In 1916 the Romanian Kingdom ("Old Romania") was composed of the old principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (united in 1859), the northern Dobrudja (united in 1878), and the southern Dobrudja ceded to Romania in 1913 following the second Balkan war.

The whole of Wallachia, most of the Dobrudja (with the exception of the Danube Delta) was occupied by the German - Austro-Hungarian - Turkish - Bulgarian armies in September / December 1916 through to November 1918.

Romanian censorship was therefore in operation as follows:

in Moldavia: the whole period (August 1916 up to the end);

in Wallachia and the Dobrudja: from August 1916 until September / December 1916 and then again from December 1918 through to the end of censorship.

On August 14/27*1916 Romania mobilized and declared war against Austro-Hungary. On the same day the High Command Headquarters issued decree No.2798 proclaiming a state of siege. As a consequence of this, censorship procedures were established with the first day of censorship being August 27 1916. In the capital town of each county a censorship office was established by the military. All the mail from a particular county had to be censored at the capital town.

The item illustrated in Fig. 1 can be considered as a "First Day Postcard" for the beginning of censorship. It was mailed from the 70^th Infantry Regiment from Slatina (Olt County) on the very day of mobilization August 14 (old style date), as one can see from the manuscript date. A sentence from the text is of great interest in that it says, "I would like to write to you more but it is no longer allowed from now on." A confirmation that censorship was in force. The postcard is censored in Slatina with a "neutral" B type marking indicating that some censorship cancellers were made before August 27 (new style date). The Slatina originating postmark is dated August 29, two days after the commencement of censorship.

The Romanian armies crossed the Austro-Hungarian borders on August 28, 1916 but following a short victorious campaign were forced to withdraw following pressure from German divisions transferred from other fronts and defeat on the southern (Dobruja) front. Following a short period of resistance in the Carpathian mountains in October 1916, Wallachia was occupied by the German-Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Ottoman (operating mainly in the Dobruja) armies. The county capitals were occupied as follows: Sept. 4 - Bazargic; Sept.10 - Silistra; Oct.22 - Constanta; Nov.17 - Târgu-Jiu; Nov.21 -Craiova; Nov.22 - Turnu Severin; Nov.23 - Caracal; Nov 25 - Râmnicu Valcea; Nov.27 - Turnu Măgurele, Slatina, and Giurgiu; Nov.28 - Pitesti and Câmpulung; Dec. 3 - Târgoviste; Dec. 6 -Bucharest and Ploiesti; Dec.13 - Buzău; Dec.23 - Tulcea; Dec.28 - Râmnicu Sărat; Jan. 4 1917 -Brăila; Jan 7 - Focsani.

A “Militär-Verwaltung-in Rumänien” (MViR = The Military Administration in Romania) was established in the newly occupied territories by the Germans. This occupation lasted through November of 1918 with Romania being divided into two zones namely the occupied one "MViR" and the free Romania in Moldavia with its capital in Iasi.

Before the occupation of Bucharest, the Romanian government decided on November 12/25 1916 to move all the official institutions to Iasi which was the "historical capital" of Moldavia. In addition the military censorship office from Bucharest was also moved to Iasi; the censor marking devices were not changed and were therefore used from November 13/26 1916 through to the spring of 1919. Consequently far more Bucharest censor markings were applied in Iasi. The markings seen are as follows:

2 "A"markings: "Bucuresti-Scrisori" and "Posta Centrală"

2 "B" markings: "Bucuresti Central Scrisori" and "Ilfov"

1 Sealing label: "Ilfov"

It is very possible that other "refugee" censorship markings, in addition to these, will be discovered in the future.

It is important to appreciate that these ‘refugee’ markings were used at the same time as the local Iasi cancels so it is possible to find items with Iasi and Bucharest markings both of which have been applied in the same town.

The authorities returned to Bucharest on November 17, 1918 but is seems as thought the "refugee" markings only returned to the capital in February or March of 1919!

Between November 1916 and November 1918 Iasi became the capital of unoccupied Romania. Iasi was designated as the main censoring office for the country. It was also the transit point for all foreign mail leaving or coming to Moldavia. Consequently the external censor office was located in Iasi. This used different and specific censor markings (types F and J).

