was one of them) to power. Thus, Ras Tafari was in a double bind: he had to choose between an Ethiopian who had a potentially great future in an extremely nationalistic political hierarchy and technical efficiency as proposed by the French Legation. His choice is significant: he confirmed Maure’s sacking in writing but, in the knowledge that he was under pressure and had to repair his working relationship with the French Legation to obtain a new French agent, he replaced Wassanie Zamanuel as Minister of the P.T.T. around May 15, 1918 by Ato Desta. To assuage Wassanie Zamanuel’s pride, Tafari promoted him to the post of Mayor of Addis-Ababa.

The January 14, 1918 Letter

Unless a copy of the December 7, 1917 letter to the Bureau International is discovered in the archives of the Universal Postal Union in Bern, we shall never know for sure the content of this letter. As a result, postal historians of Ethiopia have only the January 14, 1918 letter to Michel’s brother to go on to ascertain the contract between the two parties. Therefore, its significance gains in importance and its interpretation when compared to the September 5 letter is of the utmost

17

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106 probably paid for, the status of the January 14 letter is ascertained as completely genuine. Questions must now be asked about the September 5, 1918 letter.

The Political Context in Ethiopia in the Second Half of 1918

From this point on, I am going to explore in some detail a very obscure period that has not been touched upon previously by any postal historian of Ethiopia so far and that will be the subject of a later article: “The dark years of Ethiopian Postal History; 1918-1923.” In this future article, I will draw heavily from French and British Foreign Legation archives, a full report on the Ethiopian Postal Service written by Gouet in 1921 as well as from an interesting little book from Richard Pankhurst published in 1975 (now out of print) entitled The Hedar Baseta of 1918. By August 1918, Ethiopia was in the midst of its worst epidemic in living memory. The whole world was hit by the Spanish influenza but, with inadequate medical infrastructure and burial procedures, Addis Ababa was hit harder than most by a violent strain of this epidemic and the situation rapidly became gruesome. People started falling ill in early August and Tafari Makonnen was one of the first men to be violently ill and he took to his bed on August 27. Four days later, he asked Monseigneur Jarosseau to pray for him and gave some of his belongings to the church. On September 6, his lungs became Figure 6: Letter written by Zamanuel in Asmara in 1916 addressed to Michel. severely affected and he almost died on September 7 and 8. By September 9, his importance. Two points are salient to refute Michel’s claims, health improved and he pulled through. He was cured from in my opinion: about September 30 and to quell rumors about his death, he appeared in public on that day. However, very wary about the a) Wassanie writes: “I'm asking you to ask the chosen firm to infection and the general chaos in town, he shut himself away give you a receipt for the execution of the order as well as from the world in the Guebbi until mid-December with his a pledge that it did not make more stamps than was family and only allowed doctors and ambassadors to visit him. required." However, we know that Michel sold stamps The epidemic started to peak in Addis Ababa from around under their face value as soon as he returned to Europe in the time when Tafari became ill and quickly, the city was in a 1919 and during the next two decades (as well as state of chaos. The government was in such a meltdown that maximum cards, stamps with fake cancels…). Where did the Foreign Legations later described the situation as a this later surplus come from? Were orders disobeyed or did disgrace. The Abun fled to the countryside and so did many Michel’s brother take a portion of the newly-printed Ministers. Amongst those who ran for their lives early was stamps before they were sent to Ethiopia? Wassanie Zamanuel, whom as we have noticed before could easily become insecure and fearful. According to a dispatch by b) Wassanie dictated: “you will cable immediately the cost in Thesiger on September 1, then at the British Legation in Addis Swiss francs to the Minister of Ethiopian Posts in an Ababa, Zamanuel left around the same date as the Abuna so uncoded message.” There is ample proof that the Michel before the September 5 letter and he returned under orders by brothers had written in code to conceal some part of their Ras Tafari when he got better (so no earlier than September 10 correspondence to prying eyes from at least 1903-1904 -12). It is quite remarkable (and unfortunate for Michel) that (see below and Figure 5). When Michel left Ethiopia, he Zamanuel's whereabouts at the time can be pinpointed! sold off his assets and most of his transactions were made Wassanie Zamanuel was no more Minister of the P.T.T. so with coded messages. It is interesting to note that Wassanie he had no authority to sign the September 5, 1918 letter. This was aware of this. It would seem that he did not want the however is of no concern: his absence from Addis Ababa on Michel brothers to make arrangements behind his back. that date is proven so he couldn’t have possibly signed such a letter and in any case, there was a total absence of governFrom this, from the fact that the context shows that it was mental activity at the time. around that time that ordering the new set was decided and

18

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016 Figure 7: The 1920 article by John N. Luff. 1918 of the Spanish flu, one of the estimated 10,000 dead in Addis Ababa out of a population of about 50,000. Finally, postal historians should take note of an article written in early 1920, six months after the set was issued, by John N. Luff in Scott's Monthly Journal (Figure 7). It can be found in Sciaky’s book: ["A] subscriber at Djibouti informs us that the current issue is about to be charged with a control mark. It appears that there have been serious leaks and that stamps sold in Europe for collectors return to Africa to frank letters without the Abyssinian Government having touched a guerche. It is said also that this issue has been printed without the Government's

Conclusions

assent..."

Zamanuel’s signature on the January 14 and September 5 letters are so similar that they must have been written by the same hand and assuming the January 14 letter is genuine, then the signature is by Zamanuel even though it looks different from his signature in his 1916 letter. If that conclusion is correct, I believe that Michel had the September 5 letter typed (with what looks like the same typewriter as the January letter), and then arranged for Zamanuel to sign it upon his return to Addis Ababa no earlier than mid-September and no later than late October 1918 (when the epidemic started again). In this sequence of events, Michel was preparing to have a document that could not be proved wrong in Europe but which would protect him once he started selling the Animals and Rulers and then also to have them reprinted a decade later which gave rise to the Bela Sekula affaire in which he used the September 5 letter to successfully defend himself in court. From its genesis in mid-1917, shortly after Zawditu's accession to the throne, to his return in Europe in early 1919, Michel was secretly in the driving seat all along, manipulating events from behind the scene, tricking friends and foes alike for the purpose of feathering his nest when he would return to Europe. In 1958, he got it out of his archives in order to satisfy Adler with a plausible answer. Michel was now an old gentleman and wanted to be remembered as a respectable man. It was thus in his interest to conceal the January 14 letter because it proved that he should not have had access to a balance of the set or the cancellers used for the maximum cards and subsequent forgeries. He had to lie about Wassanie’s age, make him appear as inexperienced and create a claim for unpaid wages to make the whole September 5 letter plausible. Fortunately for him, with little else to go on Adler did the decent thing and did not press further. How Michel obtained the cancellers he used later on to create his forgeries must remain a mystery. Even though Wassanie fled Addis Ababa, he did come back to perform his duty of Lord Mayor. He died on November 27,

