door Following the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, the Belgian Congo remained loyal to the Allied cause and came under the administration of the Belgian government in exile.
Henri Franken, a Dutch national originally from Tilburg, was employed in the Belgian Congo during this period. His young son, Guus(je) (1933–2016), was attending boarding school in the Netherlands—a country under German occupation. Naturally, communication between father and son was severely hampered by wartime conditions.
On 16 September 1944, Henri sent a postcard to Guusje, postmarked in Lukula. The return address reads: Lukula-M’Bavai KM 83—a village just outside Lukula, located 83 kilometres from Boma along the Boma–Tsehla railway line, part of the so-called Mayumbe line.
At that time, Allied forces were advancing rapidly across Western Europe: on 12 September, American troops had entered South Dutch Limburg.
The postcard was addressed to Guusje in Bergen op Zoom, a town not liberated until 27 October. Remarkably, it was sent via airmail through Brussels, already liberated on 2 September, suggesting that air routes had been restored swiftly. The card eventually reached Bergen op Zoom and was redirected on 2 April 1945 to Aalst (Waalre), which had been liberated earlier, on 18 September. It was stamped in Bergen op Zoom with postmark number 1 (open four design) and underwent inspection by the Dutch censorship service. The postage was 12 Belgian francs.
The message reveals a father’s growing concern. There had been no contact for some time; earlier letters sent to Guusje’s boarding school had gone unanswered, and the family did not know his whereabouts. Henri pleaded for a prompt reply and urged his son to write back via the air service through Brussels. By then, a regular airmail route between Europe and Congo had resumed.
On 14 June 1945, Henri sent another postcard to Guusje—this time addressed directly to the Piscaer family in Aalst, relatives on the mother’s side. Again postmarked in Lukula, the card was franked with 8 francs and sent by airmail via the United Kingdom. It bears a British censorship mark as well as the prominent red oval stamp “O.A.T.” (Onward Air Transmission), indicating London as the transit point.
In this second message, Henri writes: “Still no further news (though I did receive two cards in February).” His words confirm that Guusje remained in the Netherlands, while his siblings had stayed with the family in the Congo during the war. 
Both cards will be on sale in de Sheraton & Peel auction in August 2025.
