TheMe who do not COUec4 IItamplI will be llUrpri.&ed to dillco'ver how mucJ~ of Europe'II recent hilltonJ t" mirrored in IItampll. HISTORY BY MAIL By JOHN DUEHRKOPP T is a rare event for us to receive a. soon replaced by Polish stamps captured in letter from Europe; and when we do Warsaw and overprinted with the German happen to be the lucky recipient of such national emblem and the designation "Gen­ uncommon object, we hardly pay any eral-Gouvernement" (FIo. 23). It might tion to that little square of colored seem like an irony of fate that these over­ sticking modestly in the comer of the printed stamps were the very ones which .,-elope. And yet how much these stamps had been printed in commemoration of the tell us about their countries. For, after twentieth anniversary of the PoliRh Republic Ill, they are not only the post office's receipt and which showed outstanding events from postage paid but in addition a sort of the past history of Poland. When the niiting card of their country, whose history, stocks of these stamps had been used op, 'tOOI!omicB, science, art, culture and, last but the new final issue appeared in the autumn least, Bcenic beauties they reflect in a of 1940. Famous buildings of Warsaw, tholl8and ways. Cracow (ll'l:o. 9), and Lublin are reproduced in this beautiful set. It is by no means the intention of this ,erticle to initiate the reader into the mys­ The occupation of Denmark and Norway ~ of philately with all its technical found no philatelic expression, all current tomplications of counting perforations or stamps being recognized by tho Germau ,looking for secret watermarks. We shall occupation authorities, who used them also .tpeak, not of stamp collecting, but of the for their own communications. The only -*mps themselves as witnesses to the most effect was that the portrait of King Haakon ieoent chapter of European history. disappeared from the stamps; instead the portrait of Vidkun Quisling appeared in • various commemorative issues (FIG. 3). Let us turn back the wheel of time to ·the Polish campaign of September 1939. Let us step a little ahead of chronological 'On September 8 of that year the German events here and mention an issue brought :Army communique announced: "The Polish out by the Norwegian Emigre Government prrison of the Westerplatte in Danzig has in London. According to one of its decrees, lUfJ'endered." This meant that Danzig was a.ll mail posted on morchant vessels and WIU­ free again. To commemorate the return of ships sailillg under thc flag of the Norwegian the city to Germany, two special stamps exile government had to be franked with Yere immediately issued in Germany showing these new stamps after January I, 1943. the famous Church of St. Mary (FlO. 24) and The designs of these stamps include a rep­ the "Krantor" in Danzig, together with the resentation of the latest Norwegian destroyer inscription "Danzig ist Deutsch." Sleipner, a merchant COll\TOY en route and, on the highest denomination, the portrait A few days later, after a campaign of of King Haakon. eighteen days, Poland was occupied by German troops. The German Governor The Netherlands were ruled since 1890 General took office and the first postage by Queen Wilhelmina, and her portrait is to stamps for the occupied territories were be found on many a Dutch stamp. But the jasued. These were the well-known German German Western campaign, which started .atamps with the head of President Hinden­ on May 10, 1940, created a new situation. burg overprinted with the words "Deutsche A series of stamps which had been issued :P08t Osten" and the values in Polish our­ immediately before the outbreak of hostili­ rency (FIo. 1). However, this issue was ties and which showed a medallion of the 200 THE XXtb CENTURY

Queen was confiscated by the German troops the kingdom of Yugoslavia disintegraUd of occupation and replaced by a neutral into its former parts of Croatia, Montenegro, issue whose design simply consisted of large and Serbia as well as the Italian-occupied numerals. Their denominations remained territories of Fiume, Kupa, and Laibach. unchanged in guilders and cents. On April 10, 1941, the independent new state of Croatia wa.s founded which, until it In neighboring Belgium there was no could issue its own stamps, made use of philatelic indication of the occupation of the stocks of former Yugoslavian stampll. In country, the stamps with King Leopold's order, however, to blot out the portrait of portrait remaining in circulation. Only the King Peter II, who had occupied the Yugo­ return of the territories of Eupen and Mal· slavian throne since 1934, the stamps were medy, which had been scyered from the overprinted with a coat-of-arms (FlO. 2) aDd Reich by the Versaille.s Treaty, wa.s com· with the words "Nezavisna Drzava Hrnk memorated in Germany by two stamps ska" (Independent State of Croatia). An showing views of those towns (FIG. 4). issue similar in appearance was brought out In Luxemburg affairs took a different to commemorate the founding of the new turn. After the German troops had oc· Croatian Army. These stamps, which were cupied the Grand Duchy, postal develop. sold at twice their face value, were very ments followed a similar coursc here a.s in limited in number and sold out within a Poland: German stamps with an overprint few days. Several