Having returned to Europe in early 1919, Michel started selling surplus stamps at below face value. Around this time, the scam was discovered and Michel became persona non grata in Ethiopia. His forgeries were enhanced by his interception of cancellers and the advertisement of his respectable past as Directeur des Postes. He died ion November 13, 1967, aged 90, Nice, France, only a few years before Tristant first and Payne later started exposing the extent of his forgeries. I think this survey should be concluded by Alfred Ilg’s assessment of Michel in a letter he sent to Roque, then Director of the Ethiopian Posts and successor to Michel in 1908, which is a fitting epitaph to the whole story of Michel’s involvement in postal affairs: “Ethiopia has a deleterious influence on the people lacking in feelings of responsibility and personal dignity.”

Bibliography French Foreign Office Archives- K-Afrique, Dossier Ethiopie (1918-1940) Richard Pankhurst, the Hedar Baseta of 1918 Harold Marcus, Haile Selassie, the Formative Years (1892-1936) U.P.U. yearly statistical records of post forwarded and received (1908-1914) I am also indebted to Ulf Lindahl for allowing me access to some of his personal archives and for his many e-mails that helped me to start out on my first article for Menelik’s Journal.

19

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106 from a well-known military history scholar and writer as it adds a bit of a gloomy tinge to today’s topic:

Mail Censorship during the Italo-Ethiopian War 1935-1936 By Beniamino Cadioli AIFSP

Dear Cadioli,

This article is from a lecture given on May 18, 2011 at the History Institute in Modena [Reprinted from Storie di Posta, Vol. 6, November 2012 and with permission from Fil-Italia no. 168, Spring 2016]. Translated by Edoardo Baffigo.

Thanks for your essay about censorship in Ethiopia, which I read with pleasure, although I no longer pursue colonial studies. This prompts me to share with you a small story involving my family and, therefore, lacking documentary evidence. Daniele Rochat, my father’s brother, graduated in The secrecy of correspondence is one of Medicine at the end of 1935 and then left for Ethiopia as the cornerstones of the postal service, but medical officer of a battalion of Blackshirts, even though in the Twentieth Century, in case of war, he was antifascist. In 1937 he was deployed as a medical specific legislation regulated censorship of doctor at the Addis Ababa hospital; the following year, mail. However, if we look closer at the much to his delight, he was repatriated without notice. matter, a covert censorship has always In the 1970s, Alberto Sbacchi, became the first existed. And during the Italian occupation American to gain access to colonial archives, at that time of Ethiopia censorship of correspondence still classified to Italian researchers, on condition that he was there and wasn’t, it was official...or would not reveal his sources of information. Sbacchi told rather not… me that Daniele’s repatriation was prompted by intelligence gained through censorship, as my uncle was I would like to start by quoting an e-mail I have received reported as a suspect because he had regular correspondence with his French girlfriend; nothing about politics, only reciprocal Below: Front and back of a registered cover mailed on 7 April 1936 from Halifax (Australia), addressed fondness and affection. to an Italian soldier in East Africa. Due to censorship requirements, instead of travelling directly from Thanks, cordially, Aden to Massawa, the cover was routed to Naples, transiting there on 13 May, and then redirected to Giorgio Rochat its destination in Eritrea, finally reaching FPO 84 in early June, after almost two months. Research on censorship was a joint project with Aldo Cecchi, founder and director for more than twenty years of Institute of Postal History Studies in Prato. On the occasion of Aldo’s 80th birthday some friends wrote articles for the Institute Handbook No. 31 published for the special occasion and containing, among many other, a longer version of the following article (Note 1, p 24). A premise about censorship and military mail (Posta Militare or PM), even if not properly related to this piece, is useful to explain the situation of Italian censorship in Ethiopia and during the Spanish Civil War. Field Post is an operation structured like the civilian mail into Head Offices, Offices and Branches, with specific rules, equipment and personnel. It is normally activated during wartime to warrant mail services to armed forces, wherever they are located. You can easily check the main difference between them, the final part of PM (Field Post)

20

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

March 23, 1935: Cover mailed in Mogadishu by a medical officer from a field hospital, showing the traditional “Verificato per censura” hand-stamp.

24 April 1935: picture postcard sent from Chisimaiu showing an uncommon “VERIFICA DI CORRISPON- DENZA APERTA” (Open mail checking) confirming the mail monitoring, without using the term “censorship.”

addresses being codified with numbers or conventional acronyms instead of normal street and town references. This is because PM addresses are related to military units that normally move from one location to another. Of course, one or more connections are to be established between the two postal services, the so called Concentramenti di posta militare (Field Post main Depots), that handled all incoming or out-going mail. At these Depots, special military committees were promptly updated about any movement of any military unit including the corresponding Field Post Offices; monitoring and censorship of mail was carried out at these main Depots. The importance of mail for forces far away from their homes has been highlighted in many studies, as it was the only affordable way to keep in touch. Headquarters also had radio, telegraph and telephone access. These communications have been (and still are) keenly studied, from many points of view historical, social, psychological, etc. - well beyond our field. Cecchi and I were mainly interested in the technical and management issues of Field Post during 20th century wars; in other words, where the offices were, their numbers and types, services offered, postal rates and special rates (if any), timing and mail routes as gleaned from postmarks used on covers and cards, quantities of various types of correspondences: ordinary, airmail, registered, parcels, money orders. A long search into various archives (Central Archives of State, Historical Office of Army HQ, Foreign Office, History Office of Italian East Africa) and libraries, and in-depth study of a large number of postal history items, which allowed a better understanding of many aspects. Many publications on both World Wars, Libya, Ethiopia and Spanish conflicts ensued. Censorship has always been a rather important but delicate and problematic aspect of Field Post due to:

