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Netherlands 1971, Prince Bernhard is honored for his part in Dutch aviation, before his reputation tarnishes

Consorting with German princes can lead to trouble. After everything though, one can respect a life well lived. 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.

A lot to like about the visuals of this stamp. First is that it looks at least 10 years newer than it is. Second that it shows the Prince as a man, with accomplishments and perhaps flaws. Then there are the airplanes. A Fokker F27 Friendship regional airliner showing off Dutch industry, and the KLM Boeing 747 reaching for the stars with it’s promise of worldwide travel.

Todays stamp is issue A123, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Netherlands on June 25th, 1971. It features Prince Consort Bernhard honoring him for his work in Dutch aviation and in other stamps in this issue, his work for the World Wildlife Fund. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The Prince was born in 1911 in Germany as a Prince in the house of Lippe. The royal house became out of work after World War I but the family still had money. The Prince was educated and took a job! with IJ Farbin the large German chemical company. He also to his later embarrassment joined the Nazi Party and served in the SS in a reserve capacity. He met Dutch Princess Julianna at a winter Olympics in 1936 and was judged a worthy suitor as a proper Royal and a Lutheran. He married Princess Julianna in 1937 and with her fathered 4 daughters including future Queen Beatrix. His German background came back to haunt him when the Germans invaded in 1940 but he willingly fought for his adopted country by flying Spitfires fighters from Britain. Julianna and the children fled to the safety of Canada. The allies were nervous of him at first but over time he earned their respect. When Queen Wilhelmina erased the honorary from her son in law’s military title, something she did not technically have the right to do, the Dutch armed forces honored it. He had a brother who fought with his native Germans and many wondered of their wartime relationship.

In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated and Bernhard’s wife Julianna became Queen. He became a jet setter who actively promoted Dutch business around the world. He also became Inspector General of the Dutch armed forces. His jet setting later led to two further illegitimate daughters, one in 1952 by an American landscape architect and a second by a French model in 1967. He also helped found the World Wildlife Fund.

He also courted controversy. In the 1960s NATO countries pooled their resources to buy fighter planes for their air forces on better terms. The group chose the Lockheed F104 Starfighter for the large order despite the model being a failure in American service. It later became controversial for it’s many crashes, In Canada, it was called the widowmaker and in Germany the tent peg. Rumors flooded Europe that the order went to Lockheed because of bribes paid. Proof was found from Prince Bernhard of him demanding a 1 million dollar “commission” to him personally in return for the Dutch order for Starfighters. He tried to claim he was above answering questions on such things but later stepped down from the armed forces and other business interests to avoid criminal prosecution.

Dutch F104 Starfighter

He had earlier controversially planted stories in the German press about his wife the Queen for seeing a faith healer, which the article described as her Rasputin. The story was true and eventually Queen Julianna was forced by the government to cut ties from her. The Royals were divided as to whether he was taking desperate measures to help her or whether it was a German Putsch to have Julianna abdicate with Bernhard leading a regency for his young daughter.

The last controversy soiled his work with the World Wildlife Fund. The Prince sold some Royal paintings for $700.000 giving the money to the WWF. The WWF than gave $500,000 back to him to help form a mercenary army in Africa to fight poachers. How much they fought poachers and how much the collaborated with them is up for debate. Post apartheid South Africa believes the target was really the ANC and Zulu freedom fighters.

The World Wildlife Fund Emblem. The panda is Chi Chi, given to the London Zoo by China in 1958 and for many years the only panda in the West. Perhaps a good way to distract from giving Prince Consorts Bernhard and British Prince Consort Phillip slush funds for their African schemes.

Prince Bernhard lived till 2004 and was considered somewhat of a character in Holland late in his life. He was awarded a full state Burial and outlived Former Queen Julianna by 8 months. The Dutch Air Force performed a missing man formation  with an old Spitfire, modern F16s, but no Starfighters.

Well my drink is empty and I will happily pour another to toast Prince Bernhard. The world needs a few characters. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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Germany 1933, Hindenburg, the leader not the airship, goes on but is never able to recover from the stab in the back

When Germany did not recover quickly after World War I, it was natural to turn to an old national hero to get back on track. The key word is old though and his time had past. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sir back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp is very much in the style of a royalty stamp and indeed the 1920s era German presidency had duties that closely reflected a modern royal. The exception to that is that he stood for election and in that was lowered to that level with runoffs and coalitions to obtain power. Hindenburg himself claimed to personally favor a return of the Kaiser from his exile and he be allowed to return to his retirement.