Foreign Mail to and from Moldavia (Dec.1916 - Nov.1918).

a) External mail could be sent to neutral or allied countries in 1917 and for the first few months of 1918 through the help of the Russian allies. This mail transited Petrograd where it was censored by the Russians. For western European destinations it was sent on via Scandinavia (Fig. 2 - 3).

b) Mail to enemy countries (Germany, Austro-Hungary including occupied Romania) was permitted only after Buftea's Preliminary Peace Treaty of March 5/18 1918. Consequently, between March and November 1918 one can find interesting "interzonal" pieces of mail that have passed between Moldavia or Bessarabia and occupied Romania with the double censoring from both Iasi (Romanian censors) and Bucharest (German censors) (Fig. 4& 5).

The Circular No.53682 from the Director General of Posts and Telegraphs ended all censorship on Romanian territory on August 5, 1920. But in the newly united provinces censorship functioned occasionally after this date. Consequently, one can see censorship markings as late as 1921 in Transylvania and 1928 in some Bessarabia areas. In old Romania no such examples have been reported except for a postcard (Fig. 6) with a Slatina "A" marking on its stamp, dated January 1922. It is very possible that this marking was used as a "date" canceller (for unknown reasons) and not as a censor marking ?!

Apart this exception, the inland mail of Old Romania did not have any censorship from November of 1919; this was the date of the Director General of Posts Circular No. 76822 / Nov. 20, 1919 which stated that censorship was no longer under military authority and was the responsibility of the Postal Service. Only censorship of foreign mail is known after November of 1919 and this continued through to at least July of 1920.

The mail to Transylvania was censored in Bucharest in similiar conditions to the external mail. The reason for this is not yet clear, this interesting aspect of censoring at this time needs further research (Fig. 26).

Apart from these two special situations (Transylvania and external mail) it seems that, unless new discoveries dispute it, internal censorship in Old Romania ceased before December of 1919.

"Stand alone" conventional censor markings. The first three types (A-B-C) have the place name indicated (county or town). For Bucharest which apparently had 4 censor offices these were: the main post office located in the Central Post Office building ("Posta Centrală"), with sections of "Scrisori" (letters), "Mesagerii" (parcels) and "Telegraf" (telegraph).

Type "A". Double circle (27-28 x 17-19 mm) dated postmark with upper inscription reading "BIUROUL DE CENZURĂ MILITARĂ" (Military Censoring Office) and in the lower section (Fig.7) the name of the main town. Colors seen are black and red (for Bucuresti-Scrisori only).

Varieties:

a) A different type of cancel is reported for a censor office in the Danube Delta being the only part of the Dobruja that was never occupied by the central powers. It was used at least during December of 1918. The inscription is "BIUROUL DE CENZURĂ / DELTA DUNĂRII (Censoring Office / DD) which lacks the MILITARĂ (Military) word and gives a geographical area as opposed to a town name (the main towns here would be Sulina and Chilia). This cancel has not been seen by the author and its description could be in error.

b) The main Bucharest Censor Office ("POSTA CENTRALĂ") used a larger marking (diameter 31 x 21 mm) with a different design (the inner circle omitted) (Fig. 8).

c) The same diameter and design but this time with a totally different cancel "CENZURA MILITARĂ POSTALĂ" (Postal Military Censorship) and used in Iasi between June 1917 and at least September 1918. This cancel has been seen mainly on 1918 "interzonal" mail sent from Wallachia to Moldavia (Fig.9).

The general period of use for the "A" markings is Sept. 1916 - Nov.1919 with the exception of the Slatina marking mentioned above.

Type "B". This is a small rectangular dateless mark with a place for the date to be manually filled in (an operation that it seems was never done), with general dimensions of 48 - 50 x 14 - 15 mm (there are exceptions of 52 x 17 mm markings - see Fig. 10). The text reads "CENZURAT / Cenzura Militară a Jud..../ Data....." (Censored / The county military censor.... Date....).

Varieties:

a) The Bucharest offices used markings with different inscriptions.

"CENZURAT / CENZURA MILITARĂ / BUCURESTI CENTRAL SCRISORI / Data...." (CENSORED / MILITARY CENSORSHIP / BUCHAREST CENTRAL LETTERS / Date....);
"CENZURAT / Biuroul de cenzură / BUCURESTI MESAGERII / Data...." (CENSORED / Censoring Office / BUCHAREST PARCELS / Date....);
"CENZURAT / CENZURA MILITARĂ / BUCURESTI TELEGRAF CENTRAL / Data..." (CENSORED / MILITARY CENSORSHIP / BUCHAREST TELEGRAPH CENTRAL / Date....).

b) In August / September 1916 are seen what appear to be the first Romanian neutral marking that do not have a county place name. And read "CENZURAT / Cenzura Militară a judetului (not abbreviated) / Data...." (see Fig 1, 11).

