Title: Luposta Danzig
Artist:
Year of Publication: 1932
Publisher:
Language: German
Size: 26 ½” x 19”
Index Number: 00194

Description:

The German airship, Graf Zeppelin, looms in the middle of the poster’s image.  Three German airplanes (the state-of-the-art Junkers G-38bs) authoritatively fly through the sky above the airship. In contrast, the small silhouette of Danzig’s waterfront buildings sit quietly atop the poster’s text block, perhaps as a reminder of Danzig’s longevity as a port city.  More than 1000 years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with aircraft designs, the city of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) was already providing a port for trading ships sailing the Baltic Sea. 

Throughout those centuries, Teutonic knights, Polish kings, Russian tsars, Prussian kings, Napoleon Bonaparte, and eventually the allied western countries that won World War I in 1914 jostled to gain control or determine the city’s geo-political fate. In 1929, when the Graf Zeppelin flew over Danzig during its round-the-world flight, Danzig’s citizens of German heritage greeted the German craft with unprecedented enthusiasm.

Lady Grace Drummond Hay, who was on board and reporting about her journey for Connecticut newspaper, The Courant, noted that German population of the free city of Danzig “frantically waved and cheered and sirens screamed and whistles blew in unrestrained and excitement…” when the ship passed over the city.  By the time that the city hosted the Luposta Aviation Stamp exhibition in 1932, international tensions regarding the city had grown significantly.  Many of Danzig’s citizens of German heritage were embracing the National Socialist movement and participating in rallies to promote the party.   In spite of the German encroachments,  however, the Polish government was determined to keep the city’s port—the Poles only access point to the open seas—in its control. 

Even though a comparatively small city, Danzig’s longevity as a viable and crucial European seaport, made it an ideal city to host an exhibition related to the newest form of transportation.  In commemoration of the 2nd international aviation stamp exhibition, the city issued a special set of 5 stamps, one of which is illustrated in the poster’s lower, left-hand corner.  Each stamp featured one of Danzig’s distinctive architectural landmarks, including a medieval crane, Katharinekirche, Marienkirche, rail road station, and city hall building.  The city also authorized aviation exhibitions, including two landings of the Graf Zeppelin, as an added attraction.

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