Todays stamp is issue A64, a fifty pfennig stamp issued by Germany in 1933. The issue was originally to celebrate President von Hindenburg’s 85th birthday in 1932. The stamp was issued for many years and there was a black outlined version upon Hindenburg’s death in 1934. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2,40 used.

Paul von Hindenburg was born in 1847 in what is now Poznan, Poland. He was of noble birth and could also trace his family tree to Martin Luther. Like his father, he was a Prussian officer who fought the wars with Austria and France and eventually became a Coronel General, (equivalent to an American 2 star general), before retiring in 1911. He came out of retirement the first time in 1914 to replace a General who had lost his nerve when facing the large Russian Army early in the First World War. Hindenburg used his theories of maneuver warfare to surround and defeat the much larger Russian force at the Battle of Tannenberg. This was the site of a long ago defeat of Prussia by Slavs so was especially inspiring. Statues of Hindenburg rose throughout Germany made of wood that you could pay to put a nail in in support of war widows. Hindenburg was promoted to Field Marshall and sent to the Western Front where is theories on movement were not as applicable to the trench warfare.

No longer extant wooden Hindenburg statue at Tannenberg, now called Olsztyn by Poland. Sometimes victories must be savored quickly

 

The defeat in 1918 saw Germany shrunk, the Kaiser deposed, and German left wing element agreeing to very punitive punishments for Germany. Conservative elements in the country such as Hindenburg, again in retirement, saw this as a stab in the back to the noble German war effort. The “stab in the back” harkened back to the wonderfully titled 1876 Wagner opera Gotterdammerung. The left of course saw a disastrous war that severely bled the country of it’s men and treasure and discredited the old leadership. The early twenties saw the left in power and hyper inflation and continuing hardship among the people. The hard times lead to more radical right and left forces of Nazis and Communists that both agitated for ever more radical change. Into this, Hindenburg first in 1922 and again in 1925 offered himself as a presidential candidate that could unite the old and new right and bring back German greatness. He won in 1925 in a runoff but was not able to unite the country as the divisions were too deep. He was also unable to unite the right wing, Hitler thought him an old fool, and Hindenburg thought Hitler an uppity corporal with a funny accent. The situation became more unstable with the prospect of Hitler becoming Chancellor. In 1932, many on the left voted for Hindenburg hoping that he would prevent Hitler becoming chancellor. In the end he disappointed them by allowing Hitler to form a government. This might have been prevented as the Nazis were one of many parties and did not have a clear majority. It must be remembered that Hindenburg was quite old by then and his son Oscar had a lot of sway and was more amenable to Hitler. Hindenburg died in 1934 and the role of Chancellor and President were combined as the Nazis consolidated power.

One can see the pitfalls of even great military leaders venturing in to politics. As a head of state above politics, Hindenburg might have thrived. In an office that did not have much authority and had to consult rather than just order, Hindenburg was out of his element and forever tarnished his reputation. Both in allowing Hitler come to power and in not solving the national issues that were leading to such desperation.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast those paid to pound those nails to support war widows. They were the ones who the system failed, over and over. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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Saharaui, semi nation on the other side of the wall, of course with fake stamps

Nomads want independence, but colonialism can survive if it is not European colonialism. It can get totally entrenched once there is a wall. 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.

Todays stamp looks real enough. They were printed in Britain and some issues were labeled Sahara Occidental. At the insistence of the Moroccan Postal Authority the Universal Postal Union has condemned these issues based on the fact that there is no Sahara republic and no postal service in rebel areas. They have gone so far as to declare dealers in these issues which have been issued now for 30 years as disreputable.  The old Spanish Sahara issued stamps long enough. So a Sahara stamp that omits Spain makes some sense. However the country is more an aspiration than a reality. Given the trajectory of some African nations post independence, perhaps hope is better than the later reality.

Catalogs do not recognize stamps of Sahrawi. The UN both recognizes the Polisario Front as the spokesman for the Sahrawi people and Morocco as the administrative power. So stamps are not official although they may be available for postage in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and the few towns the Polisario controls. I am going to guess the value at 25 cents.