3. Secrecy of checks, often unauthorized, resulting in lack of the required hand-stamps on the pieces of mail. Even when censorship is evident, we cannot always know who, when, for how long and under which rules mail was checked. Although mail service and mail censorship are different and independently operating entities, it is ascertained that mail censorship can severely delay mail conveyance. This can cause complaints invariably deemed unwelcome by authorities. The latter must find a balance between speed of conveyance and censorship of mail, particularly when people should remain unaware of censorship (2). Let us point out that we refer only to mail examination by military and/or colonial authorities, not to the so-called “statistic” task of “Classified Affairs” executed by the Ministry of Interior, generally known during the fascist era as OVRA (Organization Monitoring and Repressing Antifascists). The history of the “cabinet noir” – so named by Louis XIV who created it to intercept suspicious letters – brings us back to ancient times. Mail interception was not uncommon in antiquity, such procedure was used by every form of government: authoritarian, oligarchic, dictatorial and democratic. As a result of the European Restauration black cabinets were called “postal lodges.” Metternich used them for spotting troublemakers as was the case for Mazzini and other Italian patriots. In Great Britain mail was intercepted since Cromwell’s days. Such actions usually targeted individuals deemed dangerous. With the advent of liberal constitutions in the 1800s and the inception of the Universal Postal Union, secrecy of correspondence was solemnly adopted and only controls and seizures authorized by the judiciary were allowed; nevertheless illegal hidden practices were still used. Even today e-mails are surveyed by special organizations, looking for keywords and suspicious texts in messages. In our context we shall examine wartime censorship and mail monitoring regulated by laws and decrees and entrusted to “Army and Navy officers or civilian officials expressly appointed” for the task of “ascertaining if such mail contains information regarding armed forces, their preparedness and the defense of the Nation” (Royal Decree 689, 23 May 1915, World War I). This was the first official document authorizing military censorship of mail in Italy: a matter deserving greater

1. Lack of complete and exhaustive documentation, scanty information about the “Servizi di Informazione Militare” or Military Information Services (SIM from here on, regardless of various denominations they were given in the course of time), the sole documentation of which consists of some correspondence with other offices, but no internal records or documents accessible or available. 2. A large number of censorship offices that often examined mail more than once, as well as poor performance that left a large part of the mail unchecked.

21

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

23 May, 1935: Picture postcard from Mogadishu showing the hand-stamp “AVIAZIONE DELLA SOMALIA ITALIANA VERIFICATO PER CENSURA” (Italian Somaliland Aviation—Examined by Censor).

Back of cover sent by a sergeant of the Sila Division showing the boxed hand-stamp “VERIFICATO / PER CENSURA” struck three times with different inks. On 29 December 1935, FPO 92 serving the Sila Division was deployed in Eritrea at Enda Jesus.

attention. Postage free postcards for the armed forces devised for short messages, and censorship carried out by regiments and units headquarters are good examples. Postal censorship was strengthened during the Great War, mail monitoring was extended well beyond the armed forces. Repression of dissent and public opinion control was escalated by Chief of Staff of the Italian Army Armando Diaz who was more aggressive, in that respect, than his predecessor Luigi Cadorna (3). Censorship was, by all indications, fully regulated by decrees and regulations, it was always very evident on mail: hand-stamps, sealing labels, and the censor officer code number rubber stamps were used to provide evidence of where the examination took place and who actually did it. These censorship offices also stamped short propaganda slogans against the enemies on examined mail, this was most practiced by Duke of Aosta 3rd Army. Let us have a look now to the essential nature of censorship as set up by SIM and colonial authorities during the ItaloEthiopian War. Its main aspects are:

various agencies: instead an aura of secrecy and reciprocal mistrust divided them. All information was forwarded to Mussolini’s staff, who issued directives regarding who had to deal with the matter, case by case. Only with the outbreak of the Civil War in Spain and the November 1936 censorship operations restructuring, fortnightly SIM reports became weekly and were forwarded to Internal Affairs Ministry too. Those responsible were fully aware of the illegal nature of censorship, stemming from the lack of the required decree. Nonetheless this was swiftly overlooked because the Duce’s will was paramount. When the Regulations for the operation of military mail censorship offices at Field Post depots (4) were issued, censorship had already been in place for six months. Its secretive nature remained unchanged, with continuous prodding from above to maintain it totally confidential, despite parameters set by the Regulations. “Verificato per Censura” (Examined by Censor) handstamps, or similar ones, were used, mostly in Somalia during the first month of General Rodolfo Graziani’s government. This caused reprimands by the top authorities in Asmara and Rome. Naturally, people were aware of censorship or suspected it was taking place, but we have no evidence of complaints, formal or not. Censorship’s objectives were focused on both political and military intelligence gathering. A small sample of letters conveying the real feelings of soldiers and their families would have been more than enough to get the picture. However, Mussolini wanted full control on unpleasant news (accidents, military defeats, epidemics, etc.). This was an herculean, unattainable task that would also have caused great delays in mail conveyance. Mussolini did not want delays, and at the same time he desired to control everything and the opposite of everything, without caring at all about the contradictory nature of his directives. Special attention was also paid to ethnic groups such as South Tyrolean and Slavic populations from north-eastern provinces, whose anti-national feelings were a source of fear and suspicion. SIM censorship started in April 1935, as a reaction to news leaked from some letters coming from the said ethnic groups, and reported by intelligence to Mussolini and by him to the War Ministry. Now, let us have a look at the military censorship organization which can be described as extremely complex in its structure and incessantly tweaked during the years, always

1. This censorship did not replace other monitoring activities focused on suspicious individuals carried out by intelligence agencies including OVRA. As a matter of fact, Emilio De Bono in Eritrea and Italo Balbo in Libya widened the monitoring to the point of including fascist hierarchs on the list of persons to watch. 2. It was a covert censorship, not authorized and therefore illegal. 3. Its purpose was to protect military secrets, but, in practice it was used to manipulate public opinion and to prevent dissemination of news that could have a negative impact on the Army and Nation morale. 4. The War Ministry and the Colonies Ministry strongly contended for the management of censorship activities, both claiming that censorship was part of their portfolio. Regarding point 1, the documents regarding the activities of OVRA and similar agencies are scarce but the evidence that has remained speaks for itself. For a long time there was no co-operation among the

