Tag: Yugoslavia stamp

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State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs 1918, it would appear the new boss in Bosnia is Serb

A while back, The Philatelist did an Austria Hungary Bosnian region stamp overprinted to reflect the occupation of Serbia, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/03/27/serbia-1916-with-bosnia-occupying-serbia-in-the-service-of-germans-it-may-be-time-to-stamp-the-black-hand/    .Three years later, the same issue of stamps is now overprinted to reflect Serbia was not only back in charge in Serbia but had Bosnia and relishing it with lots of fun cross outs. Emperor Franz Joseph was dead so lets cross him out and the new State of… failed to mention Bosnia  so better also cross that out as well. At least the stamp is still denominated in Austrian money, so there are additional cross outs to look forward 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.

As Yugoslavia was coming together in the last days of World War I, a rare show of unity was displayed by all the various ethnicities from Yugoslavia who were members of the Austrian Reichsrat parliament. They would work together toward succession. Stamp overprints tell the real story though, the Serbian Cyrillic script tells the Bosnians who was in charge.

Todays stamp is issue A23, a 3 Heller stamp issued by the not internationally recognized state of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs in October 1918. It was a 16 stamp issue of overprints on an Austrian Bosnian military postage stamp from 1912 featuring Emperor Franz Joseph. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents unused. A postal cancellation doubles the value. the unoverstampted original from 1912 is also worth 40 cents unused.

At the time of this stamp there was still officially an Austrian appointed military governor of Bosnia, a Croatian General in Austrian service named Stjepan Sarkotic. He was not in favor of the Serbian takeover of the area though he realized there was going to be a major restructuring. In 1910, Austria allowed for freedom of religion in Bosnia to practice and not face attempts at conversion. To a large extent, this made Bosnian Muslims more comfortable. So it was with them that he met in the last days trying to avoid Serbian domination.

Austrian/Croat Governor of Bosnia Stjepan Sarkotic. He doesn’t look like the type of guy Bosnian Muslims could go to.

I mentioned above the action of the Yugoslav members of the Reichsrat. They were inspired by American President Woodrow Wilson peace proposal that specially set out self determination and autonomy for the many peoples of Austria Hungary. It was this spirit that lead to the forming of the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that indeed had representation from some from all the ethnicities including the Bosnian Muslims.

Serbian Army enters Zagreb in 1918 during the State of Slovenes s Croats, and Serbs in 1918

It was not to be. Entente power Italy was still at war with them trying to grab territory and the Entente powers decided instead on a Kingdom for the area under the old Serbian King. The new Kingdom arrested now former Governor Sarkotic. When he was released he relocated to Vienna and worked with Croat nationalists there. His goal was reunification of Croatia and Bosnia with Austria because he thought it the only way for the other peoples of Yugoslavia not to be crushed by Serbian nationalism and the influence of the Serbian Orthadox Church. He died in 1939 before the next round of Yugoslav postal cross outs folowing the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/20/croatia-1941-crossing-out-peter-ii-is-something-we-all-can-agree-on/  .

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Croatia 1941, Croatia achieves independence by aligning with bad people and then pays a huge price

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.

Ante Pavolic in office

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.

Pavelic’s picture from his fake passport when on the run

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.

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Serbia 1880, Unlike so many places, Serbia had it’s own royal line, or more problematically two.

As the mostly Christian Balkans tried to extract themselves from the Ottomans rule, a King who could play in European power games was useful. Instead of employing an out of work German Royal as did others, Serbia was blessed with it’s own royal line. Some times however the blessings come fast and furious. For Serbia that meant a second royal line to compete and joust with. 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 shows Prince Milan I, at 26 a few years before he was able to get Great Power support for Serbia being upgraded from Principality to Empire and Milan I to King. Rulers didn’t last too long at the time so the stamp did it’s best to disguise his youth with the elaborate uniform and newly acquired mustache.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 25 Paras stamp issued by the Principality of Serbia in 1880. It was part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. There are two colors of the 25p denomination, blue and ultramarine(a darker blue). I think mine is blue but that is open for debate with possible fading on a 141 year old stamp. According to the Scott catalog, the blue version is worth $1.90 mint. The ultra version is $1.50.

Serbia got a measure of independence from the Ottomans in the early 19th century. Some areas contained Muslim holdovers and also many Serbs were in Austrian and Montenegrin areas that were still Ottoman. The two royal lines were Karadordevic line and  the Obrenovic line to which Milan I belongs. His line was more simpatico with Austria and the Karadordevic line more with Russia. Milan grew up in exile in Moldavia as it was the other lines turn. He lost his father fighting for Romania as a mercenary and his mother became the mistress of the Moldavian King bearing him several out of wedlock children. She no longer had time for Milan and he was adopted by his cousin the ruling Prince Mihailo who had the Karadodevics expelled in 1858. Milan was given a Paris education. He had to return early at age 14 when Prince Mihailo was assassinated leaving no offspring. After some chaos a regency was agreed upon with a council of politicians advising now Prince Milan.