The Spanish Sahara was a mainly nomadic area of about 100,000 people. Spain was under a lot of pressure from Morocco and to a lesser extent Mauritania to exit their colony. Spain also faced a movement within the colony for independence. When Franco died in Spain, the new Spanish government withdrew it’s officials and declared to the UN it’s administration over. Spain left an ungoverned vacuum. There had been a secret deal stuck though that divided the Spanish Sahara between Morocco and Mauritania. The people were not consulted.

A Spanish military asset in the colony had been the Tropas Nomadas. This was an indigenous military force that formally had Spanish officers. A quite large number of Saharan tribesman had served with the force and during the last year of the colony the force had transferred it’s allegiance to the local pro-independence Polisario political front. Being a desert force, it was fairly lightly armed and mainly dependent on camels and a few Spanish Land Rovers for mobility.

The day after the Spanish declared their administration over, the Polisario declared the Sahrawi Arab republic. The laid claim to the entire territory but with a temporary capital until Laayone was liberated. The Moroccan army tried to enforce the deal and occupied most of the coastal area. Many of the Sahrawi people decamped for refugee camps in sympathetic Algeria. Mauritania gave up it’s territorial gain after 2 years unable to fight the Polisario but Morocco took over their area. Morocco than built a long wall that left the Polisario out with just the landlocked dessert. Many African and Arab countries recognize Saharawi but the wall has seemed to make the situation permanent.

A Spanish actress waves the Sahrawi flag while visiting the Polisario held area
There is of course another side as to what Moroccan administration offers the Sahara. Here is a new solar energy project that opened in 2018. Morocco is earning many international brownie points for a project like this. A closer look however reveals it was funded by the African Development Bank, the Saudis and you guessed it, Spain. Solar projects in the desert don’t work to well as the solar panels need to be washed regularly with a high pressure water hose, So where to get the water?

Former American Secretary of State James Baker tried to mediate at the UN’s suggestion. He proposed a joint administration between Polisario and Morocco for four years allowing the return of refuges. This would be followed by self determining elections that most thought Polisario would win. Morocco refused to accept the peace plan.

My drink is empty. By all accounts the disputed area is a fairly desolate place, so economically the people are probably better off with Morocco as they were with Spain. That said, it is amazing that the people were never given their say. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Israel 1987, Remembering Dead Sea Explorers

The Holy Land contains the Dead Sea, the lowest level of land on Earth. Proving that and exploring the possibilities of it was left to outsiders. 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.

Todays stamp is an interesting piece of history and the stamp is well printed. What also is interesting is who is doing the scientific exploration that is being rightly celebrated. An American/Confederate Naval man, an Irish Catholic Priest and a Scottish adventurer who popularized canoeing are represented. Notice that none are local Jews or for that matter Arabs. Scientific advances are the prevue of the most advanced civilizations, here is an example of that.

The stamp today is issue A417, a 50 Agorot stamp issued by Israel on November 24th, 1987. It was part of a three stamp issue that also came as a souvenir sheet the honored three 19th century Holy Land explorers. In this stamp the 1847 exploration of the Dead Sea by a United States Navy Expedition under Captain William Francis Lynch is honored. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Captain Lynch was from Virginia and lead the exploration of the Dead Sea. By using triangulation, he was able to prove that the Dead Sea was indeed below sea level. This had been hypothesized before. The aspect of being below sea level changes temperature and cloud cover/ Solar ultraviolet rays enough that if effects the ability to maintain life, which is where the name Dead Sea derives. The unique conditions lead to substances not present elsewhere, many of which have medicinal value. The 16 man expedition had better luck than the other expeditions celebrated on this issue of stamps.

William Francis Lynch during his United States Navy service. The US Navy forgave his later service in the Confederate States Navy. A US Navy research vessel named for him, the USS Lynch, served between 1965-1994

The expedition of Irish Priest Christopher Costigan ran out of water and Costigan resorted to drinking the extremely salted Dead Sea water. It made him sick and that ended his exploration. He was taken to a monastery to recover but when they tried to transfer him to a hospital in Jerusalem, Father Costigan died on the long donkey journey.

John MacGregor, the Scottish adventurer was captured by Arab villagers who lifted his canoe out of the water while he attempted to fight them off with his oar.