22

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016 It never occurred to the authorities that it would have made sense to combine Naples censorship, still examining sea mail, with a new office in Brindisi where a temporary Field Post Depot was set up, supposedly meant to help shorten transit time for letters to addressees in Libya. In fact, the main purpose of the Brindisi FP Depot was to ensure the proper routing of air mail correspondence to servicemen in Libya to prevent that they would be misrouted to Asmara since the address had to include the acronym “A.O.” [Africa Orientale, East Africa]. This “A.O.” acronym was later on replaced by “L.B.” [Libya]. De Bono was charged with organizing censorship and he set up an “Information Office” in Asmara, thus cutting off Naples and the SIM that were not even aware of this. Many problems remained unsolved; for example, mail between East Africa and Red Sea countries should have been checked in Massawa and Mogadishu, but no specific office was ever set up in Massawa, even though it was often discussed in official correspondence from Rome. Mogadishu was not given any adequate personnel for a long time. Post free cards used by soldiers were another problem, because when sent via airmail they lost their post free privilege (6). In any case, the post free cards were given to soldiers in limited amounts. During World War I, De Bono knew very well how effective censorship operations were at the units or regiments’ headquarters. It was a topic discussed quite often with Rome in 1935, but it is not clear if it was ever acted upon. De Bono’s orders relating to postal matters were precise and stern, as reported in a circular letter dated 4 August 1935:

Back of air mail cover from Mogadishu to Bologna on 5 November 1935, showing the hand-stamp “VERIFICATO PER CENSURA” struck twice in violet ink, the same ink used for the hand-stamp “OSPEDALE DA CAMPO 54 / SOMALIA” lacking an adequate coordination due to the evolving of military and political situations, unilateral decisions taken by field commanders as an offshoot of their discretional autonomy, and secrecy even when interacting with collaborating agencies. For example, the military and colonial authorities did not want interference of any kind and amazingly so, even the Field Post Supreme Inspector was to remain uninformed about censorship operations and structure. The first censorship operation was set up in Somalia, soon after Graziani’s arrival in East Africa. The resolute general and later Viceroy stated that he had issued a specific decree about censorship Field Post and civilian mail: such a decree is still to be found, so we cannot confirm its existence. This initiative was stopped by higher authorities, due to its barefaced nature. Nothing similar happened in Eritrea, where De Bono’s main pursuit was to prevent that mail sent by Italian troops heading to Italian East Africa during their ships stopovers at Port Said, Suez and Aden would end up in the hands of Anglo-Egyptian authorities. The main supervisory body was set in Naples in April 1935 by the Ministry of War against the Minister of Colonies, Lessona, who had long claimed his jurisdiction on civilian mail censorship without realizing the impossibility of separating it from soldiers’ correspondence, who often used post offices instead of FPOs. A SIM office was set by the Field Post Depot which was operating since April with the task of vetting all mail to and from Colonies; at that time mail to and from the colonies was transported by ships only (5). The office had a small staff of ten in May; their knowledge of foreign languages was very poor, and only with time the staff was increased to fifty - still a long way to the 600 officers and 400 Ncos required by July 1935. The understaffing was never seriously addressed and a report from Naples dated 17 May 1935 noted that during the first half of the month about 7,000 letters, 4,000 postcards, 200 registered letters and all the newspapers were examined. This was very little when the incoming mail from East Africa amounted to some 20,000 items per day - 300,000 for fifteen days. No mention was made of the mail to addressees in Italian East Africa. When an air mail service was established, in July 1935, censorship operations were seriously impacted. Mail was conveyed by Imperial Airways serving the route BrindisiKhartoum, and then passed to Ala Littoria and conveyed to Asmara - an important cooperation that continued after the Society of Nations sanctions.

“…in regard to air mail this High Command orders: a)

troops will use postcards only;

b) no military and political matters can be discussed in any correspondence, nor alarmist news of any kind are allowed; c) in regard to postcards only, unit commanders are responsible for the implementation of the above mentioned

13 April 1935: Cover from ADI UGRI, Eritrea showing at left in handwriting “VERIFICATA PER CENSURA” and hand-stamped “IL CENTURIONE / COMANDANTE LA 2^ COMPAGNIA.” A Centurione was a captain of the Volunteers National Security Militia.

23

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

The recipient of this registered letter sent in May 1936 from Cagliari was a retired officer, recalled to the Army and employed in the censorship office in Benghazi. Because censorship was a covert operation, the words “Ufficio Statistica” were handwritten on the cover as this term was already routinely used by OVRA and Ministry offices to hide censorship activities.

An unusual mixed franking with Italian and Egyptian stamps on a cover to Sardinia, mailed on board postal steamer Liguria on 11 September 1935. According to the rules, to avoid Egyptian censorship, the steamer’s captain should have delivered the letter to the Italian Consulate in Port Said, that would have passed it to a ship headed to Italy. The letter, however, was placed in the Egyptian mail stream and 12 September as witnessed buy the Port Said cds.

required prompt monitoring.” In other words, a procedure similar to that adopted by the Ministry of Interior, probably aimed at fascist hierarchs since a large number of them were in East Africa. A new censorship problem arose in Libya when some divisions were sent there during the Anglo-Italian attritions stemming from the presence of the Home Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, the imposition of sanctions, etc. A new postal censorship office was opened in Syracuse on 25 October 1935 at the local Field Post Depot; this was soon replaced by new censorship hubs in Tripoli and Benghazi. In October 1935, censorship was reinstated in Somalia at least for “part of military mail sent to Italy and abroad, being impossible to check civilian mail due to lack of personnel.” The situation worsened when Somalia began to benefit from an air mail link; on 11 November 1935 the Asmara-Mogadishu

point a) and b); no markings or other signs will be applied to suggest censorship. Letters were invariably routed to Asmara where covert censorship took place. Detailed reports about these activities were regularly compiled. For example, the second fortnight report of March 1936 states that “parts of the text of hundreds of letters were censored because they touched on topics like: 1)

advance on Gondar and Dessie

2)

names of soldiers killed

3)

air bombing of Gondar and Dessie

4)

use of gases by our airplanes

5)

supposed armistice with Ethiopia

6)

hospitals full of wounded and ill soldiers

7)

shortages of food and water during advance to Tacazzé

8)

killing of wounded Abyssinian prisoners…”

And so on, for about thirty really embarrassing topics, that were obliterated by special ink. These were the only signs on mail that left evidence of mail censorship activities. The most dangerous or compromising letters were seized and sent to military court officials for disciplinary action against senders. Until his replacement with Badoglio, De Bono’s censorship was not limited to air mail only; in a letter dated 17 November he wrote: “This censorship office is concerned with air mail only, except for some individuals for whom we requested checking also ordinary mail, sent through both military and civilian post offices. This was motivated by greater swiftness and opportunity, because the activities of the said individuals

The recipient of this registered letter sent in May 1936 from Cagliari was a retired officer, recalled to the Army and employed in the censorship office in Benghazi. Because censorship was a covert operation, the words “Ufficio Statistica” were handwritten on the cover as this term was already routinely used by OVRA and Ministry offices to hide censorship activities.

