Togo had been a successful colony for Germany. German colonists and Afro Brazilian freed slaves returned from Brazil had made the port of Lomé an economically and socially active place. In the interior there were more native tribes who might have wondered what rights they had. So when France was ready to fade, who should they turn it over to? 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.
This stamp is a timbre taxe stamp. That means it is a postage due stamp. The Philatelist has made fun of the proposition that it was possible to send a letter in Africa with postage due from the receiver. This is a good response to that. In the colonial period it was possible in French colonies like Togo. The system the French left behind did not just shut down completely on Independence day. So a better answer to the question of could you send a postage due letter in Togo was that you could until you couldn’t. The last Togo timbre taxe was issued in 1981.
Todays stamp is issue D5, a 10 Centime stamp issued by the French Administration of Togo in 1947. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents.
Togo had been a German colony before being jointly invaded by France and Great Britain in 1914, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/04/07/togo-1916-in-the-first-british-shots-of-the-war-germany-loses-togo/ . The colony was divided with the British part electing to join the neighboring Gold Coast. After the war, France was named Trustee of Togo and allowed to administer it from the League of Nations. France was chosen over other proposals from Weimar Germany and even new nation Czechoslovakia.
The Olympio family had been returned as a freed slave from Brazil and prospered in the port of Lomé under the Germans. The family had operated for generations a trading house that dealt in palm oil. It was the richest African family in the area, though the routes to Brazil rather than the local tribes put some distance between local blacks. Sylvanus Olympio was born in 1902 and educated in German Catholic schools set up by the Society of the Devine World. He went on to study at the London School of Economics. Back in Africa, he rose through the ranks of Unilever. By 1938, he was General Manager of the company’s African division and based in Lomé. During the war the Vichy French were nervous of Olypio’s British ties and was put in house arrest in a remote village. This made Olympio more anti French.
After the war Olympio funded and lead a Togo Party of National Unity and the French supported a rival Togo Party of National Progress. Olympio prepared a list of grievances against the French and submitted them to the UN which inherited the old League of Nations Mandate. This gave Olympio’s Party much support from the anti colonial UN. You may be wondering who the local blacks supported in this. Neither party served them and a new party broke off called the Union of Chiefs and Peoples of the North. That party consistently won half of the seats on the pre independence assembly but still wielded no power.
The National Progress Party won the election for the first local Prime Minister before independence. Olympio’s petitions to the UN than forced the French to have a new election supervised by them that nobody will be surprised that Olympio won.
In 1960, Togo became independent with Olympio as Prime Minster. Olympio should have perhaps been more careful what he wished for. In 1963, he was assassinated by members of the Togo military. Future President Eyadema, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/07/07/togo-1983-we-must-make-reservations-early-for-the-feast-of-victory-over-the-forces-of-evil/ , claimed to have personally fired the shot. Olympio’s dead body was dumped in front of the USA Embassy. Did the UN not have a local office?
Well my drink is empty and I am wondering how many places haves been ruined by well meaning outsiders. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.