John MacGregor
A drawing by John MacGregor of the capture of his canoe the Rob Roy by Arabs. He was there of course but it is funny how black and naked the Arabs are.

Captain Lynch himself had trouble on a later expedition to East Africa where he contracted malaria. He survived that and when the American Civil War broke out he resigned from the United States Navy and fought with the Confederate States of America Navy, including at the battle of Vicksburg. He ended up in a Union prisoner of war camp. He died in 1865 shortly after being given his parole.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast the adventures who strike out against all the danger to expand mankind’s knowledge. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Kelantan 1911, the British peal away Siam, for the benefit of Malaya

The British and their trading posts. Still today we work with the deals struck. 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.

The script on todays stamp may be a little bit of a non sequitur. It is Arabic script but the Jawi language. The Jawi language is more common in Kelantan than elsewhere in Malaysia. The emblem on the stamp is no longer used but the area is still ruled by the same line of Sultans as when this stamp was new.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1 Sen stamp issued by the Sultanate of Kelantan in 1911. It shows the then symbol of the new status of the old government. The stamp was issued over many years in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 in its used state.

Kelantan is on the coast of northeast Malaysia. It is ruled by the Pantani line of Sultans for the last 500 years. Over that time they have had to pledge loyalty to Malaya, Siam, Great Britain, Japan, Thailand, Great Britain again, Malaya again, and now Malaysia. This show a certain flexibility. It is a rural, agricultural area that is among the poorer in the region, although Malaysia today passes through a good deal of petroleum  revenue.

With the same government so long, it is understandable that the region is conservative and traditional. It is a bastion of the most traditional Muslim political party. It is one of the most strict areas for movies et al. This might explain some of the attitude of Thailand toward it.

The late and the first half of the 20th century  Siam gradually shrunk as Britain and France encroached. A treaty was signed between Siam and Britain  in 1910 that gave Kelantan and a few other provinces to Malaya. The British sent in an advisor to the Sultan and did not formally federate the area in the then colony of Malaya.

Kelantan Sultan Mohammad V

The King of Siam Rama V said at the time that he had no interest in these dominions. This may be bluster but the deal helped Siam in several ways. The debts due Siam from Sultanates like Kelantan were now to be paid by Britain. It also included a British guarantee of Siam independence. Siam has also faced a Muslim insurgency virtually continuously and an area with such traditional Muslims would have only strengthened it if it were part of Buddhist modern Thailand.

King Rama V. Now he is more celebrated for ending slavery in Siam

It was Kelantan where the Japanese landed in their Malayan invasion in 1941. They quickly transferred Kelantan to Thailand, an ally. It reverted back to Great Britain post war and was gradually integrated more fully into Malaya in preparation for independence as Malaysia.

As of now, the modern Malaysian state has not moved to remove the regional Sultans. In fact they serve on a commission from which is elected the ceremonial head of state of Malaysia, the Yang di Pertuan Agong. The current head of state Muhammad V is from Kelantan. While serving in this capacity, his younger brother serves Kelantan in a Regency.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Pantani line of Sultans and their longevity. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Mauritania 1938, The French are not staying, so someone should try to make this a country

An area adjacent to an established colony that is predominately nomadic and of a different race should probably be left alone. That is not what the French did, and Mauritania is still paying the price. 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 issue honored the French Colonial Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition. As such it showed view of local life in Mauritania. As such, it was a break from previous colonial issues that were by and for a colony’s French administrators. These types of stamps became very common in the colonies post war up to the time most achieved independence around 1960.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 3 Centimes stamp issued by the colony of Mauritania in 1938. It was a 34 stamp issue in various denominations. This stamp featured a view of a Mauri camel rider. There was also a souvineer sheet coming out of this issue. As a colonial offering it was around for many years after the exhibition. Including a version that omitted the RF on the stamps as it was issued by the Vichy regime after France fell in World War II. Since these were not actually available in the colony, some collectors consider them inauthentic. This stamp, with the RF present and accounted for, is worth 25 cents according to the Scott Catalog.

A poster for the Colonial Pavilion at the Fair.
A competing Pavilion featuring French aviation technology

Mauritania has a much shorter history than most colonies. It is bordered on the south by the Senegal River and along the river are black Africans that are ethnically, racially and lifestyle wise more with the people of Senegal. As you move north, the area becomes more desert like and the people are more Arabic and Nomadic. Blacks in this area were slaves of the Arabs. The practice among the nomads was not banned until a preposterously late 1980. The Nomads affiliated with rival sheiks most of whom pledged their loyalty to Morocco to the north.