24

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016 news of 15,000 Abyssinian troops deserting the Italian army and returning to the enemy with Italian weapons, and graphic reports about two battles in Somalia and Eritrea involving shocking cruelties. Such disclosures and pictures generated “loud cries from the working class demanding the cessation of the war and the repatriation of troops, leaving Abyssinia to its fate...” Unfavorable news was often described as riddled with baseless and false information that according to an OVRA informant from Gorizia “for their nature evoked deep fear and horror in the Italian population” (February 1936). The rapid dissemination of bad news was an obvious result of the vast limitation of censorship operations: on a total of about 50 million pieces of mail, between April and December 1935, censors in Naples were able to check less than one million, or a mere 2 %. A peremptory order by Mussolini issued in February 1936 stated that: “it’s necessary that military censorship implements a more diligent and accurate control over mail from troops in East Africa.” Such a stern statement caused the early Spring reorganization of censorship, not fully achieved due to war developments. Eritrea saw the opening of a small office that checked sea mail. From a report dated 1 May: “[About 3% of] Mail is undergoing censorship due to the following reasons: exaggerated descriptions of war and colonial life miseries, dramatic description of battles and unrealistic reports of losses, inappropriate mailing of photographs of battlefields and female nudes, poor quality of rations, and impatience for repatriation.” No less worrisome were reports about airmail letters, particularly those of South Tyrolean people, “many of them hostile to Italy, showing indifference for the outcome of the colonial enterprise, tendency to exaggerate and magnify the hardships; and sometimes ‘Heil Hitler’ following the signature of the sender.” The reports issued by the censorship hubs at Tripoli and Benghazi were less alarming, but generally speaking of great interest; as mentioned earlier, from March 1936 they had replaced the short-lived Syracuse office. At last, in May, a censorship office was established in Rome for incoming airmail from colonies linked by Ala Littoria airline. As Badoglio entered Addis Ababa, followed by the formal ending of the war, all activities related to censorship no longer needed all the secrecy that shrouded them in the past. But even after war ended with a victory, soldiers still complained. From June on we can read about “troops’ feelings of depression, despite the end of the war; they still live under tents and sleep on the ground; comments and criticism targeted early repatriation of hierarchs and generals only after a few months in the colony; [the commonly found] I’m tired of living in Africa; many refer to future place-to-place combing to capture rebels; many letters report about unfounded loss of lives in combat and deaths from infectious diseases; such letters are destroyed.” In other words, covering with black ink the bad news was replaced by the suppression of troublesome mail. On 18 November 1936, the SIM disseminated another tough order from Mussolini: “disbandment of any censorship office in any territory of the Empire.” Those in Libya had ceased operation on 1 October. The only censorship offices still operational were those in Naples and Rome, respectively for surface mail and air mail, including the new military front following the outbreak of the Civil War in Spain (7). A weekly joint report about the activities of the two surviving censorship offices was issued and sent to the

As this cover shows, even Ethiopia had created her own military censorship unit, which was carried out overtly. This cover was sent on 6 April 1936 from Addis Ababa to Beira, Mozambique. After examination, the cover was resealed and hand-stamped with the censorship mark “EMPIRE D’ETHIOPIE / CENSURE MILITAIRE (Ethiopian Empire / Military Censorship). air link was activated, and eight days later a biweekly service between Rome-Asmara by Ala Littoria was set up, for the purpose of replacing the Imperial Airways service. This was deemed positive for Italian prestige and for cutting costs, nonetheless it was negative for intelligence and censorship officers who had lost opportunities to monitor, albeit illegally, foreign mail passing through Asmara from Djibouti and other foreign countries. The Field Post Higher Inspectorate suggested to open a censorship hub in Rome to work side-by-side with a specific Field Post Depot in order to carry out effective censorship on all Italian airmail, including the Italian East Africa bound airmail. Only the Field Post Depot was activated, while censorship was still carried out in Asmara. Any uncensored mail coming from Somalia and routed through Imperial Airways could always be sent from Brindisi to Naples with a special label regarding its provenance and processing. Several drawbacks occurred: delays and uncensored mail, coming from Somalia and Eritrea, containing disquieting political and military information, that OVRA nonetheless had already been informed about. This further exposed the serious inconsistencies of Mussolini’s orders such as achieving speed of mail and total censorship at the same time. In January 1936 Asmara officials admitted that “considering the quantity of incoming and outgoing airmail (about 1,000 kilograms for each airplane), short time available for censorship (one afternoon) and lack of personnel (10 people only), it’s impossible to examine all that quantity of correspondence… On the other hand, this criterion reflects directives issued by His Excellency the Head of Government, aimed at avoiding delays in delivering mail. Right now all correspondence from and to abroad and from and to ethnic groups is examined, while 25% of the other mail is examined.” The most critical period for Italian troops (December 1935 – February 1936) saw serious leaks of information and news that had eluded censorship and reached Italy, where images of Italian soldiers tortured and killed had been leaked, as well as

25

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

Ministry of Interior, harmonizing the SIM and OVRA censorship roles. Such arrangement remained unchanged for a long time. The report for the week 19-25 February 1937 refers to 25,811 letters to and from Italian Eastern Africa having been examined, and 9,699 to and from Military Operation in Spain (OMS), from which were gleaned routine comments, with no reference to complaints or grave allegations: “from a total of 35,510 correspondences, 42 were blocked, 1,934 partly censored and 10 notified to SIM for their own knowledge.” Italian Eastern Africa domestic mail and mail to and from contiguous countries (Egypt, Sudan, Red Sea regions, Aden and Indian Ocean) was still not monitored. Only in April 1937, two months after the insurgents raid that resulted in Rodolfo Graziani’s serious injuries, the general sought authorization to control domestic mail of the Empire through its “Information Service.” Graziani had experienced major problems with the “Information Service” in the past, and in August 1937 he reiterated his request fearing to adopt measures conflicting with Mussolini’s directives. This was a defeatist behavior, for which he was often reproached by his counterparts in Rome. Later on, the monitoring of mail was reactivated throughout the Empire, and during World War II the censorship was entrusted to PAI (Italian Africa Police). PAI’s activities were chronicled in bulky fortnight reports. But this is another story… In concluding, I want to remember that the accessible documentation is far from being complete which adds to the complexity of this topic, one that is often overlooked in an otherwise well researched and abundant literature on the ItaloEthiopian War. I want to point out that, as a courtesy of the ISSP in Prato, images shown here are taken from the complete story published in ISSP Handbook No 31, as from Note 1.

