It is challenging to write about the stamps of the Balkan World War II states. On one hand, peoples got their own countries, often for the first time in centuries, On the other hand the leaders were fascists, and therefore the end of the war saw many paying the ultimate price for the association. 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 issue of stamps of the then new independent state of Croatia show views of the new country. This itineration of Croatia was twice the size of the modern state. The view of the small city of Dubrovnik still lies within Croatia. In 1991-92 after a new independence, the city was subject to a siege from Montenegrins and Serbs who claimed the city. The lines between nationalities is blured, and therefore often deadly purges follow changes in political status.
Todays stamp is issue A1, a 6 Kuna stamp that was the first issue of the independent state of Croatia in 1941. It was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. There are imperforate versions of the stamps that were presented to the countries leaders in special albums by the printer and also a special version for a Philatelic Exposition in Banjaluka in 1942. These are slightly more valueable but there is an understandable queasiness in the hobby of the fascist issues.
Croatia was granted independence in 1941 after the German invasion. The hope was that by giving minorities a measure of freedom they would not have to be occupied. It was the first time Croatia had achieved independence since 1100 AD. As the new leader, Ante Pavelic was chosen. He had been in Italy after being sentenced to death in absentia in Yugoslavia and France for his alleged part in the assassination of Yugoslav King Alexander I, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/08/it-is-dangerous-to-rule-the-kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes/. His rule was more closely aligned with the Italians than the Germans and tried to reduce the role of Serbians in the new country. The goal of his plans were to kill 1/3rd of the Serbs, deport 1/3, and the last third be assimilated. As such, most of the fascist cruelty was aimed at the Serbs, although the few Jews and Gypsies were also persecuted.
As the tide of the war turned many Croats felt they would not have a future in a post war Yugoslavia. Dubrovnik had fallen to the Yugoslav partisans in October 1944 and what fallowed were a few show trials and many massacres. Croatia was still in German hands as the war ended and what fallowed was a major refugee movement toward Austria in hopes of surrendering to the British army there, thus avoiding their fate with the Yugoslav partisans. Pavelic and several hundred thousand of his followers made it to Bleiberg, Austria in the days after the war. To their surprise, many were the forced marched back to Yugoslavia and over 100,000 were massacred. When the British saw what was happening, they eventually stopped the forced repatriations and many Croatians were resettled in Peron’s Argentina.
Pavelic himself post war was the quintessential fascist running man after the war. He was not immediately arrested in Austria and acquired a string of false identities as a Hungarian or Peruvian priest. He hid out with Catholic monasteries and even at the Papal summer residence in Italy. The Church knew who he was and eventually helped him and his family travel to Argentina. He lived there officially under one of his aliases and worked as a bricklayer. Over time he became friendly with Evita Peron and worked with other Croatian exiles to form a government in exile. In 1957 he was shot while getting off a city bus by a Serb Royalist. In hospital his identity was confirmed and the post Peron government began moves to deport him to Yugoslavia. He ran to Chile and then to Spain but never fully recovered from the wounds and died at age 70 in 1959.
Modern Croatia initially honored the memory of the Bleiberg repatriations/massacres. Over time, the association and symbols of Pavelic’s movement have caused some queasiness. In 2012, the modern Croatian government pulled funding for the annual Bleiberg commemoration as it was deemed too partisan.
Well my drink is empty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.