This German Help Organisation was based in Stockholm and would appear not to be dissimilar to the Red Cross in that it acted as a post box for civilian mail addressed to Germany which could not be delivered directly.
In April 1915 they offered to accept such letters. In the case of German East Africa each letter had to be accompanied by three International Reply Coupons(IRC’s) from that country where stocks quickly ran out. The coupons were the standard type in use but were inscribed 25 Pfennig=19 Heller. It appeared that letters which underwent censorship by the British authorities mainly reached their destination in 1919.
I have censored Civilian covers addressed to D H from South West Africa 17 NOV 1915( a. Stockholm 29 12 -year unclear but probably 1915) and from Rhodesia on 9 FEB 1918(a. Stockholm 21 FEB 18). Presumably they each contained IRC’s of sufficient value to cover postage costs for onward transmission to Germany. It is likely that similar arrangements applied in other African Colonies.
IRC’s were first introduced in 1907. The(British) Post Office Guide issued in October 1907 included Southern Rhodesia in a list of countries that would participate in the UPU administered reply coupon system from that date. Hence ‘Southern Rhodesia’ appeared on a coupon two years before even ‘Rhodesia’ appeared on the stamps in 1909 and it was 1924 before Southern Rhodesia appeared on stamps. It is likely that this arose simply because Northern Rhodesia although it used the same stamps as Southern Rhodesia was not in the UPU.
The 1907 coupon(illustrated) has never been seen by any members of the Rhodesian Study Circle.