Month: July 2026

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Italy 1941, Hitler interviews Mussolini about his future role as a colonial governor

Even for Italian fascists, this stamp does not age well. At first Italy was an important ally of Germany and Mussolini’s rise to power was an inspiration to Hitler. Italians fortunes in the war went very badly and the King removed Mussolini and had him arrested. Only to have him “saved” by the Germans and named a figurehead of their occupied Italy. 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 displays Hitler and Mussolini as equals. They were not even in early victorious days. Though he fashioned himself as the leader, il Duce, Mussolini was just a Prime Minister that the King could and did have him removed when things turned bad. There was a coup attempt against Hitler in 1944 as things went bad, but it failed because Hitler retained all his power. One wonders to what extent even Hitler realized the difference.

Todays stamp is issue A235, a 25 Centessimi stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy in 1941. It was part of a five stamp issue in various denominations. There were additional denominations prepared but not actually issued. The post war Italian government auctioned them off to stamp dealers with the proceeds going to charity. According to the Scott catalog, this stamp is worth $2.25 used. The post war charity issue are worth $35 and of course are all mint.

Benito Mussolini was born the son of an active socialist. The name Benito was after a left wing Mexican President. As a young man, he himself was active in socialist politics especially when he emigrated to Switzerland to avoid Italian military service. He returned to Italy when there was an amnesty for draft dodgers but soon was working in the then Italian areas of Austria Hungary. Over time he became well read and multilingual and his politics became more right wing as a result of World War I. Like Peron in Argentina, his rise to power attempted to draw support from both the left and the right. As with Peron, in power he was a figure of the right. With him has Prime Minister, he signed alliances with Nazi Germany and  Japan.

The Italian army proved to be a big liability once the war started. Their equipment was not up to date and Italian industry had no ability to correct that. Italy’s attempts to invade Greece from Albania  and Egypt from Libya were failures. An even bigger mistake was sending over 200,000 troops to fight alongside the Germans in Russia. The force had little military capability and really fought alongside Romanian and Hungarian in what the Germans hoped would be quiet flanks near Stalingrad. They weren’t as this was where the Soviets counterattacked. The German client state troops folded like a cheap suit and the German position at Stalingrad was surrounded and the defeat was the turning point of the war. Barely half of the Italian troops made it back to Italy in early 1943. By then the Italian presence in Africa was at an end and the allies invaded Sicily.

Italian King Victor Emmanuel II removed Mussolini as Prime Minister and had him confined in a mountaintop hotel. In a daring raid, Germany landed commandos from gliders on the mountaintop recovering Mussolini and flying him off the mountain in a small Storch airplane. A haggard Mussolini was flown to Hitler and his new role as a colonial governor was explained to him. Germany had occupied the Italian boot and would contest the Allies in Italy for the rest of the war.

In April 1945 Mussolini attempted to again head for Switzerland where he hoped to fly to sanctuary in Franco’s Spain. He left his wife and children behind, perhaps as a continued presence in post war Italy. He was instead found by communist partisans, shot, hanged and his body desecrated publicly. His remains were later dug up by his supporters and Italy had a crazy corpse hunt on his hands. When the government finally found his remains they were at a loss as to what to do with them. Eventually in 1957, a right of center Italian government contacted Mussolini’s widow Rachele and turned over his remains for a Catholic burial in his hometown. By then, she was running a restaurant in her hometown. She was eventually granted a pension but for years was denied on the excuse that Mussolini had not taken a salary as Prime Minister. She died in 1979. This stamp equates Hitler with Mussolini, but the extent that he was part of the system allowed his family some normalcy eventually. Hitler had no descendants, but his henchman had no future in postwar Germany.

Rachele Mussolini

Well, my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Switzerland 1882, Helvetia looks down on a Swiss economic miracle

Switzerland is the globalist ideal. A multi language, multi religion place that is a peaceful, prosperous model for the world. It was not always this. 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.

As I write these articles, I become more and more enamored by these female embodiments of a nation that were so common on 19th century. Here we have Helvetia, the female Latin embodiment of Switzerland. Switzerland had just transferred more authority from the canton to the federal government. Without the human frailties of an actual person and slightly short of religious heresy, these images provided a united ideal to strive toward. It seems a little silly now, but then us moderns have lost a little of the ability to strive.

Todays stamp is issue A20, a 50 Centimes stamp issued by Switzerland in 1882. There are many versions of this stamp issued over 20 years. The early printing was the worst and the least valuable which I believe this stamp displays. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $25 used.

The 19th century did not start out well for the Swiss. They were conquered by Napoleon. The many changes to the legal and business structure took years to undo. There was also discord between Catholic areas in the south and Lutheran areas in the north. Lutheran appropriation of Church land and a takeover of the educational system lead several Catholic Cantons to form a rival “Sonderbund” to the weak federal government. The Sonderbund counted on support from Catholic France and Austria but in 1848 they had there own issues. When the Federal army moved to bring the Sonderbund cantons back into line, the Sonderbund quickly folded. The Federal government was strengthened and the Jesuits banned.

The post 1848 government seemed to find just the right balance of enough autonomy for the different people in the different cantons and yet still with a national identity. It was the time of industrialization and of people moving to the cities. Even in this Switzerland was lucky. Many of the new factories were textile, that offered opportunities to women, and the paychecks did much to raise their lot. At the same time, high end watchmaking took off that offered great rewards for people who learned the intricate skills.