The young Prince faced one or two attempts on his life as a teen. One was a bomb and the other an incident in an outhouse. He was doing his business sitting on a wooden seat that gave way under his weight sending him into the pit below. He couldn’t climb out but had his sidearm and fired to summon help. There were rumors that the wood had been treated with acid so to give way under him. There were also rumors that both attempts were from his regents to scare Prince Milan into not dismissing them upon majority. It was not just a rumor that that was one stinky pit.

It was a violent time. There was a disastrous war with Bulgaria that was almost the end of Serbia. Only Austrian intervention preventing that. The other was more successful with the stripping of the last ties to the Ottomans and the recognition of Serbia as an Empire and Milan has the King. Austria was prominent in this and with so many Serbians living unhappily in Austrian territory an alliance with them undermined King Milan’s popularity. To address this, he took a Russian wife Natalie as his Queen. The union was unhappy although a son Alexander was produced. They divorced and she took the Crown Prince with her moving to Germany. Milan eventually was able to regain control over Prince Alexander. He then passed a new constitution friendly to Austria and then abdicated to his 13 year old son. He tried to serve on his son’s regency council but then Alexander’s mother returned from Germany with paperwork declaring her divorce from Milan invalid. The young Prince Alexander, incensed with both of them for not approving of his choice of wife had both his parents sent into exile. Former King Milan died in Vienna a year later at age 43. In 1903 King Alexander was assassinated at age 26 allowing the rival Karadordevic line to assume the throne. This put Serbia firmly in Russia’s orbit in time for World War I. Queen Natalie converted to the Catholic Church after exile and became a Nun serving the Church in France until her death in 1941.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King Milan I. Getting out early and dying of natural causes was quite a feat for a leader in that time and place. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018

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Fiume 1920, the city state, and Italian Regency of Carnaro, whose principle was music and weapon was castor oil

A city state near a moveable border and with a diverse population is a formula for unrest. Sometimes what comes to occupy the vacuum is just bizarre. 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.

Fiume never had a stable government in it’s five years of existence. So there was not time to let the drama of the place be reflected on the stamps. Many were just overprints of Italian or Hungarian stamps. The stamp today is a newspaper stamp that though Fiume specific is somewhat generic.

Todays stamp is issue N2, a newspaper stamp issued  by the free state of Fiume on September 12th, 1920. This was during the time the right wing Italian poet and soldier Gabriele D’Annunzio had declared himself El Duce and that Fiume was the Italian regency of Carnaro. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.00 mint.

Fiume is a port city on the Adriatic that for many years belonged to the Austria-Hungarian Empire. It was administered by Hungary and was their only port. The people who actually lived there were mainly Italians and Croatians. At the end of World War I, Fiume was not part of the land that transferred from Austria to Italy and Hungary was also not able to hold on to it. Italy and Serbia claimed it but at the suggestion of mediator Woodrow Wilson it was declared a free state. There was much turmoil with new governments every few months.

Into this quagmire lands uninvited an Italian poet and war hero named Gabriele D’Annunzio. This was before the fascists had taken over in Italy but Fiume became a model for that takeover. He declared himself El Duce of the Italian regency of Carnaro. Only the Soviet Union recognized his government. He gave long poetic and musical speeches from his balcony in the central square. He reorganized the government into a series of corporations where people were assigned various tasks. He famously enshrined in the constitution that one corporation was to protect the interest of poets, heroes and supermen. What no Philatelists? Perhaps they were covered by the title of Supermen. Music was also enshrined as a fundamental principle of the state. He put forth a new moto for Fiume, “This place is the best!”

Gabriele D’ Annunzio during the Regency of Carnaro. They say the Yugoslavs masacred all the right wing looking Italians in 1945. as the Italians did to the Hungarians in 1919. Wonder if any or these fellows were good at disguises.

D’Annunzio clamped down on opposition by the use of black-shirted thugs. They are believed in originating the technique of dousing opponents in castor oil. This was an extreme laxative that would immobilize and humiliate them. Eventually the Italian military forced D’Annunzio to withdraw from Fiume and Fiume reverted to Italy in 1924. This was opposed by the local government which became a government in exile. At the end of World War II they again tried to claim the city but their leaders were quickly assassinated by Yugoslavia which took the city for itself. Fiume is now the Croatian city of Rijeka.

