Russian cover mailed by german rocket engineer Konrad Toebe from Gorodomlya Island Ostashkov in september 1948.
Kalinin postmark on Sep.17,1948. Moscow transit postmark.
Sender address on envelope in russian and german - Russia Ostashkov Post Office Box no.1 Toebe (sender name).
Ostashkov Post Office Box no.1 was address for German rocket engineers.
Gorodomlya Island is located on Lake Seliger and Ostashkov is town at the shore of this lake.
Sender Konrad Toebe was valued aeronautics and rocket engineer during WW2 at Arado Flugzeug company, and later in
Gorodomlya Island Ostashkov in Soviet Union.
German rocket engineers worked in Soviet Rocket research program in Gorodomlya Island Ostashkov from 1946 till end of 1953.
Operation Osoaviakhim was secret Soviet operation (october 1946) for transporting ca 2500 german scientists/ engineers from
Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany to Soviet Union. Among them rocket engineers (who previously were worked at Institute
Rabe Bleicherode/ Nordhausen and Institut Berlin in Soviet Zone after WW2, and reconstructed german guided missiles).
Similar to Operation Paperclip in USA.
Head of the German rocket engineers group in Soviet Union was Helmut Groetrupp (who was worked at Peenemünde Rocket
Research Center during WW2) and they were working at Branch 1 of Research Institute No.88 (NII-88) in Gorodomlya Island
Ostashkov. NII-88 was established in may 1946 and located in Podlipki (present day Korolyov). Branch 1 of NII-88 was
specially established research unit to employ german rocket engineers while keeping them isolated from overall rocket
development research of NII-88 in Podlipki. Relevant secret act was issued by Minister of Armaments of USSR on
Aug.31,1946. German engineers arrived to Gorodomlya Island in the end of 1946 and worked there till the end of 1953. Test
launches of improved V-2 Rockets in Russia from Kapustin Yar. Germans work in Gorodomlya was indirectly overseen by
Sergey Korolev (head designer of Soviet rocket program) and Soviet R series missiles based initially on V-2 Rocket. Rocket R-
1 was Soviet copy of V-2 Rocket. Germans made important contributions to Soviet rocket development.
Cover is in good condition.
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