STAMPS SMUGGLED
TRIAL IN BERLIN FORTUNES LEAVE GERMANY A girl and four men are on trial in Berlin, accused of helping rich Jews to get SIOO,OOO out of Germany. It is claimed that one Jew, visiting Germany to try to ‘ milk ” his frozen credits, bought £53,000 worth of stamps and smuggled them out of the country. Ringleader of the party was 86-year-old Wilhelm Bartels, it was alleged when the trial opened in Berlin. The public prosecutor said that in six years Bartels had made a fortune of £40,000. Accused with him are Walter Bartels (brother), Karl voh Scharfenberg, Paul Joenisch, and the girl, Margarete Stock They are charged with breaking the German currency regulations. The method, said the public prosecutor, was .to smuggle currency to Britain and Switzerland, buy rare stamps, and then resell them in Berlin to Jews, who were emigrating. In this way clients could smuggle out fortunes hidden between the . leaves of a notebook , Bartels was said to have 'spent £16,000 with London dealers and more than £20.000 in Switzerland For a IS-cent Hawaii stamp, bought in London for £2.300, a Jew in Berlin paid £5,100 Other Hawaiian stamps, costing £4,000. "were- sold for £6,550. '
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19390722.2.58
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 9
Word Count
198STAMPS SMUGGLED Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 9
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