D’Annunzio returned to Italy and retired to his villa. He was weakened physically when he fell from a window on the second floor. It is not clear if he was pushed or lost his footing due to intoxication. It meant though that he did not participate in the rise to power of his fascists allies in Italy. He did live on into the rule and was the recipient of honors from them. His son was a movie director of movies based on his stories.

Fiume passed to Italy in 1924, to Yugoslavia in 1945 and finally to date Croatia in 1991.

The now much sleepier Croatian city of Rijeka. Not many Italians or Hungarians left, the biggest minority is now Bosnians. Lucky Croatia.

Well, my drink is empty, and as I am on the third floor so I will abstain as I like lack the castor oil to keep the bastards at bay. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Yugoslavia 1934, It is dangerous to rule the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

Governing in the Balkans can be dangerous, hence today is our first black outlined memorial stamp. So slip on tour 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 Philatelists.

The stamp today is a common Yugoslavia stamp from the early 30s of King Alexander I of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The King was assassinated in 1934 and a new printing of the stamp was made with a black outline around the stamp. This was a common way to mourn a deceased leader at the time.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 50 paras stamp issued by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 17th, 1934. The stamp added the black outline to the earlier King Alexander stamp issue. The issue contained 14 stamps of various denominations. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in the aftermath of World War I. The royal house of Serbia was given the wider mandate. King Alexander was not originally in line. However his older brother George had been forced to renounce any claim to the throne. George was known to be unstable and there was a public incident where he kicked a valet in the stomach so hard that he eventually died. Alexander took the throne officially in 1921 but was already serving as regent for his elderly father. He married a Romanian princess in 1921. He had early hoped to marry a Russian Princess but she had been executed in the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Alexander’s older brother once Crown Prince George. He tried later to recant his renunciation of the Throne but Alexander had him locked up in an asylum. WWII German occupiers let him out and he was the one royal that Marshal Tito allowed to stay. He lived into the 1970s. Yugoslavia could have used an adult King in the war.

The area that took the name Yugoslavia in 1929 was a wild place. In 1928, a Serb Deputy of the National Assembly assassinated 5 Croat Deputies including the leader of  the Croat Peasants Party. In response King Alexander banned political parties and assumed executive power. He hoped to clamp down on separatists  attitudes.

It was not to be. In 1934, while on a trip to Marseilles, France, King Alexander was killed by a Bulgarian assassin who was working for Macedonia autonomy. The assassination happened while on parade in an open limousine while surrounded by cavalrymen and sitting next to the French Foreign Minister. The assassin jumped on the running board of the limousine shouting vive le King with a submachine gun hidden in a bouquet of flowers. The French Foreign Minister was killed by return fire from French police and the assassin was slowed by a sabre blow from a French cavalryman and then beaten to death by the crowd of onlookers. The assassination was captured by newsreel cameras and shown around the world. Preparing for the state funeral it was discovered that King Alexander had a large heraldic eagle tattooed on his chest.

King Alexander I’s assassin, born Velichko Kerin. He had lots of aliases, the best, Vlado the Chauffer

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Yugoslavia 1943, Remembering Black George rising against the Ottomans as Partisans were rising against the Germans

The Royalist government in exile took the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Yugoslavia to point out a few people from the past who they felt were worth remembering. This is especially interesting as the choices would not have been those made by the upcoming Tito government. That does not mean that the new government won’t still sell you the stamps, they just won’t let you use them. 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 large 1945 overprint on this stamp was done by the new government of Tito to the large stock of this stamp issue held in the London embassy after they took it over from the former Royalist regime. In theory it celebrated the victory over the German occupiers during the war. What it actually did was cancel the ability of the stamp to be used for postage. The ability of course was already virtually nil when the stamps were printed in 1943 as the country was occupied. It was though theoretically possible via Yugoslav naval ships at sea. This means that this stamp without the overprint are legitimate but the overprint makes them fake. The London Embassy sold the remaining stock of the stamp to stamp  dealers in 1950.

Todays stamp is issue A3 a 10 Dinar stamp issued by the Royalist government in exile of King Peter II on December 1st, 1943. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp without the overprint would be worth $5.50 unused. The overprint makes the stamp fake however so it has no stated value. The six stamps also came as a souvenir sheet showing how the stamps were mainly to raise revenue. The sheet is worth $65.

Black George lead the first major Serb uprising against the then occupying Ottoman Empire in the early 19th Century. He was the founder of the Royal House of Karadordevic. King Peter II in exile in London was the last member of this Royal house to sit on the Throne.

