Madagascar cancellation A.P.O. U.51.
This may be the earliest recorded date for this cancellation.
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This is superb! Is this a recent acquisition? We will have to get this into the Madagascar Club Collective ASAP.
I am intrigued by the sender's surname. Corporal Podlazhuk, a member of the Union Defence Force who is writing to his 'Dear Mum and Dad' in English, was of East European origin. Generally, the main European groups entered South Africa in group stages at different times, the Dutch from 1652 - 1805, the British from 1806 on. During these times French Huguenots (1687) and German settlers (1857) settled. East Europeans largely arrived in about 1890 once the Witwatersrand gold wealth was shown to be sustainable. There were other arrivals also. A good book on the subject is 'New Babylon, New Nineveh', (Charles van Onselen). East European Jews have been variously accused by White South Africans of having no commitment to South Africa, an accusation that usually meant they were not prepared to defend White privileg ie. the South African segregated racial status quo. It is surprising just how quickly the Podlazhuks adapted and made the transition from East European migrants to anglophone, possibly bi or tri-lingual South Africans fighting the Nazis and their Allies, the Vichy French. Do any members of this family remain in South Africa today?