The French involvement was mainly at a few trading posts that profited by selling arms to the various tribes. A French colonial leader tried to pacify the nomadic area but was quickly assassinated and the area was never truly under French control.

World War II saw a large African contribution to the Free French efforts. The Free French armed forces were over half African. As that war wound down, the Africans expected to quickly receive more self government leading toward independence. For Mauritania, independence came in 1960. There was a new capital, Nouakchott that was half way between the African southerners and Arab Nomads up North. The first Prime Minister Moktar Daddah was an Arab and the countries first college graduate, with a French law degree.

Readers can guess what happened next. Daddah banned all other political parties and became President for life. He also turned on his own ethnicity by fighting Morocco on their Saharan desert land claims. He did not fight them well and with the economy tanking he was deposed in a coup and spent the rest of his days in Paris. I wonder when Paris, London, and New York City will tire of hosting these failed losers with their suitcases of grubby, bloody cash.

President Moktar Daddah. Whether the wandering Arab, his black slave, the Senegalese near the river, of the French expat keeping the lights on, who wouldn’t have faith in this guy?

Well my drink is empty and I wonder why it never occurred to France to give the river valley to Senegal and the desert to Morocco and be done with this fake country. That would have cost Daddah his job, but that would have been more feature than fault. Come again  for another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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Russia 1958, A popular peasant poet searches for women and the bottle

You have to give credit, a poet only lives to thirty, annoys 3 different governments and 4 wives and still creates enough of a following that his poems are still enjoyed 100 years later. 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.

A good looking guy with sad eyes and ready with a lyrical poem at the ready will be a hit with the ladies. Sergei Yesenin was that. For this reason the postal authority took a little extra effort with the color and staging of the stamp portrait. This is easily seen in comparison to other stamps of the period honoring similar long gone figures.

Todays stamp is issue A1120, a 40 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on November 29th, 1958. It was a single stamp issue honoring the poet Sergei Yesenin. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents in its cancelled to order condition.

Sergei Yesenin was born south of Moscow in 1895 to a peasant family. His parents worked in nearby cities leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandparents. They steeped him in the Russian tradition of the lyrical poetry that would be recited and sung around rural campfires in then Imperial Russia. He was literate and began writing his own verse young and this talent allowed him to be enrolled in better schools.

Studies in Moscow and Petrograd saw Yesenin in contact with the most famous literary and artistic figures of the day. His early poems were quite religious and his first wife worked at a publisher where Yesenin was also a proofreader. Thus even before age 20 there were poems getting published and read.

The Empress Alexandra described his poems as beautiful but sad and Yesenin said in response the same thing could be said for Russia as a whole. Yesenin was later drafted into the Czarist army but refused to be published in a pro Czar book of poems. He was a man of the left and thought the Kerensky revolution did not go far enough to change Russia. He therefore supported the October revolution although there was some conflict with the urban Jewish aspect of the new regime. The Cheka and NKVD harassed him and saw to it that some of his more political poems were not published. Yesenin had meanwhile deserted the Kerensky Army and left his first wife and took up and married a popular actress of the time. The revolution in Russia had many people  wondering on the future of the institution of marriage and there was already a tradition of women staying in one place while a man takes a new wife in a new place.

Yesenin continued to see his popularity surge and he later took up with an American singer who he met in Moscow. She was 15 years his senior and he followed her back to the USA. He found the USA vapid and materialistic and was soon divorced again and back in Russia. He was also by now drinking quite heavily and his frequent run ins with the police were now more to do with his drinking than his politics.

At 30 he married a last time to the granddaughter of Tolstoy. He also tried to drink less and work on a new collection of poetry. He was found hanged naked in a hotel in Leningrad with a last poem of goodbye written in his blood as he did not have a pen. He was given a full state funeral and there were several suicides among his female fans.

There is speculation that his suicide was staged by the secret police with evidence of a struggle in his hotel room and his blood written poem having perhaps come from the year before. Either way, he died young and left a good looking corps. A good way to add to his mystique. Interestingly at the time of this stamp, 1958, some of his poems were still banned. The full collection was finally published in 1966.