All "B" markings were used between August 1916 and February 1919 (and probably later). Colors were violet, red, black, green.

Type "C": the big rectangle which is always dateless, with dimensions 55 - 56 x 23 - 24 mm. The text reads"CENZURAT / CENZURA MILITARĂ / A JUDETULUI "(CENSORED / MILITARY CENSORSHIP / OF THE COUNTY....) followed by the County's name.

Varieties:

a) Bucharest main office used the marking seen in Fig. 13. ".../.../BUCURESTI POSTA C(ENTRA)LĂ" (abbreviated).

All "C" markings can be seen between October 1916 and at least December 1919. Colors are black, blue (Botosani) and red (Bucharest).

Type "D". Following the return of the authorities to Bucharest in November of 1918 Romanian censorship was restarted in the Dobruja and Wallachia. The old censor devices (A-B-C) from 1916 were reused in 1919 and are marked "*" in the table. In many cases the old markings had been lost or destroyed and it was necessary to manufacture new ones. I have found two different situations:

a) when the markings were similar to the old ones - for example in Craiova a new "B" device was manufactured with faults (Fig. 14) as the dimensions and form were different from the original (Fig. 10). It was used in January 1919 but presumably due to its poor quality it was replaced with a new "D" device.

b) In most case newly designed "D" devices were used. These were "neutral" marks with only the marks "CENZURAT" or "CENSURAT" (CENSORED) without a place name. These were used between February and September 1919. At least two main kinds are seen.

framed marks (Fig. 15), which have a common simple design with the dimensions 33 x 7 mm (in Târgu Jiu, Turnu Severin) or 32 x 8 mm (Râmnicu Vâlcea, Constanta, Târgoviste).

without a frame. CENSURAT 35 x 7mm (Craiova), 45 x 9 mm (Craiova), CENZURAT 32 X 4 mm (Focsani - Fig. 16).

Many other "D" markings are waiting to be discovered.

"E" Type. This is a negative marking (seal) of the Bucharest military censor office and was used between May and at least December of 1919. It is only found in black. Diameter is 29-30 mm, the negative text reads "CENSURA MILITARĂ / BUCURESTI" (MILITARY CENSORSHIP / BUCHAREST) and in the middle the censorship monogram "CM". This mark was used mainly but not exclusively on foreign mail (Fig. 17).

"F" Type. This is one particular marking used in Iasi for censoring foreign registered mail between August and September... 1917. The text reads "Censura Militară Centrală / LIBER / Recomandate" (Central Military Censorship / FREE / Registered) - not illustrated here.

These are the kind with the censors number or letter in them for identification purposes. With the exception of "G" these marks these marks are usually accompanied by a Group I censor mark. Therefore they are not "stand alone."

"G" Type. This is actually an intermediary marking between Groups I and II markings and is a combined marking with both the town name and the censors number. The designs are not uniform because for each censor a different device was made. The general dimensions are between 28 and 32 mm in diameter. These were used at least between October 1917 and June 1918 and are found in black. They were used in the main towns of Moldavia with the exception of Iasi where "H" devices were used. Censor numbers are generally between 1 - 10 (Fig. 18).

Variety. The Bucharest "G" markings represents a different family of marks being used in the capital after the withdraw of the German Administration (December 1918 - January 1919), These were probably the first markings to be used after liberation while the "Refugee" devices were still in Iasi (until at least February of 1919). Their design is different with a letter A, B, or C (which probably indicated one of the three censoring offices) followed by a censors number (Fig.19).

"H" Type. This is the same as Type "G" but with the town name omitted and with a number between 1 and 34. All "H" markings were used in Iasi and are equivalent to the "G" markings used in the rest of Moldavia. They are however different and have the dimensions 28 - 30 mm and were used from July 1917 to August 1918 and according to other sources even as late as Jan 1919? Colors seen are black, and rarer in red or violet (Fig. 20).

"I" Type. This type is to be found on mail to and from prisoners and civilian internees in Moldavia. They were used in Iasi in January 1918 and are seen in violet and red. The text reads "CENZURAT (CENSORED) followed by a group of letters (in Fig. 21 R / MR / DS). Also reported are C / MR / DS, N / MR / DS and so on. Dimensions are 39-40 x 20 mm.