Black George was an ethnic Serb who lead a rebellion in the area around Belgrade. He claimed he was seeking self rule rather than full independence from the Ottomans. However in the areas to which he gained control, Muslims were ethnically cleansed. He met with a good deal of military success and attracted support to his cause from both Austria and especially Russia. Sensing Napoleon’s impending invasion of Russia, the Czar made a deal with the Ottomans that left the Serbs to their fate. Black George kept fighting but without outside help the tide in the long running rebellion turned against him. Black George fled to Austria but was then arrested and sent to Russia who intended to keep him out of Serbia.

The returning Ottomans proved very cruel to the Serbs and two years later there was a second uprising against the Ottomans. This time it was lead by Milos Obrenovic. A quick victory followed a deal with the Ottomans giving Serbia limited self rule. Obrenovic became Prince of Serbia and lead his own separate Royal line. I covered a Serb Prince from his line here,  https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/  . Black George snuck back to Belgrade but when now Prince Milos heard Black George was back he had him killed. He did not want a rival  and thought that the Ottomans would renig on his deal when they found out Black George was back. Black George was axed to death in his sleep. His severed head was then presented to the local Pasha who had it stuffed and then sent to Constantinople. Here the severed head was mounted on a stick and displayed publicly for a week until it was stolen. The rest of his body was buried in Serbia. Black George’s great grandson, now King of all Yugoslavia was able to acquire his skull in Greece in 1923 and return it to the rest of his remains in the Karadordevic Dynasty Mausoleum in the newly constructed Church of Saint George, where he remains.

The Assassination of Black George, as depicted in a later Serb painting.

Well my drink is empty and this better explains to me  how small Serbia ended up with the riches or is it curses of two Royal houses. The Serbs sure seem rough, but with rivals like the Ottomans ready to put your head on a stick, perhaps you have to be. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Exiled Yugoslavia 1943, remembers a Croatian/Bosnian/German? Bishop

A fake stamp may still be interesting. They can get quite convoluted. 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.

So this stamp issue started out as a recognized issue, albeit just barely. The stamp was issued with the aim of raising revenue by the Yugoslav Royal government in exile in London. At the bottom of the stamp you can see it was printed in London. The international community, excluding of course the Axis troops then occupying Yugoslavia, still recognized the Royal government as the legitimate representative of the people. So far so good, but the stamp collecting community requires a stamp to also be useful for postage and this stamp was unavailable at Yugoslav post offices. The London Embassy developed a work around. This stamp would be valid for postage no matter how many were printed because it could be used on Yugoslav Navy ships at sea. One submarine and two torpedo boats had escaped to Egypt during the 1941 invasion and very occasionally operated with their old crews under British command. A thin string of legitimacy. That string soon broke. In 1944 the Allies began recognizing the partisans under Tito as the legitimate government. They took over the London Embassy and it’s large stock of unsold copies of this stamp issue. It was not their type of issue and the issue was cancelled. Not however thrown away. In 1950, a 1945 victory overstamp was added to remaining stocks and sold off not for postal use to stamp dealers. This stamp is one of those, so fake.

That does not mean it is not an interesting issue as it recognizes people who the Communists would have mostly found unworthy. I have already covered another stamp from this issue here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/30/communist-yugoslavia-1950-sells-off-the-invalid-exile-stamps/ . On todays stamp, we have a Bosnian Croat Catholic Bishop who became a political figure promoting Croatian nationalism. He is thus an odd figure for a Yugoslav government to be honoring. Especially at a time when Croatia was given independence by the German invaders and one of the first stamp issues of Croatia literally blots out King Peter II’s face. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/20/croatia-1941-crossing-out-peter-ii-is-something-we-all-can-agree-on/ .

Bishop Joseph Strossmayer was born into a German family in the Croat area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He received Catholic clerical training in Belgrade, Budapest, and Vienna. He was ordained a priest in 1838. He was opposed to what he perceived as then Hungarian domination of Croats politically and served in the Croat Diet, a national assembly. Strossmayer was named Bishop of Diakovar in modern day Bosnia. He founded the wonderfully named Academy of South Slavs. Why don’t they still give out names like that?

As Bishop, Strossmayer ruffled a few feathers. At the Vatican Council he spoke out controversially in favor of Protestantism and reuniting the Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthadox Church. Even more controversially, perhaps even heretically, he spoke out against Papal infallibility and even Papal Primacy. He lost those fights at the Vatican Council and as Bishop was forced to yield “at least outwardly” as he put it, to the official position. He died in 1905.

