Preserved concentration camp mail is rare, but parcel cards are even rarer. I have encountered them only for a few parcels, all addressed to major camps in Italy. Most were returned to the sender because the addressee was unavailable—either transferred to another camp or deceased.
Recently, I discovered an intriguing parcel card pre-overprinted with the Italian Red Cross symbol and with some fields already prefilled in red. The field "Valore" (= Value) contains the inscription: "Pacco per prigioniero internato civile di guerra" (= Parcel for Interned Civilian Prisoner of War). The overprint was done using the letterpress technique, suggesting a large circulation. However, to date, I have only come across this single example.
Ljubljana Province, parcel card, pre-overprinted for Red Cross usage, for a 5kg parcel, sent from Ljubljana to Concentration Camp Arbe. The parcel was handed over to Ljubljana 2 Post Office on 9.11.42 and forwarded on 11.11.42. It passed through customs in Trieste on 13.11.42 and was delivered to the Arbe Post Office and the Concentration Camp on 17.11.42. However, because the addressee was unavailable, the parcel was marked for return to Ljubljana with the manuscript annotation "Al Mittente Retour Lubiana." The parcel returned to Ljubljana 2 Post Office on 26.12.42 and transferred to Ljubljana 1 Post Office on 28.12.42 with the label "Esente da diritti doganali / Prosto carine" (= Free of customs). On 29.12.42, a warehousing fee of 80 cents was applied before it was handed over to a representative of the Red Cross.