Well my drink is empty and I think I will have a few more while I read a few of Yesenin’s poems translated. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Katanga 1961, Mining out the chaos

Mineral wealth in a small part of Congo was  three quarters of the economy. So when chaos decends after independence a few want to free themselves of that. Not easy to do. 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.

Aesthetically this stamp has a lot to recommend it. There was a feeling at the time that the whole independence of Katanga was a front for Belgian mining interest. So this stamp and a few others take on this by directly showing the native black arts in which locals took pride. Others show natives working and fighting for a better life. One could make the argument that all this flies in the face of reality. But stamp issues are about putting a places best self forward. Katanga’s stamp issues did that well.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1.5 Franc stamp issued by Katanga on March 1, 1961. It was part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that depict the artistry of the native wood carvers. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used and what ever denomination the particular stamp is.

Katanga is a province of the formally Belgian Congo. It contains Belgium developed mining operations of copper, zinc, and uranium. The operations of the lucrative mines required much Belgian expertise and the province contained thousands of Belgian expatriates. The revenue from the mines were profitable for Belgium and provided 75 percent of the colony’s budget.

There were a lot of hard feelings at the time of independence. The first prime minister went out of his way to insult the Belgian King publicly during independence ceremonies. This set forth chaos directed at looting any foreign wealth in the country. The looting and even attacks on Belgian citizens had tacit government approval. Responding to this a rival Congolese politician named Moise Tshombe declared Katanga independent from Congo. Congo’s first prime minister was removed from office, taken to Katanga, beaten, killed, and his corps burned in acid until all that remained were a few teeth. Katanga quickly hired white South African and Rhodesian mercenaries to chase off the looting Congo army. The mercenaries were supplemented by a Belgian parachute regiment. The Belgian mining company paid Tshombe 25 million dollars into his personal account from money due the Congo government.

Tshombe while Prime Minister of Katanga

World opinion was just not going to tolerate this. Tshombe’s name was synonymous with sellout in Africa. The United Nations refused to recognize Katanga and even authorized military force to bring Katanga back into Congo. The UN forces sent in were at first not willing to attack. UN Secretary General Dag Hammerjold flew to nearby Northern Rhodesia to conduct negotiations but his plane crashed in mysterious circumstances.

In late 1962, the UN forces finally attacked Katanga after the Belgian army left and succeeded in conquering it. There is a sense of who conquered who though. Tshombe was named Prime Minister of all of Congo and a few of his white mercenary units were incorporated into the army of Congo.

A year later there was a coup and Tshombe went into exile in Spain. He was tried in absentia for treason and sentenced to death. Spain refused to extradite. In 1967, Tshombe attempted to return to Congo on a chartered business jet. A spy from French Intelligence hijacked the plane to Algiers where Tshombe died of “heart failure” at 49.

The mines were nationalized in 1966. The Belgian mining concern ordered their employees back to Belgium. Congo attempted to order them to give a years notice before leaving. A deal was eventually struck but the output of the mines has now dropped to less than 10 percent of previous output. This is entirely due to mismanagement rather than depletion of the resources. Over the years there have been various schemes to get the mines producing again, most recently with aid from China. So far no luck.

An abandoned mine in Katanga

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate how the disaster could have been avoided. There is no doubt that the chaos and destruction in Congo lengthened white rule in Southern Africa. At the same time, virtually all the black leaders ended up cruel corrupt fools. No one to toast. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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Tannu Tuva 1934, The Russian Commissars Extraordinary have arrived, and brought stamps

Tuva is a small region bordering Siberia and Mongolia in the geographic center of Asia. The people are Buddhist Mongols, and to this day their affiliation is to Russia. The Commissars Extraordinary did their job. 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.

Since the stamps were designed to sell far away to collectors, care was taken to draw in the collector. The Mongol language was included on the stamps, but also English, so young collectors knew what they were looking at. The subject matter was also views of local life, at least how it was viewed by the printers in Moscow. However compared to many topical third world offerings of the recent past, it seems to me quite quaint. There is some question as to whether the offerings were legitimate. Most catalogs recognize them as the stamps were legal for postage in Tuva, and there are examples used as such.

Todays stamp is issue A20, a one Kopek stamp issued by the Tuvan Peoples Republic in April 1934. The stamp displays a horse mounted hunter. The stamp includes the inscription “registered” in English, but was for regular postage. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 mint.