Duties of UCPM (Field Post Censor Offices) are to: - Examine mail (ordinary, registered, insured, and parcels) going through Field Post mail depots. - Obliterate with special procedures words or phrases deemed dangerous for military security or Army and National morale. - Seize all correspondences that distinctly show the above features, or containing any kind of undercover communications. - Report to the authorities every correspondence deemed incriminating. - Report to SIM any correspondence that could be used as proof or valid suspicion of acts of espionage and conspiracy against the Army. - Report to SIM any information gathered from correspondence that could be of urgent interest. - Compile a fortnightly report about perceptions of the situation as gleaned from correspondence; therefore summarize incidences of elation and depression, pros and cons about the war, and any subversive and antimilitaristic propaganda, comments about the morale or the economic situation. 5 Vide: B. Cadioli and A. Cecchi: Chronology of units of the Field Post instituted for the East Africa campaign between 1935-1938, in “Postal History Archive – Communications and Society” No 22-23 (2006), pp 67-110. 6. Vide: B. Cadioli and A. Cecchi: Free franking postal cards

Notes

for Eastern Africa, in “Postal History Archive – Communications and Society” No 4-6 (2000), pp113-153.

1. Handbook No. 31 is available at the ISPP, Datini Palace, ser LapoMazzei Street 37, 59100 Prato, Italy, e-mail: [email protected] The article on censorship is at pp. 211-330

7. Vide: B. Cadioli and A. Cecchi: Italian intervention in Spanish Civil War. Communications and postal services of legionaries, ISSP Handbook No 18, Prato, 1994. Censorship chapter pp 201-214.

2. One of the best known examples from the past was Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini who, during his exile in London, suspected that his mail was opened by the British government, that afterwards passed on the information to Austria. Mazzini was unaware of this collaboration between London and Vienna; however he proved this to his friends who could see the unusual delay in mail from the exiled Mazzini. Vide: S. Furlani, Metternich’ mail policy and Italy, ISSP handbook No 8, Prato, 1987. 3. During WW I, military mail censorship was very complex and resulted in increased tightening during the course of time. This aspect is little known even by scholars of WW I and only collectors and postal historians have gained some limited insight. Initially, the vast majority of mail to-from abroad was censored first in Bologna, and later on in Milan and Genoa. Mail censorship included POW mail that later on was examined by special units in Rome. Navy mail was examined aboard ships and in naval bases, and domestic mail from civilians living in frontline and nearby regions was censored by provincial censors. 4. The Regulations were approved by Baistrocchi on 1 October 1935, on the eve of war. Following is Article 2:

26

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

A New Abyssinia Contingent Cover by Floyd Heiser Included in the last Menelik’s Journal is my article on the eight known covers from (and the single cover to) the Abyssinia Contingent that arrived from India at the British Legation in Addis Ababa September 7, 1935 at the outset of the Italian invasion. The Contingent augmented a small Guard that was already in place and its purpose was to protect the Legation, British subjects and British-protected communities if the impending war reached Addis Ababa. Serge Magallon responded to my request for more information and sent an Italian picture postcard showing some of the troops (Figure 1) and he sent a scan of a previously unrecorded cover while I received a color scan from Tom Handley of his cover that had been illustrated in black and white. The covers from the Contingent were broken down into Ethiopian franked covers (four known), Indian franked covers (three known) and unfranked covers (one known).

Figure 1: Abyssinia Contingent troops. manuscript address is in the same handwriting as all but one of the known covers. Based on the postmarks on the back of the cover, on arrival in Aden (November 17), the cover was forwarded to Poona, India arriving there on November 22/23. The previous earliest known cover was Luciano Maria’s February 4, 1936 AA postmarked cover. With Serge’s cover, one can conclude that sometime between November 12 and February 4 the magenta handstamp was produced and put into use. On Serge’s cover the manuscript ‘Uss Clerk’ is still present and located in the same lower left corner position. The clerk further wrote “Abyssinia Contingent; c/o British Legation; Addis Ababa; Abyssinia.” An observation in my article was that with one exception all of the outgoing covers were addressed in the same hand. I indicated that the most likely scenario is that the clerk or someone else in the Contingent’s Headquarters Section was responsible for addressing most or all outgoing official correspondence. Now that I have seen additional examples of Uss Clerk’s handwriting I can conclude that he is the one who addressed the covers. This can best be seen in comparisons of the letters A, B, c/o, L and ‘lerk’ from Uss Clerk’s handwriting with the same letters found in the address of Luciano Maria’s cover to 2nd Lt. R. A. Anthony and Helge Skau’s cover to Batavia (Figures 3-12). Unfortunately, I still do not know the name of the clerk who only uses “Uss clerk” as his identifier.

Earliest Recorded Contingent Cover

Serge Magallon’s cover becomes the earliest recorded Contingent cover and importantly it shows that early on, Contingent covers were handled a bit differently from those discussed in the article. Serge’s cover was sent by registered mail, addressed to Aden and franked with six Ethiopian stamps canceled by an Addis Ababa cds with a November 12, 1935 date (Figure 2). The cover was mailed a little over two months after the Contingent’s September 7 arrival. What stands out is the absence of the magenta colored Contingent handstamp that serves as the key identifier of Contingent covers. Also, the

Figure 2: Serge Magallon’s cover sent by registered mail, addressed to Aden and franked with six Ethiopian stamps canceled by an Addis Ababa cds with a November 12, 1935 date.

