Bulgaria emerged from World War I shrunken and defeated. It was time for the new King to set things right and he definitely tried until he was poisoned. Yes another German Royal in the Balkans tale. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
I like the aesthetics of todays stamp. A beautiful city up in the mountains. Perhaps somewhat idealized but so be it. When we study the history of the Balkans it always seems to involve a bunch of hot heads scheming for power. Well there was a lot of that but there were always also hearty people and great scenery.
Todays stamp is issue A58, a 10 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1921. The stamp shows a view of Sophia the capital and was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.
King Boris III took the throne after his father King Ferdinand was forced to abdicate. Bulgaria had listened to it’s German King and sided with Germany against it’s more natural relationship with Russia. The result had been the loss of land to both Romania and Greece and a large bill for reparations. Naturally by the time this happened there was a large socialist movement in Bulgaria supported by Russia that called for the end of the failed monarchy.
His German father had prepared him well to fight for the monarchy. Notice his name was actually Bulgarian and he was baptized Orthodox, causing his father to be excommunicated by the Catholic church. He also had much military training, becoming a Major General,, no not a modern one, by age 24. Both Socialists and conservatives had turns in power with little effect but a left wing coup then banned political parties and tried to leave Czar Boris as a figurehead. This was a big mistake as he then lead a counter coup that kept the ban on political parties and left Boris completely in charge. This did make the country more stable.
His power base stabilized, Boris then set out to reclaim lost lands. He entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany that allowed Bulgaria to reclaim lost land from Romania and later Germany conquered the land given to Greece and allowed Bulgaria to administer it. After doing this he marketed himself successfully as the Bulgarian uniter. He tried to keep his distance from Germany by refusing to send Bulgarian troops to fight with the Germans in Russia and refusing to deport Jews to the death camps. He claimed the troops were needed at home in case of Turkish aggression and the Jews were needed for vital slave labor construction projects. This was a dangerous pose to take and in 1943 Boris was summoned to Hitler where he was berated and most think poisoned, dying a month later.
His child son Simeon then took the throne under a regency. A socialist prime minister was appointed as part of a change in sides but Czar Simeon was deposed in 1946 as Bulgaria became a socialist republic. Simeon is still alive and as such as several notable lasts. He is the only person alive to have held the title of Czar and also the only World War II head of state still alive. He went into exile in Egypt and later Spain but returned to Bulgaria in the 90s and even served as Prime Minister in the early 2000s. He recently disclaimed the head of his old German Royal house of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha-Kohary. He still claims his Bulgarian title.
Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.