months later, the new were first circulated and soon replaced by state introduced itself with its own stamps the current stamps of Luxemburg over· depicting the romantic nature of this coun· printed in German currency (FlO. 22). As try in attractive views of Zagreb (FlO. 18), from January I, 1942, these latter were also Konjic, the Velebit ma.ssif, etc. withdrawn from circulation, and from that date on only the ordinary German stamps Reborn Serbia, whose past philatelic his· have been in use. So this small European tory is a rich one, also resorted at first to state has also ceased to exist in philately. overprinted stamps, to appear finally with its own issue showing views of SODlC of ita As in Belgium, the current stamps were famous monasteries. Montenegro, which also left in circulation in tIle occupied part also declared itself an independent state, of France, and no German occupation accepted Italian regency. After the country stamps were issued. The return of Alsace was occupied, the current Italian stamps and Lorraine, which Germany had lost with the portrait of King Victor Emmanuel through the Versailles Dictate, wa.s reBected and with the Roman coat-of-arms were by the overprint of "Elsass" on the ordinary overprinted with the name of the country German stamps. After a short period of and remained in circulation until Badoglio'a transition t,he stamps of t,he Reich were the treason. In 1943, Montenegro issued an only ones to be valid here. additional series of its own with scenes from the country's national literature. We might The conclusion of belligerent events in mention here as a philatelic freak that these the West was provided by the occupation of stamps bore on their reverse side quotations the British Channel Islands of Jersey and applying to the scenes shown. Alter Bado· Guernsey on July I, 1940. As it wa.s not glio's treason, German troops undertook the po88i ble to issue new stamps quickly enough, protection of the country, and now we find the English stamps showing King George again the old Yugoslavian stamps with the VI were allowed to continue in circulation. overprint "Deutsche Militar-Verwaltung Since the local stocks of one-penny stamps were very soon exhausted, the German Montenegro." postal administration was forced to resort Finally we must mention the numerous to cutting the twopenny stamps in half. occupation issues brought out by the Italian Not until 1941 did the islands receive their civil authorities in the territories mentioned own stamps in penny denominations with a above as well as on a number of Greek special emblem. islands. An example: in the Italian-Croatian border treaty the basin of Laibach was • ceded to Italy and immediately incorporated A new chapter in the history of the war as an Italian province. AIter a few inter­ was begun wit h the Balkan campaign in 1941. mediary series of stamps with the overprint It was in April of that year that, as a result "Zona Occupata," the ordinary Italian stamps of the victory of German and Italian troops, were the only ones to be valid t,here. HISTORY BY MAIL 201

complete occupation of Greece brought A symbolic representation of the nations: cooclusion of military operations in t,he united as comrades in arms is given in a . Since aU recent issues of Gret:k special issue produced for the exhibit.ion pi were of an entirely neutral character, "Europe's Fateful Struggle in the East" C1II1eDt stamps remained in circulation. which was held at Zagreb in December 1941. latest serics shows views of ancient The stamp shows 4 warriors whose shields '0 significance, for instance, Herakleion display the armorial bearings of Germany, Crete and the monastery of Meteora. Croatia, ltaly, and Rumania (FIG. 8). The 'interest,ing feature of this series is that stamps were sold at a premium, the proceeds face values are considerably higher than of which were intended for the Croatian of former issues. This is the first volunteers fighting on the Eastern Jo~ront. that a stamp of 200 drachmas has made Hungary, whose Honved soldiers are now appearance (FlO. 20). fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Ger­ The stamp histQry of the Baltic states is man troops in the East, also has an issue jtticuJarly variegated. Lithuania, which depictillg her vnrious arms in action (FlU. iIld celebrated the twentieth anniversary of 14). When Stephan Horthy, the son of the independence by a commemorati"e issue Hungarian Regent, met his death as a flying .. January 15, 1939, and had brought out officer in 1942, the whole nation ruourned tlIID6 peciaJ stamps six months later on the with his fa.mily, and a commemorative series tllC!Mion of the return of the Vilna territory, was brought out showing Stephan Horthy ... 