Monday, November 30, 2015

Mažeikiai-Riga Railway post 1912



Муравьево / Muravjevo (now Mažeikiai, Lithuania) - Riga

Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz (today Auce, Latvia)

This is an Imperial Russian postal stationery with a railway post cancel of 1912, line 86 between Муравьево / Muravjevo (now Mažeikiai, Lithuania) and Riga which was also a part of Russia at that time. The destination of the card is Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz, a German place name spelled in Russian alphabet. It sounds a bit weird but it was perfectly normal because the gubernia of Kurland was German speaking despite being part of the Russian Empire. The town  of Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz is today simply called Auce, part of Latvia, just 5 km from the Lithuanian border and 25 km north east of Mažeikiai. I had been curious if "Neu-Autz" exists. If "Alt-" does, why not the "Neu-", and yes! it does actually. Wikipedia tells me it is Jaunauce which is literally the "New Auce", located just 4 km west of Auce.

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