27

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

Figures 3-13: Comparison of letters found in the address of Luciano Maria’s cover to 2 nd Lt. R. A. Anthony and Helge Skau’s cover to Batavia. And the wax seal on Serge Magallon’s cover. new hospital address in Poona handwritten below the Aden address. One thing I overlooked when writing about Luciano Maria’s cover is that it was addressed to the officer who was supposed to have been part of the Contingent command but had to be replaced due to illness. In revisiting his cover I see there is no “care of” any hospital so 2 nd Lt. Anthony must no longer have been ill and was back on duty at his post in India in February 1936. The total franking of the six stamps is 17 guerches on Serge’s cover. This total is puzzling in that it does not correspond to the rates included in Roberto Sciaky’s rate tables for that period. It has been well proven that the rate for external covers from August 1932-May 1936 was 4 guerches and 3 guerches for each additional 20 gram weight class. Also, the registration fee was 6 guerches. Using that rate structure a triple weight, registered cover would have been 16g

Another interesting aspect of Serge’s cover is the wax seals on the back. As can be seen in the enlargement, impressed in the wax is *DETT*5/14 P.R. (Figure 14). This is an abbreviation for “Detachment, 5th Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment.” This, when combined with what Uss Clerk wrote on the front of the cover, is essentially the same information found in the magenta Contingent handstamp and provides additional evidence that this is an official Contingent cover. Serge’s cover is addressed to a person of interest in that he was the officer (2nd Lt. R.A. Anthony) who was assigned to be part of the command for the Contingent. However, he had fallen ill before embarkation and was replaced by a different officer. The cover is addressed to the lieutenant in care of the “R.A. Hospital” in Aden which makes me believe he may have traveled with the Contingent as far as Aden but due to his illness was not able to continue on to Addis Ababa. By the time the cover arrived in Aden on November 17, the 2 nd Lt. had been transferred to a hospital in Poona, India as evidenced by the Aden address being lined out with a red pencil and a

Figure 14: Tom Handley’s censored cover front.

28

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

and a quadruple cover would have been 19g. A franking of 17g would indicate that the cover was overpaid by 1g or underpaid by 2g. I see no evidence that a stamp has been removed so one would have to assume that the postal clerk at the Addis Ababa post office incorrectly put the wrong amount of franking on the cover.

members may be claimed here is a cultural difference that still takes my breath away after nearly nine years in Addis Ababa. (Going cap in hand and tugging the forelock are not admired behaviors in egalitarian Australia.) In the following remarks, however, I shall not discuss Gizachew’s letters’ contents, but make some observations about the envelopes they come in when he sends them through the mail rather than hand them to me personally. “What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?” asks an old joke. The answer is: “A stamp.” Yes; but which corner? Of the eight franked envelopes from Gizachew that I have not thrown out, the stamps – invariably a pair to make up the value – have been stuck in the conventional position, in the top right-hand corner, on three. On the other five, however, Gizachew has stuck the stamps in the diametrically opposite position, in the bottom left-hand corner. (Figures 1-3). I am 63 years of age, but I do not recall ever receiving a letter in my home country, Australia, on which a stamp was so placed. The fact that Gizachew has affixed his stamps in the conventional position on at least three envelopes suggests that

Tom Handley’s Photocopy and Comments

Tommy Handley also responded and wrote that he is still the owner of what I labeled as Cover 3 in my article. He also sent a color photocopy (Figure 14). He included some comments and emphasized it is a front only. I thought I made that clear in my article and in the narrative when I stated that the nearly upside down transit Dire Daoua postmark was struck on the 1g and 2g stamps. A confusing element was introduced when Ulf Lindahl erroneously stated when he wrote the caption for the cover that it had a Dire Daoua postmark on the back. [Apologies from your Editor.] Tom Handley wrote: “Unfortunately, it is only a front but despite that it is a good item. It has the same markings as the (other) one(s) illustrated [in the article] but that of the British Embassy is first class. My cover also has a censor stamp – number 3 but I don’t suppose anyone had the nerve to actually open the letter and read the contents!! At the top left corner is a pencil note: “From Colonel K C B Dawes / 5/14 Punjab Regt 1936.” This was a heavy letter and is franked 1th 3g. The postmark is ADDIS-ABEBA [probably Payne type AA12A or B] and the date is probably 12th April (80 years ago) although it was dated 30th March 1936 in the adjutant’s office. There is a transit mark of Dire Daoua dated 17.IV.1936. There is a circular mark by the Embassy stamp but this is quite unreadable. I think this was a very good find for me!” I thank Tommy for providing this information. I am not sure I agree with the dates that he provided and I believe that the dates he previously provided in his autumn 1999 Lion article are more likely accurate. Those dates were 17 March 1936 for the Addis Ababa cds and 19 March 1936 for the Dire Daoua transit mark. I closely looked at the nearly upside down Dire Daoua postmark in the new color photocopy as well as the black and white photocopy and it clearly reads 19.III (not 17.IV) and with the year unreadable in the photocopy. The day in the AA postmark is clearly 12 and not17. The month is not readable nor is the year in the photocopy I have. In light of the March 19 date in the DD transit mark and the adjutant’s March 30 arrival mark, the AA postmark must be March 17 and, if it is not, the date plug must have been in error.

Figure 1: Stamps in the right place. The envelope guides the sender in placing the stamps.

Philately and Philanthropy: A Personal Note By Robert Handicott These days I seem to collect Ethiopian friends more than Ethiopian postage stamps. My friend Gizachew is a case in point. I have received more letters from him than from any other Ethiopian. Usually they contain requests for money: one of Gizachew’s favorite sayings is, “Your pocket is my pocket.” The alacrity with which the resources of friends and family

Figure 2: Where Gizachew usually puts his stamps. Definitely not a philatelic cover.

