Juozas Urbonas

Postal history of Lithuanian Užnemunė region 1835–1945

Five Frame Exhibit

Description: Lithuanian Užnemunė (literally: beyond the Neman River) describes the geographical location of the region, but is not entirely accurate. The region was frequently ravaged by the Teutonic Knights and was abandoned by most of its inhabitants. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno, its western borders were fixed and the territory became the sole property of the Grand Duke himself. In 1569 the Grand Duchy joined the Kingdom of Poland to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

After an uprising in 1831, the Russian Empire launched a reorganization of administration and postal structure. On March 26th, 1851, by the order of Senate of Russian Empire was formed the 13th postal county of Russia with Board of directors in Warsaw. During different periods the following frontier post offices and post stations operated in the Užnemunė region in 1815-1866: Aleksoto (Alexota) from1815, Alytaus (OLita) from 1841, Garliavos (Godlewo) from1841, Kalvarijos (Kalwarya) from 1815, Kapčiamiesčio (Kopciov) from 1863, Lazdijų (Lozdzieje) from 1817, Marijampolės (Maryampol, Mariampol) from 1815, Vilkaviškio (Wilkowiszki) from 1815, Virbalio (Wierzbolow).  Kudirkos Naujamiestis (Nowe Miasto, since December 11th, 1819, the name of the village is Wladyslawow) mail transportation and horse changing station since 1817. Until June 1st, 1863, it belonged to Marijampolė frontier post office and later was owned by Kybartai frontier post office. Šakiai (Szaki) mail transportation and horse changing station since 1820. From 1820 it belonged to Marijampolė frontier post office and since April 1st, 1863 was owned by the Kybartai frontier post office.

In 1815-1851 the post tract of Užnemunė region was Kaunas-Veiveriai-Prienai-Marijampolė-Kalvarija-Vilkaviškis-Virbalis -Naumiestis-Šakiai.

The philately collection shows Postal history Lithuanian of Užnemunė region 1835-1944: before the introduction of postage stamps to 1875,  post Office after the introduction of postage stamps 1876-1915, Užnemunė landscapes and post Office during the First World War 1915-1918, Independent period 1918-1940, during World War II 1941-1945.