Šakiai (Shaki, Schaki) was briefly entered by German troops in 1914 at an early stage of the war with Russia, then in February 1915 by reco troups of Ersatz-Brigade Esebeck, then finally and more permanently during the German preparations to storm the formidable Kaunas fortress which fell on August 18, 1915.
Though Šakiai had had a post office in czarist times as Shaki, it was not taken into the Postgebiet Ob.-Ost system. During the German army’s retreat from Russia at the end of 1918, Šakiai and its neighbourhood were patrolled by German volunteer border guards (Grenzschutz), and their regional command centre, Bezirkskommandantur, continued its military and administrative duties at nearby Vilkaviškis.
A mandate to open a Lithuanian post office at Šakiai was given to Vladas Rypinskas. (Below see a letter addressed to him.) Though the mandate was issued as from December 29, 1918, it is doubtful if this date was also the actual opening date, as there had been no post office in Šakiai during the German occupation. During the year 1919 two additional employees, Kazė Sniečkaitė and Rožė Maželytė, were appointed as valdininkai, and the following year, on March 17 the Šakiai P.O. was joined, by his own request as a valdininkas, by the former postmaster (įgaliotinis) of Virbalis, Juozas Sodaitis.
Šakiai was supplied with at least some values of all the Vilnius and Kaunas Issues (with possible exception of First Kaunas Issue). W.E. Norton had in his collection of rarities a 30 skatikai single of First Berlin Issue pen-cancelled “Šakiai”, and some otherwise seldom used values of Second Berlin Issue can be found on genuine though philatelically motivated mail from this P.O. Later, stamps readily available at Šakiai were values from Fourth Berlin Issue, the Sėjėjas Issue etc.
In the absence of a formal postmarker, Šakiai first of all resorted to cancelling stamps by handwriting.
Before long, a makeshift one-line rubber cachet ŠAKIAI was employed where the date was added by hand.
By mid-May, this method was improved by using a one-liner with the date included as part of the cachet.
In ca. September 1919, Šakiai obtained from Pašto Valdyba a standard calendar-type postmarker.
Registered mail services were introduced by Pašto Valdyba on March 1, 1919, but there was no uniformity in distributing standard registration cachets to all the relevant post offices. Šakiai was not among the early ones to receive it, so for some time it had to make do with makeshift hand-made labels where the name of the P.O. was spelled in German as Schaki.
Known provisional markings:
Cancelling by handwriting only:
22 / II / 19 single, Berlin I 30 [formerly Norton]
23 / IV / 19 letter [colln. Bubnys]
5 / V / 19 letter to Gerrmany, Berlin II 50 [colln. Bubnys]
5 / V / 19 letter [reported by Norton]
5 / V / 19 letter [reported by Norton]One-liner “ŠAKIAI” and date by hand:
19 / II / 19 letter to Germany, Vilnius II 30 [colln. Ušpuras]
19 / II / 19 letter to Germany, Vilnius II 20, 30 [formerly Matuzas]
10 / III / 19 single, Kaunas II 15 [colln. Wilson]
10 / III [1919] card to Germany, Berlin I 30 [colln. ?]
11 / III / 19 single, Kaunas II 10 [colln. ?]
11 / III / 19 single, Kaunas II 10 [colln. Bubnys]
12…. single, Kaunas II 10 [colln. Bubnys]
15 / III / 19 letter, Kaunas II 15 x2 [colln. ?]
24 / III / 19 card, Vilnius I 10 x2 [colln. Bubnys]
3 / IV / 19 letter, Vilnius II 30 [colln. ?]
17 / IV / 19 card to Germany, Kaunas II 30 [colln. Bubnys]
18 / IV / 19 card to Germany, Kaunas II 30 [colln. Lizdenis]
18 / IV/ 19 card to Switzerland, Kaunas II 30 [colln. ?]
22 / IV / 19 single, Kaunas III 20 [colln. ?]
24 / IV / 19 letter [reported by Norton]
10 / V / 19 letter, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Lapas]
11 / V / 19 letter [reported by Norton]
12 / V / 19 letter to Germany, Berlin II 5 [colln. Doniela]
date ?, card to Germany , Vilnius II 30 [colln. Bubnys]
various dates, singles, Berlin IV [several collns]One-liner “ŠAKIAI and DATE”:
18. 5. 19 as receipt on letter from Kaunas addressed to Postmaster V. Rypinskas [colln. Lapas]
21. 5. 19 letter to Switzerland, Berlin IV 50 x2 [colln. Doniela]
21. 5. 19 cover to Germany, Berlin IV 50 x2 [colln. Bubnys]
21. 7. 19 letter to Germany, Berlin IV 10 x3, 20 [colln. ?]
28. 7. 19 letter to Switzerland, Berlin IV 50 x4 [colln. Liesis]
29.7.19 cover to Germany, Berlin IV 10, 20 x2 [colln. Bubnys]Provisional MS registration label “Schaki”:
70 12 / V / 19 Letter to Switzerland & “ŠAKIAI and MS date” Berlin II 50 x2 [colln. Bubnys]
166 10. 7. 19 letter to Switzerland & “ŠAKIAI and DATE” , Berlin IV [colln. ?]
168 16. 7. 19 letter to Switzerland & “ŠAKIAI and DATE”, Berlin IV [colln. Doniela]
389 2. IX. 19 letter to Switzerland [colln. Ušpuras]
445 13. IX. 19 letter to Switzerland, Berlin IV [colln. ?]