"J" Type. These are oval markings used in Iasi with "CENZURAT" followed by a letter which must have been the code for the censor who handled external mail. Two varieties are known:

a) With thick letters and the marks dimensions being 37 -41 x 28-31 mm. Colors seen are red, violet, and black. There are some markings with different dimensions but with the same letter (Fig. 22 and 2 for"N"). This means that due to loss or destruction some of the devices were replaced with newly manufactured ones. Usage was from April to December 1917.

b) With thin letters, dimensions 41 x 23 mm, seen in black, and used in June of 1918 (Fig. 23).

It is worth noting that only part of the foreign mail bears these markings!

"K" Type. These are censor numbers that were used in Bucharest between .. April 1919 and at least July 1920. These are seen on both inland and foreign mail near a "C" or "E" marking, but in 1920 usually alone (Fig. 24, 26).

"L" Type. These are markings with a diameter of 18 - 19 mm are found always in black and have the letters "E" or "J' followed by a number between 1-11 (currently we know of the markings E1 – E11; J1 – J11). They were used between December 1917 and November 1918 both on inland and interzonal mail (Fig.25). To date the significance of this mark has not been clearly explained.

Seal Labels These were used to seal letters that had been opened by the censors and are not common. To date only three varieties have been reported:

CENZURAT

CENZURAT / CENZURA MILITARĂ A JUDETULUI...... /Data... (CENSORED / THE COUNTY MILITARY CENSORSHIP.. / Date...), with the name of the county to be manually filled in.

CENZURAT / CENZURA MILITARĂ A JUDETULUI ILFOV / Data (the same as above but for Ilfov County). This label was used in Iasi as a "refugee" label.

The above Table has been compiled from all the material known to date for the markings A,D,C,D,G. The censor offices are listed geographically with first the capital Bucharest with its county of Ilfov, then Wallachia from the west to the east, and finally Dobruja and Moldavia from south to north. ‘+’ indicates a known marking, ‘-‘ means that the mark cannot exist. All the positions without a notation are waiting for future discovery (that is markings that may exist but have not yet been seen). The counties 1 - 17 (this numbers are the same as on the map) are in Wallachia, 18 - 21, and 35 in the Dobruja, 22 - 34 in Moldavia. Counties 1 - 22 were between 1916 and 1918 and represent occupied Romania (MViR and 9^th Army). The counties 23 - 35 are in free Romania (Moldavia).

Zonal Uses The individual markings were used as follows: In Bucharest A, B, C, E, G, K, in the rest of Wallachia A, B, C, D; in Iasi A, B, C, F, H, I, J, L; in the rest of Moldavia A, B, C, G. One can see that only A, B, C devices were used in the whole of Old Romania.

Statistics and Valuations In my collection the frequency of each type of mark is as follows: A - 37%, B -16%, L-11%, H-7%, G-6%, B-5%, D,E,K, -4%, J-3%, F,I - 1%.

Table 2: The rarity of each individual type or combination (reported to 100).

The commonest combination markings are as follows:

Inland mail "A" & "C"

Foreign mail "A" & "J"

Interzonal mail "A" & "L" and "A" & "H"

But all this says little about the rarity of each individual mark. The A-B-C marks show the greatest variation in rarity. For example it is difficult to compare a "Bucuresti - Scrisori" "A" marking ( a 1 rarity) with a "Bazargic" "A" of 1916 which was only in use for 6 days (LP rarity). Ratings for marks used in Wallachia must be done separately for the two periods: during 1916 and after December 1918. Those from 1916 (in use for 6 - 130 days) are much scarcer than those of the later period (where use was greater than 11 months).

The following using a comparative point system is my personal opinion regarding the rarity of these markings:
"A" Bucharest 1 - 2, Moldavia 2-5, Wallachia 8 - 30, Dobruja 20 - LP
"B" Bucharest 5 - 20, Moldavia 8 - 15, Wallachia 15-?, Dobruja?
"C" Bucharest 1, Moldavia 2 - 5, Wallachia 8 - 30, Dobruja?
"D" 8-18
"E" 3
"F" minimum 50
"G" 5 - 10
"H" 3 - 5
"I" minimum 30
"J" 8 - 15
"K" 3 - 5
"L" 1
"Labels" - minimum of 30

Most of the rarer markings are not yet reported so it is difficult to say which are the true rarities in censorship seen in the Old Romanian Kingdom during and after the First World War.

