In the chaos after World War I, Hungary was briefly declared a Soviet Socialist Republic. Obviously such a government was mainly Jewish outsiders. In their one stamp issue, they introduced the country to a cast of historical figures that give some basis for their government. In this case, Serbian Jacobin Ignac Martinovics. 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 always have a good time looking at the design of the early communist stamps. There was still a hint of the old Royal look as the commies were obviously torn as to how much of the old grandiosity to retain now that it was in their hands. On the other hand, it is also easy to spot the wild ride the whole country was on with the cheap paper and indeed slightly deranged look of the old would be hero. When a country is in the midst of a reign of terror, everybody is a little deranged.
Todays stamp is issue A17, a 60 Filler stamp issued by Hungary on June 12th, 1919. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.00 unused.
Ignac Martinovic’s father migrated to Pest in Hapsburg era Hungary. To hear Martinovic tell it, his father was either a nobleman soldier or a Serb tavern keeper. Obviously both could be true in different periods and Hungary was playing host to many Serbs on the run from the Ottomans. In Hungary, he converted to Catholicism and married a local German girl.
It is not clear where the money for it was coming from, but Martinovic was well educated. During his education he became involved in intellectual francophone Jacobin secret societies modeled on the reign of terror era French Jacobin societies under Robespierre. For the Jacobins he engaged in many secret missions on their behalf. He also lead a more mainstream life as a university professor in Lemberg, now called Lviv and in the Ukraine. The Jacobins were half satisfied with reform minded Emperor Joseph II and even worked as a part time agent for Leopold II, but when he was succeeded by more conservative Francis II the Jacobins became more radicalized. They began to assert that the aristocracy was the root of Hungary’s troubles and deserved elimination. Lack of self awareness did not let them see that by logic a bunch of haughty French speaking heringguts at the universities should therefore be high on their lists of those that should go. Jacobins then tried to stir up trouble among serfs and the Emperor Francis II had Martinovic and six other “Hungarian” Jacobins beheaded for their subversion.
This 1919 issue was not Martinovic’s only Hungarian stamp. The later communist regime did one in 1947. yes again with the cheap paper. As with many such people, Martinovic was also a Mason, and the Masonic Temple in Budapest is named for him. Interestingly both stamps that I have so far written up from this set were executed by the Hapsburgs. Probably still a worry for the then Hungarian Soviet Socialists.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the use of stamps to signal rehabilitation. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.