Himmler-head forgery of the 6-pfennig Deutsches Reich stamp
A British forgery of the violet 6-pfennig Hitler-head definitive with Heinrich Himmler's face in place of Hitler's, shown here in its two printings (December 1942 with finer lines, April/May 1943 with wider lines). It borrows the look and authority of an official Reichspost issue to suggest that Himmler was preparing to succeed Hitler. A PWE memorandum of 5 April 1943 covers sending 400 of the stamps, with postmarks and censorship strips, to Stockholm so that they could enter the post with no visible British origin.
Propaganda techniques used in this stamp
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- UK Political Warfare Executive (black propaganda forgery)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Stamp
- Issuer type
- Intelligence
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Enemy civilians
- Purpose
- Deceive or deny
- Themes
- War and the military, Media and information
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Impersonated Source falsified: fake personas, outlets or documents
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired; PD-UKGov)
British Government (Political Warfare Executive), 1942-43. Image via forgery.de, Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked
6 6 DEUTSCHES REICH 6 6 DEUTSCHES REICH
6 6 GERMAN REICH 6 6 GERMAN REICH
Both printings shown in the image carry the same printed text (the denomination '6' twice and 'DEUTSCHES REICH'); only the portrait and the fineness of the engraved lines differ between the two.