*Note At the time of the WWI Romania used the Julian (old style) calendar which was 13 days behind the Gregorian (new style) calendar - indicated in the text as 1/14 June. Sometimes the date markings on a piece of mail would use both the old and the new dates. For example, manuscript dates would be in the old style while the postal date may be in the new style giving an apparent difference of 13 days when in fact there was none.

Bibliography:

1. Telegut M, Thielk H. - Postzensuren in Rumänien 1913 - 1950, edition 1.1985, edition 2 1987. Firma Uni-service, Kiel Germany

2. Dragomir S. - Military Censor Markings, Rornanian Philatelic Studies 1982;3:14-15, 1983;1 :9

3. Passalega D. - War Correspondence 1877 - 1878, 1916 - 1918, Filatelia 1973;12:9

4. Chiritescu M. - 1917 Irkutsk-Iasi, Filatelia 1983;5:8

6. Economu R. - A new censor mark in Iasi, Filatelia 1984;5:6

7. Milu C. - The postmarks of Bucharest and Iasi Military Censor Offices 1916 - 1919 Filatelia.(?ref)

Ref 1. is in German, 2. in English, 3 - 8 in Romanian.

Illustrations:

Fig.1: First Day Postcard documenting the beginning of Romanian censorship;

Fig.2: Foreign mail postcard sent from Geneva (date cancel May 31, 1917) which passed through Petrograd (date cancel) where it was censored (a black rectangular mark with no. 126), it arrived in Iasi where it received two censor marks: an "A" BUCURESTI-SCRISORI dated Aug.26, 1917 and a "J", letter N mark.

Fig.3: Postcard sent from Berne (cancel Aug.23, 1917) which passed through Petrograd (mechanical date cancel of Sept.8, 1917, where it was censored with a violet rectangular mark), it arrived at the Iasi Censor office where a BUCUREST-SCRISORI "A" mark (Jan.4, 1918) and a "H" mark no. 25 where applied. A IASI arrival Jan.5, 1918, a postman's personal number / numeral marking "2" (so this is not a censor mark !) and an arriving cancel of Bârlad on January 6, 1918 are all present.

Fig.4: Interzonal-mail: a postcard sent from Iasi on June 25, 1918 where it was censored with both an "A" POSTA CENTRALĂ marking and an "H" mark no. 18 and then re-censored by the Germans in Bucharest (Geprüft / 1 JULI / Postüberwachungsstelle).

Fig.7: "A" markings from Craiova, Piatra-Neamt, Bucuresti-Scrisori.

Fig.9: Cenzura Militară Postală "A" marking.

Fig.10: "B" marking from Bucuresti Central Scrisori.

Fig.12: "C" marking from Tutova county.

Fig.13: "C" marking from Bucuresti Posta Centrală.

Fig.17: the "E" marking.

Fig.18: "G" markings from Vaslui , Bacău, Piatra Neamt.

Fig.19: The Bucharest "G" marking on a postcard.

Fig.20: varieties of the "H" markings from Iasi.

Fig.21: the "I" marking.

Fig.22: thin "J" markings: a) letter 'G'; b) letter 'Z' on a postcard sent from Hârlău (June 1918) by a former Transylvanian volunteer in the Romanian army to his family back in Gyulaféhervár / Alba Iulia and censored in Iasi with a "J" postmark, then in Bucharest by the Germans (GEPRÜFT / without date! / Postüberwachungsstelle) then by the Austro-Hungarians in Budapest (ATVIZGALVA / Z.ST.BUDAPEST / ZENSURIERT). Note also the postman's numeral postmark no. 13 of Iasi.

Fig.24: "K" censor marking 124.

Fig.25: "L" marking E11.

Fig.27: Postcard sent from Piatra Neamt Hospital in October 1916 (framed postmark of the hospital plus a round postmark of the Romanian Red Cross - branch Piatra Neamt), censored in Neamt county with a "B" mark and arriving in the front lines area where it received a "POSTA MILITARĂ" (Military Post) mark.

The Map: With the counties & chief towns (abbreviated as in the table) and the frontline Jan,1917-Nov.1918 (the xxxxxxxxxxx line between free and occupied Romania)

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