Official First Day Sheet (Ersttagsblatt) – Beatification of Edith Stein and Rupert Mayer (1988)

This is an authentic Official First Day Sheet (Ersttagsblatt) issued by the Deutsche Bundespost in 1988. The document commemorates the beatification of two prominent historical figures who resisted the Nazi regime, celebrated by Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit to Cologne and Munich in 1987.

The commemorative stamp features detailed portraits of both figures:

Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross): A brilliant Jewish-German philosopher who converted to Catholicism, became a Carmelite nun, and was tragically martyred at Auschwitz in 1942.

Father Rupert Mayer: A prominent Jesuit priest and courageous anti-Nazi resistance figure in Munich who was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp