Žeimelis (Zhejmeli, Scheimeljany) is a town in north Lithuania, ca. 50 km north-east of Šiauliai, close to the Latvian border. In World War One, after the conclusive fall of Šiauliai on July 21, 1915 Žeimelis was entered by German cavalry in late July.
During the German army’s withdrawal from Russia at the end of 1918, some units of the advancing Red Army came to Žeimelis from Latvia in early January 1919 but were pushed out by German Grenzsschutz troops (Brigade Schaulen) in mid-March. In mid-October of the same year the area came under the control of foraging “bermontininkai” until they were expelled by joint Lithuanian and Latvian troops on November 20, 1919.
Žeimelis had had a post office (as Zhejmeli) in czarist times but had none during the German occupation. A postal facility was planned or actually set up during the short period of Bolshevik rule in early 1919 but there is no surving evidence of its activity.
A mandate to open a Lithuanian post office was issued to Jurgis Murniekas some time in 1919 (most likely May 10, 1919 – a date when probably by a confusion of place-names he was assigned to Žeimiai). On April 14, 1920 he was to be transferred to open a post office in Dotnuva and be replaced by Juozas Šimaitis, but within a week or so these transfers were corrected so that Jurgis Murniekas stayed on in Žeimelis and Juozas Šimaitis went to Dotnuva instead.
For stamps, Žeimelis was provided with values of Fourth Berlin Issue, followed by the Sėjėjas Issue etc. To start with, stamps were pen-cancelled by indicating place and date. At least one such stamp bears an additional / confirming postmark of the nearby district post office of Joniškis (displayed below).
According to a report from an exhibition, provisional registration at Žeimelis was effected by means of a hand-drawn box showing “Žeimelis Lietuva” and serial number, preceded by MS “R” in red.
A standard calendar-type postmarker was supplied in 1921.
Known provisional markings:
Manuscript cancelling:
24 / V 1919m single, Berlin IV 50 [colln. Liesis]
1919 … single, Berlin IV 10 [colln. Wilson]
1 / VII /1919 single, Berlin IV 30 [colln. V. Jurkša]
18 / I [1920] single, Berlin IV 20 [PHILLIT 39]Registration by hand-drawn box with “Žeimelis Lietuva” and MS “R” in red:
12 / X 1919 reg. letter No. 90 to Berlin, Berlin IV 60 x2 [exhibited by Lindberg]