The working classes doing well coincided with a great deal of growth in finance. The tradition of neutrality meant that the Swiss Franc  was often left as the only readily convertible currency during a crisis/war. Large amounts of gold especially from Germany were transferred to Switzerland in exchange for Swiss Francs that could be used to fund needed imports. This is in addition to all the private wealth moved in for preservation. The fees collected for this safekeeping were quite high. All was not profiteering, the Red Cross was founded in Switzerland and the country took in wounded veterans and political dissidents from all sides during both World Wars.

While you still see her red cross shield regularly on Swiss stamps, Helvetia herself no longer appears. The newest I could find was 1922 on an overprint of an earlier issue. This Philatelist is ready to welcome her again on a stamp. Perhaps one of the Europa Cept issues were all the nations display once more their Latin female embodiments.

Well my drink is empty and the $25 value of todays stamp would cover a few more rounds. Decisions! Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Libya 1977, Can Jamahiriyah be a direct enough party to avoid an Arab Spring hangover

Few people and lots of money. Does it lead to great achievement of just a big party and a big hangover. In Libya’s case the party was soon over and the hangover goes on and on. 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 from the party phase in Libya. A horse race in front of an ancient fort. Yet now the fort isn’t owned by a Ottoman Pasha or a colonial Italian outpost. The place was in local hands and it was time to party. Oil had been discovered in 1959 and average income went from 50 dollars a year in 1950 to over $10,000 in 1980, This was richer than former colonial power Italy. A reason to party sure, but with it comes over confidence and acting on stupid dangerous whims.

Todays stamp is issue A224, a 115 Dirhams issued on December 11th, 1978 by the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah. It was part of a three stamp issue that celebrated the Libyan study Center, a government office that promoted their version of local history. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50.

Libya was an Italian colony through World War II. There were Italian colonists that were the center of economic activity and the vast bulk of the country was desert. After the war, an Ottoman era Emir was made King Idris. He was a figurehead who was elderly and spent about half the year abroad. In 1959 oil was discovered in great quantity but few royalties from it stayed in Libya and fewer still got to the average Libyan.

In 1969, a pan Arabist, Berber, Army lieutenant Muammar Gaddaffi lead a bloodless coup declaring an Arab Republic and himself Coronel. King Idris was sentenced to death in absentia and Italians and western military bases kicked out. This was all popular as was the partial nationalization of the oil fields. Partial being key, because the simple country had no way to operate the fields themselves. Food prices were cut, rent was cut, and educational opportunities were expanded. Money was also squandered on more arms than the country had soldiers to operate and failed attempts at unions with other Arab and African countries. This generally involved the signing of a deal, and a large wealth transfer from Libya followed by nothing. As late as 2010, the newly reorganized and recapitalized by Libya African Union declared white man Gaddaffi, King of Kings. Not their finest hour.

Gaddaffi in 1973

With plenty of money, grudges and not much education, things got a little weird. Deciding in the mid 70s for his revolution to take on more of a third way politically. the Arab Republic became a Jamahiriyah, which was alleged to be direct democracy without elections but closely following Gaddaffi’s teaching as put forth in his Green Book, red book was already done by Mao remember. There were purges and a reduction in oil revenue and increasing sanctions as countries got revenge for Libyan support for violent radicals worldwide. American bombing in 1986 mostly ended that and by the 2000s Libya was trying to keep the party going by selling foreign concessions and that old standby of demanding reparations from old colonial power Italy. Italy paid in hopes of Libyan help in curbing sub Saharan migration into Italy.

One interesting Libyan project was man made rivers leading from the desert to the main cities of Tripoli and Bengazi. The water was coming from deep aquifers left over from the last ice age that Libya believed contained enough water to let the desert turn green for 2000 years. Gaddaffi called it the ninth wonder of the world. I can find no mention of it  post revolution so I assume it stopped working. Otherwise the nineth wonder of the world would rate some mention in the last 6 years.

In 2011, Arab Spring came big time to Libya. At first, Libya was able to use it’s large air force to keep at least Tripoli under control, but the Arab League and Nato who were both long tired of Gaddaffi. Nato  initiated a no fly zone and bombing on behalf of the rebels. Gaddaffi’s Bosnian Croat wife and blond daughter were able to escape to Algeria by armored Mercedes, but Gaddaffi, one of his sons and one of his fellow officers from 1969 fought on in Sirte near his childhood home. The pro Gaddaffi force was immobilized by a Nato airstrike on the convoy. Gaddaffi was killed slowly while he pleaded for his life and before and after death was repeatedly sodomized. The naked body was then put in a meat locker to allow for goulish tourism. What a shithole, and shame on Nato for flying over it as if their new favorites had any moral superiority. Some of the rebels took to using the old Royal Libyan flag but the horrors that have come since have somewhat turned the tide. In 2016 Gaddaffi’s Bosnian Croat widow was allowed to move back to Libya and take residence in one of their old palaces. She must be either brave of foolhardy.

Well my drink is empty and I am glad that modern methods  are being found to extract oil without having to dirty yourself with involvement in places like Libya. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.