8wallowed up in the summer of 1940 by and his mother in a black mourning border. Mae Soviet Union, in company with Latvia France was also represented by volunteers lid E8wnia. So we find Lithunnia's last on the Eastern Front and issued several time depicting allegorical representations of stamps showing fighting French soldiers; in ~_overprinted with "LTSR/1940 VII 21" addition to the normal text they are o\'er· (LTSR=Lithuanian Socialist So..;et Re· printed with the words "}~ront de l'Est.'" pllblic). When the German armies marohed Similar issucs are in circulation in U)e ID in the summer of 1941, these new SO"iet Netherlands and Norway, depicting heads of Jepublic8 came to an end. Under German their soldiers and bearing the inscription occupation they were combined into the "Legioen Nederland" (FIG. 13) and "Norske territory of the Commissar General for Legion." There are also several Belgian OItJand and were given stamps of the issues with allegorical scenos of the war to German Reich with a portrait of the Fuhrer proclaim the presence of the Flemish and IIId overprinted "08tland" (FIO. 21). In ~ditioD, WaUoon Legions on the Eastern Front. A there were a lllIDlber of local issues stamp bearing the name "Slovensko" and which, sold at a considerable premium, containing the scene of an infantry detach· arved mainly for charitable purposes. ment in action tells us that even the sman • Slovak state has contributed its bit in The stamp8 of many countries reflect the Europe's struggle. Rantic struggle against Bolshevism. A • Finnish starnp depicting the proud castle of The mail connection of the soldiers at the Viipuri tells U8 of the recapture of this town front with thcir fnmilies at home is, of by the Finnish Army on August 30, 1941. course, of great imPQrtance in war time. To commemorate Finland's struggle for Almost every country has a special field· freedom, a series was also issued showing post service for its soldiers and sailors. which President Risto Ryti and Field :Marshal transports letters and parcels free of charge. llanncrheim (FlO. 7). The same stamps In the German armed forces, this service with an overprint served as the occupation has been developed to a. very high degree. issue for Eastern Karelia. In l~umania Thus we find a German field-airmail stamp stamps were issued bearing an appeal to depicting a Junkers transport plane and join in the "Holy War Against Bolshevism"; printed in steel blue. On the Eastern they show the heads of a Germnn and a Front, every soldier is given four of these Rumanian soldier in addition to the emblems stamps a month, two for himself and twQo of both countries. The proceeds from the for his family to use. Another field-post aa.le of t.hese postal stamps went to charity. stamp is used for small field. post parcels; Another Rumanian stamp shows the heads every soldier receives one such stamp every of King Michael, Marshal Antonescu, Adolf month, which can be used for parcels lip to Hitler. and Benito ~Iussolini. one kilogram. In Finland we find a simill1'r 202 THE XXth CENTURY stamp for the transport of field-post parcels appearance with which we are familiar today (FIG. 12). were uBed in Great Britain in the year 1840. Just as on the very first issues, so also CIa • the anniversary series the head of QUle Although Italy has been very cOMervative Victoria is shown, namely on the left side 01 in the issuing of new stamps during the last the stamp, while on the right side of the few years, the checkered history of that anniversary stamp appears the portrait 01 country is inevitably reflected in its stamps. the present ruler, King George VI. Among the rare special series issued during the first two years of the present war are those commemorating the historic meetings • between Mussolini and Hitler, showing the Our survey would be incomplete if we did heads of these two great leaders. Similar not mention the multitude of charity postal stamps were issued in honor of the same stamps, which give us an impressive idea of occasions in Germany (FIG. 15). After the the welfare work being carried out for those treason of the House of Savoy, Mussolini who have suffered from the war. In the proclaimed the National H.epublican Govern­ Great War there were already numeroua ment in Northern Italy. The current stamps stamps issued by the countries concerned with the portrait of ex-King Victor Em­ which, sold at a considerable surcharge, manuel were overprinted with the letters brought in large sums for oharity. In the ·'G.N.R." ("Guardia Nazionale Repubblica­ present war we find, for instance, a special na"). These stamps (FlO. 10) may one day German issue on Heroes' Memorial Day prove a rare document of the times. For 1943 depicting various arms in action (Flo. they were withdrawn again after a few 30). The surcharge went to the war· days, since the overprint was almost il­ wounded. France remembers her prisoners legible and by no means served the purpose of war with two special stamps which, with for which it had been intended, namely, to an actual denomination of only 80 centimtll blot out the portra.it of the ex.King. An­ and one franc, bear a surcharge of five france. other series appeared with the overprint Even greater is the charity surcharge on the "Italia I~epubblicana Fascista Base Atlanti­ stamps issued for the salDe purpose in ca" to serve for franking military corre­ Belgium: it represents thirty times the face spondence intended for an Atlantic base. value (]'IO. 6). Incidentally, Belgium also In that part of Italy occupied by the Allies, issued series of stamps for "Winter Relief," the old stamps are also being used (Fro. 11); similar to the series in Germany. but here they bear the overprint "A.M.S." It goes without saying that there are a (Allied .Mill tary Service) . great number of special issues in favor of Let us finally point out some philatelic the Red Cross. By means of the moo innovations brou~ht about