Axis consular passport 1942
Bulgarian passport issued in Prague.
Another exquisite specimen: a Consulate General sample.
World War Two can be separated into 3 main parties: The Neutral countries, the Allied countries and last, the Axis countries.
All sides had their causes, be it ideological, financial or other, that made them chose sides and fight against the other. The same can be said about those belonging to the Axis, which consisted mainly of the following: Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Others participated in the war against the allies, they may have not been in direct war but may be seen as co-belligerent state combatants: Thailand, Finland & Iraq. Other so-called puppet-states also took sides with the Axis, for example: Chinese puppet-government, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia (Mengjiang), India (Provisional Free Government of India, or mainly known as Azad Hind), Laos, Philippines, Vietnam (Empire). We also have other client-states such as: Croatia, Slovakia, Greece, Denmark, Norway, France (Vichy), Spain and the Soviet Union (up to 1941).
The document here relates to one of the Axis countries that fought against the Allies – Bulgaria.
Most World War Two issued Bulgarian passports that are found today are not rare. They frequently have several visas, not many, either travelling to one or more of the Axis states. Most that I have encountered were issued to workers who went to fascist Italy or Nazi Germany for work, and their passports are accompanied by a foreigner’s worker-booklet (greenish cover).
This passport issued in 1942 is a rare find because it was NOT issued back at home, Bulgaria, but abroad. The travel document here is a CONSULAR issue! I have never seen such a passport before being issued at a diplomatic mission. The location was Prague, in occupied Czechoslovakia, known as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939-1945). The territory was infamous for establishing in it the Jewish special ghetto of Theresienstadt. This is the location that Nazi Germany sent out its prominent and important Jewish citizens, for example, those who where known internationally and those who distinguished themselves during the First World War and received decorations of valor, for example. It was also the chosen location that the International Red Cross was taken to in order to disprove “claims” that the Jews were mistreated inside the camps and ghettos. The international commission visited the location on June 23rd of 1944, and even a special film was prepared at the time (tragically all the participants of that film, the young and old, were exterminated afterwards in the death camps).
Bulgarian Axis passport number 335 was issued on December 16th 1942 by the Consul General in Prague for Radko Mitev Entchev, aged 39. What catches your eye is the Bulgarian Consular stamp and hand writing inside the passport, indicating this special issue as mentioned above. The additional German, Croatian, Slovakian & Hungarian visas and annotations also contribute to the sample here being a special and attractive specimen.
As I am sure other passport collectors have noticed before, when obtaining new items for their collections, what makes a passport unique and rare is also the special visas issued inside (last image is of another Bulgarian passport issued in 1943 which has inside a very rare “Sicherheitspolizei und des SD” issued visa from the eastern Polish occupied city of Lemberg (Lwow in Galicia, today part of Ukraine) and of the General Government’s “capital” – Krakau. I believe that the 2 mentioned above can fall under this category.
Enjoy the images.
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