Tannu Tuva was an semi independent country from 1921 through 1944. The Mongol people are of the Tuva tribe and the area lies in the Tannu mountains. During the 19th century, the place changed it’s affiliation to Imperial Russia after previously being affiliated with Mongolia. Mongolia itself at the time was a vassal state of Chinese Manchuria.

In the chaos after the 1917 revolutions in Russia, Tannu Tuva declared itself independent. Since the independence leaders were Bolshevik, there was Russian support. Only the Soviet Union and Mongolia recognized Tannu Tuva’s independence, but this has more to do with remoteness than illegitimacy. Tannu Tuva did begin appearing on world maps.

There was then some intrigue. The first Prime Minister, Donduk Kuular, changed political parties and declared the widely practiced Buddhism the state religion and sought closer ties to Mongolia. This angered Soviet leader Stalin who declared 5 Russian educated Tuvans, “Commissars Extraordinary” and had then return home. Quickly there was a coup and Kuular was removed from office, arrested, and executed. The new commissars purged the government but the country remained itinerant Buddhists and not industrialized. In 1944 at the extraordinary commissar’s request, the country was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast.

Tannu Tuva Leader Donduk Kuular

The idea for issuing stamps came from Hungarian Bela Szekula. He approached the Soviet Union with the idea. He had previously been involved with a fraudulent stamp issue from Ethiopia. The stamps were printed in Moscow and generated foreign exchange for the Soviet Union. The stamp issues stopped in 1944 and they now use the Russian postal system. In the 1990s and 2000s there were fraudulent Tannu Tuva stamps featuring such topicals as Bart Simpson and the band Led Zeppelin. No catalog recognizes these issues.

Hungarian, later American, stamp dealer Bela Szekula

Tuvan people are fairly unique by being Turkic but also Buddhist. There share this trait only with the “yellow Uyghurs” of China. The country has been about a third Russian but over the last 20 years Russian numbers have declined. The current leader appointed by President Putin is a former wrestler.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another and salute the 4 Extraordinary Commissars, for coming in and fixing everything. Who knew things could be that simple. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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East Germany 1950, Now that we are Red, look who is back and on top

As the Red Army swarmed westward, they had a cadre of exiled Communists ready to take over. 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.

The aesthetics of todays stamp are not the best, A generic old man. President Pieck had been in exile for more than a dozen years when he returned to Germany with the Red Army. That was not his first period in exile. One must wonder than even to communists in East Germany, if he was a stranger.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 2 Deutsche Mark (East) put out by the German Democratic Republic in 1951. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations honoring East German President Wilhelm Pieck. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $4.75 used.

Wilhelm Pieck was born in what is now Poland in modest circumstances. He first worked as a logger and became active in the trade union and later joined the socialist SPD party in Germany. He was self taught. Him being a Red was difficult because his bride to be’s family was opposed. Since she was with child they consented but demanded a church wedding. Pieck showed up late and handed out communist leaflets as he walked down the aisle to the ceremony. He was part of the militant wing of the SPD that opposed the German World War I involvement. This saw Pieck exiled to Amsterdam during the War. After the war he returned but was one of the leaders of the SPD arrested by the Freikorps. Two other leaders were killed in custody but Pieck escaped into exile in Paris and became a member of the Communist International. It is understandable that with so many personal exiles, Pieck became concerned with the plight of fellow lefty exiles from nations that they had yet to take power. He was a founding partner of the International Red Aid. A red cross for political prisoners involved in class struggle.

The International Red Aid Emblem. The letters refer to the Acronym in Russian. Before Stalin purged it, it had 62 national chapters.

Hitler coming to power saw Pieck and his family again going into exile for 12 years in Moscow. During the later part of these years he helped organize a group of German exiles ready to govern a new communist Germany. He was instrumental in merging two older left parties into the Unity Socialist Party of East Germany. He was named the first and only President of East Germany. By then he was quite old, even older than Adenauer, the West German leader.

Pieck served into his death in 1960 at age 84. By then he had outlived his wife by 50 years and suffered from two strokes and cirrhosis of the liver. In his last years he maintained a summer home on the grounds of Carinhall, Hermann Goering’s infamous hunting lodge. Both a world away and back home for the one time logger.

Well my drink is empty and Pieck has probably emptied the bottle. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.