1950 Vienna Austria Police Card w/ Milk Slogan to France 1.80 Schilling Stamp
$ 6.86
Description
1950 Vienna Austria Police Card w/ Milk Slogan to France 1.80 Schilling Stamp. This item is an official communication card from the Bundespolizeidirektion Wien, the Federal Police Directorate of Vienna, Austria, sent on November 19, 1950. This item is an official communication card from the Bundespolizeidirektion Wien, the Federal Police Directorate of Vienna, Austria, sent on November 19, 1950. The card’s recto bears the sender’s imprint for the Korrespondenzbüro (Correspondence Office) at Wien I., Braunerstraße 5, with the postal code A 1010 Wien, while an earlier address at I., Parkring 8 has been struck through, reflecting an administrative relocation. The verso is addressed in typewritten script to Frau Heimans Christina C. at 92 rue E. Guichenne in Pau, France, indicating the international nature of this bureaucratic correspondence. The document was franked with a 1.80 Schilling Austrian stamp commemorating the 450th anniversary of the Münzturm (Mint Tower) in Hall in Tirol, designed by M. Strohofer, and bears a circular postmark from Wien 1 dated 19.-11.50. The franking impression on the card includes the official designation “Amtliche Mitteilung” (Official Communication) alongside a promotional slogan “trinke MILCH” (drink MILK) accompanied by an illustration of a milk jug, a curious juxtaposition of a public health campaign with police administrative matter that reflects the post-war Austrian state’s integration of commercial or nutritional messaging into official stationery. The card was likely used to forward an application or notification regarding a police clearance certificate (Strafregisterbescheinigung), a common requirement for emigration, employment, or legal proceedings in the early Second Republic. The paper stock is a light beige, showing minor creasing and age-related discoloration along the edges, consistent with its storage in a file or envelope for over seven decades. The document exemplifies the material culture of mid-century European bureaucracy, where printed forms, rubber stamps, and typewritten addresses combined to process the movement of people and information across borders. The inclusion of the milk-drinking slogan on official police stationery is an idiosyncratic detail, likely part of a broader nutritional campaign to improve public health in post-war Austria, and adds a layer of social history to an otherwise routine administrative artifact. The card serves as a tangible record of the intersection between state authority, international correspondence, and everyday life in 1950 Vienna.