29

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106 Figure 3: Another typical example. Figure 4: Local business cover with return address. individuals, however, do have post office boxes and therefore return addresses (Figure 4). Could Gizachew’s placement of his stamps be an example of that irregularity which is a common feature of Ethiopian design? I well remember being delighted, in my first days in my apartment here, by the fact that, if there were two electrical switches on a wall, they could be at different heights from the floor, and that “on” might be down on one and up on the other. The hot water tap in the bathroom was on the right but in the kitchen on the left. (I was grateful, of course, that hot water was provided and, indeed, that I had a bathroom and a kitchen.) Any ferenji will remember vividly, too, from their first experience as a car passenger in Addis Ababa, that the “rules of the road” here do not exert the same authority as those at home, while the traffic police, on the other hand, loom more largely in every driver’s awareness. There is something gloriously independent and free about this irregularity and improvisation; and I am inclined to think that it is connected with the fact, which means so much to Ethiopians, that Ethiopia was never colonized, and that there was no long, unwilling apprenticeship under strict foreign masters who enforced the idea that there were “right” and “wrong” ways of doing everything. In the spirit of harmless inquiry I conducted some research into Ethiopian envelope layout using illustrations from past issues of this journal. As many beautiful, full-color reproductions in MJ have borne witness over the years, random and novel placements of stamps on covers were common in earlier eras. Since Gizachew can be no older than 50, however, I cannot think that he has been influenced by those practices. I restricted my research, therefore, to reproductions of covers originating in Ethiopia since 1960. I surveyed 24 issues of MJ, beginning with the first issue I received after joining the EPS. (Nos. 106 and 119 I was unable to find). I identified 24 items that met my criteria – an average of one per issue. They included envelopes from personal and business letters, air letters, FDCs and one FFC. In

he is aware of the convention (which goes all the way back, I believe, to Rowland Hill). But why so many exceptions? Is the explanation a personal quirk, or does the reason lie elsewhere? One possibility is that the position of stamps on envelopes is not considered as important in Ethiopia as it may be in Australia. I recall learning at school how to address an envelope. I remember well the recommended layout: recipient’s name and address placed sufficiently low as to avoid the risk of obliteration by the postmark, etc. The layout was illustrated in textbooks. It has shaped my letter-writing practice. Were the children of Gizachew’s generation – are Ethiopian children today – taught such things? If so, could the information have been presented, and still perhaps be presented, as “guidelines” (to quote Pirates of the Caribbean) rather than as a matter of “rules”? The fact that Gizachew regularly identifies himself as sender by writing his name in the top left-hand corner, suggests again that he has indeed learned something somewhere about layout. In Australia the normal place for the sender of a personal letter to put their address would be on the flap at the back of the envelope; but the top left-hand corner on the front is acceptable, especially for people who use stickers, and is the normal place in many other countries. Since Gizachew, as far as I know, does not have a post office box, he cannot provide a “return address” as such. Ethiopian houses do not all have street addresses: they are officially identified in a different way, basically Big area, Small area within the Big area, House number within the small area (“house” sometimes meaning “compound”). Until recently the Postal Service has not talked about delivering to homes and I have never seen a house – not even the most palatial of residences – with a box near the gate for private mail delivery. Businesses, organizations of all kinds, and relatively wealthy

Figure 5: An ominous pointer to the future—for me, and perhaps the for the postage stamp.

30

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2016

every case the stamps were placed in the top right-hand corner, or, if there were a number of stamps, the arrangement of them started from the top right-hand corner. So, I return to my friend Gizachew none the wiser. Could he simply be a bit of a rebel, exercising his freedom and pushing his luck the way many Ethiopian pedestrians do, even in busy traffic, whatever they were or were not taught about road safety? Or is it simply the case that letter writing is not something that Gizachew has ever done much of, so that his letters to me are among the relatively few he has ever addressed? Perhaps, in the era of e-mail and the ubiquitous mobile phone, Dr. Emmanuel Abraham’s optimism in the 1960s, that, with rising literacy rates, postal correspondence in Ethiopia would increase to levels like those in overseas countries, has become outdated and forlorn. Someone who has read all the way to this point might be wondering why I do not simply ask Gizachew the questions raised above. Apart from the fact that our interactions invariably focus on a single topic, the problem is one of basic communication. I have virtually no conversational Amharic, and we both have great difficulty understanding each other in English. He certainly does not understand me when I try to explain to him that in this country I must live on a small allowance diminished by inflation and the exchange rate. Unlike other friends, however, Gizachew at least writes his deferential, piously-toned begging letters himself rather than pay someone with better English to do it for him. I appreciate the fact, too, that most of the time since his first, cautious inquiry (Figure 5), he uses stamps. More than 70% of mail carried by Australia Post today, I have heard, no longer does.

The university strives to be one of the leading African universities with international reputation by 2025. Currently the university has 35,000 students of which more than 20,000 students have enrolled in regular undergraduate programs.” The technical details are: Denominations: Quantity: Designer: Printer: Printing method:

New Issue Haramaya University Diamond Jubilee April 21, 2016

0.05, 0.45, 2 birr and 4 birr 100,000 sets Ebrahim Seid Southern Color Print / New Zealand Lithography in four colors

At press-time, a new 4-stamp set was issued illustrating Ethiopian Waterfalls. Details will appear in the next issue.

The Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise issued a new set of stamps on April 21, 2016 that was printed in New Zealand. According to the pamphlet that introduced the four stamps, 2,000 first day cover envelopes were printed and were sold for birr 3.50 each. The pamphlet provides the following information about the Haramaya University:

A December 1911 Postage Due Cover By Ulf J. Lindahl Early postage due covers are rare and difficult to find, even when we include the incoming mail from 1905-1907 to which the Ethiopian postage dues were affixed to pay the inland postage on the incoming mail. The small cover shown here was posted in Dire-Daoua on December 9, 1911 franked with 1 guerche only. It was marked as short-paid as indicated by the “T in a triangle” postage due mark. I believe that due to the cover’s small size, the postage that was due was not collected in Germany.

“Haramaya University is located about 510 Kms east of Addis Ababa, between Dire Dawa and Harar towns. The agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Technical Cooperation Administration of the government of [the] United States of America, signed in May 1952, gave the mandate to Oklahoma State University to establish and operate the college, conduct a nationwide system of Agricultural Extension and set up an agricultural research and experimental station. In October 1952, the Imperial Ethiopian College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts received its first class of fourteen students. The college became a chartered member of Addis Ababa University (then the Haile Selassie I University), following the contractual termination of Oklahoma State University in 1968. Soon the college was named Alemaya College of Agriculture. A major landmark in the history of the college of agriculture was the opening of graduate study programs in the 1979/80 academic year. Since 1995/96 launching new programs in various fields of studies enabled the university to become a full -fledged university with the new name Alemaya University (AU). The university was renamed Haramay University in February 2006.

31

Menelik’s Journal, Volume 32, No. 2

April-June 2106

32