by Allied military varied designs, these stamps acquaint the actions in North Africa. On the French public with the vast field of activity of this colonia'] stamps of Morocco we find tho over­ world-wide charity organization. With print "E.F.M." (Expeditionary :Forces Mail). scenes varying from a shining red cross Tho so·called Committee of Liberation in suspended over the battlefield of Solferino Algiers has also brought out some stamps (Fro. 16) to the depiction of a blood trans· showing va.rious allegorical scenes with the fusion or a modern hospital plane, these inscriptions: "R6publique Fram;aise--Comite stamps appeal in the various countries for Fram;ais de 180 Liberation Nationale" or the activities of the Red Cross, and their "Aide aUK Combatants et Patriots" and surcharges bring in considerable funds for "France d'outre Mer." Similar series were the alleviation of suffering (FlO. 17). In issued for the territories of Mauretania, addition to these, there are series brought Senegal, and the Somali eoast. out for special charity purposes as, for instance, to help the blind or to restore We have made no particular mention of valuable cultural monuments. For the air· the stamps of Great Britain as we cannot raid victims in Nisch, some of the denomina­ discover any reflection of the prescnt his­ tions of the above-mentioned series of famoua torical events in them. New issues of the last Serbian monasteries received an appro­ five years are confined to a single new series priate overprint and a large surcharge, in six denominations which was brought oui amounting to as much as 33 dinars. to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the postage stamp. It is well known that Even the nonbelligerent and neutral coun· the first postage stamps of the type and tries have special charity series. Since mSTORY BY MAIL 203

!;urkey baa boon selling special stamps products, the export of which is so vital to of aid to children. Similar issues in her economic life. of the organiz.ation "Pro Juventute" Art and music, with their creators and been in circulation in Swit,zerland for great masters, are represented with partic­ than twenty years. To what extent ular vividness and frequency in the appear­ latter country baa had to economize ance of Europe's stamps (FlO. 27). There the last few years is rey£>aled by some are stamps which announce the eighth , stamps appealing for the collection cent~nary of the city of Liibeck (FlO. 31), tid articles. Printed in German, French, the twelve-hundredth anniversary of the Wan (FlO. 5), these stamps bear the founding of Fulda, the centenary of the ptiOD "To hold out-collect old arti- University of Oslo, and the third centenary " of the first Finnisb University in Helsinki • (FlO. 28). Then there are philatelic rep­ resentations of the watchmaker Peter Ben­ lhhough the war and cYent.s connected lein (FlO. 19), of Robert Koch, Von ~hring, t.he war dominate the appearaJ1Ce of Copernicus, and others. The fact that sports 's stamps, this does not mean that, still occupy a prominent position in Europe at a time when the gigantic struggle is is proved by the special stamps issued for . g the life of every single European, the annual race for the Brown Ribbon in is no room in philat£>ly for science and ~Iunich (FIG, 29) and for the German Derby omic8, art and culture, A few examples in Hamburg. Athletic meetings taking place in the Balka.ns were commemorated •• by various special stamp issues. , spite of the great demands made by • there is a far.f1ung net,work of air • unicatiollS covering all of Europe to­ With the aid of these few examples, we '. reflected in count.)css airmail stamps ha\'c done our best to show how military . 26), many of which have also been events, advance Ilnd victory, the heroism by the newly created states. of the fighting men, the birth and the dt'.ath of stat.es and, last but not least, the continued In the field of economics, the German interest in cultural affairs, are reflected in , iaJ issues for the Leipzig Fair tell us of stamps, so that not only the philatelist but important position of Germany's com­ also the general reader may have found it (FlO. 25). In a special series, Bul­ int~resting to look at our little picture . advert.i es the chief of her national gallery of Europe during the last five )'ears.

eQricQfur~ "One day when I went into a friend's flat," tella Geor~e Bernard Shaw, "I ~uw a carie-ature of me tbat seemed to be good~ruel, of <'ourae, but atill what a caricature should be. Then ... 1 saw it WlUI a mirror."

~Qd;o& m Jw~d~1J .",ccording to a survey made in January 1944, the total number of radios in I:Iweden was 1,709.012 wit h a population of Borne 6.4 millions. 8to<'kholm top!! the list of Swedish towns with 3111 radios per 1.000 inhabiltLIlu, followed by Scklertiilje and Malmo, both with more than 300 per 1,0\)0.

CJJus;n~ss G~n;u4 One day during a heavy blizzard some one suddenly started shouting "Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!" in a strt>el in the SJulllS of ~ew York. People came tla>!hifl!; Ollt of the houses to see what hod happoned. They found lUI itinero.nt apple vendor to hnve been the cause of nil the commotion. "Why are you ~-elling 'Hitler'!" asked a policeman. ''If 1 yelled 'opples'," the man suit!, "nouoo)' would come out in this "tent..her.·'