The official liberation was on May 5, 1945, but parts of the country had been liberated months earlier. Starting in the south in 1944, liberation stamps were issued. First these stamps became available for the navy and merchant fleet from June 15, 1944. From January 1945 on they became available in the liberated parts of the country.
Elburg was liberated on the 18th of April 1945. The new stamps were not available yet. The writer of the picture postcard writes (27.4.1945): ‘Op deze kaart ziet U de nieuwe zegels van vrij Nederland, meegenomen door een kennis uit Limburg en hier nog onbekend. Het zijn dus de eerste in Elburg afgestempeld’. Translated: “This postcard has the new stamps of the free Netherlands, taken along by an acquaintance from Limburg and not known yet here. So, these are the first once cancelled in Elburg.”