Well my drink is empty and so I may pour another while I ponder why Bishop Strossmayer would be honored By Yugoslav Royalty. Were he alive, given his background, he would have probably gone along with a German influenced Croatia. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Croatia 1941, Crossing out Peter II is something we all can agree on

Peter II, already on the stamps as a child King after his fathers assassination, was not really in charge. His Uncle Paul was regent and making some iffy decisions. So when real trouble came, the kid King flies away and gets crossed out. 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 situation had changed so an overstamp of the prewar Yugoslav stamp was called for. The big black circle over the guys face is downright rude. A few weeks before the German invasion, a coup supported by the young King was seen as against special arrangements made with Croats. So apparently the Croats were especially anxious to cross him out. The German puppet Serb government just wrote Serbia over the same stamp, so the extra hostility was not from the Serbs or even the Germans.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a one Dinar stamp issued by Croatia on May 16th, 1941, only a few weeks after the German invasion. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents whether mint or used.

Peter II became King in 1934 upon the assassination of his father. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/08/it-is-dangerous-to-rule-the-kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes/   . He was 11 years old. His uncle Paul became regent and claimed to be trying to continue the policies of Peter’s father until he reached his majority in 1941. Instead he gave a great deal of autonomy to a greater Croatia that included much of Bosnia. This angered the Serbs. They were further angered in early 1941 when the regent signed an alliance with Germany. There was a British supported coup. Pro coup army forces approached the royal compound that was guarded by troops loyal to the regent. At this point, 17 year old King Peter slipped out of the Palace by climbing down a drainage pipe and greeted warmly the coup forces. Quickly there was a coronation and Peter was ruling. Regent Paul went into exile and house arrest in Kenya.

10 days later, the Germans invaded. The Yugoslav plan if attacked was not to resist but instead withdraw intact to the south. So instead of defending against the Germans, the Yugoslav army invaded Italian occupied Albania hoping to link up with Greece. Peter flew to Greece. This plan did not succeed and despite the Yugoslavs and the Greeks far outnumbering the Germans, the campaign was over in a few weeks and Greek and Yugoslav royals were off to London where Peter married a Greek Princess. Almost none of his army got out with him and the active resistance to the Germans were mostly Communists and/or Serb nationalist, who owed nothing to the King.

Post war Peter lived in first the USA and then France. Tito had frozen his bank accounts so Peter had to live of the generosity of Serbs abroad. He drank a lot and became famous for writing bad checks. He probably thought they were just Royal mementoes not to be cashed. He dreamed of leading an army of expats back to Yugoslavia and liking up with Serb nationalists he imagined were still fighting Tito in the mountains. He died after a failed liver transplant in 1970 and became the first European Royal buried in the USA.

Oddly in the 1980s there was revival of Royal nostalgia in Yugoslavia. The American soap opera Dynasty featuring glamorous young Catherine Oxenberg was shown on TV there. She is the granddaughter of Prince Paul, Peter II’s old regent who caused so much trouble 45 years before.  Time had healed and neither Serb nor Croat, communist nor capitalist, wanted to ex her out.

Catherine Oxenberg as Amanda Carrington on Dynasty.

Well my drink is empty and if I am lucky a Yugoslav Royal will write the check for another round. I will understand not to cash it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Yugoslavia 1967, Easing out the Serb, even if he is the real Yugoslav

Yugoslavia despite going it alone on the world stage, was getting ahead pretty fast in the 50s and 60s. There was a very unusual stable peace. As always though, there were those who want stick to their own. 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 celebrates the UN organized International Children’s Week by displaying a child’s drawing of winter. The stamp is from the period of the economy taking off and the issue definitely has the look of a western stamp issue. With the success, an aging President for life Tito began decentralizing power to the ethno-states that made up the Yugoslav federation and in doing so set in motion the process of the eventual breakup.

Todays stamp is issue A217, a 30 Paras stamp issued by Yugoslavia on October 2nd, 1967. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Marshal Tito had lead the resistance to the Germans and was in position to take over at the end of the war. He had made contacts with the west during the war and they had changed their affiliation to him from the former Yugoslav royalist regime with their drunken child King, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/30/communist-yugoslavia-1950-sells-off-the-invalid-exile-stamps/ . This put Tito, a Croat, in position to break with Stalin and charter his own course for Yugoslavia. He had with him a cadre of economists from Croatia that suggested a form of Socialism where the means of production were owned by the in place worker cooperative instead of the state directly if distantly.The access to markets on both sides of the iron curtain, the flexibility of the worker coops and the low conversion value of Yugoslavia’s currency allowed for high rates of economic growth.

It should be noted the disparities. The economic powerhouse was mainly in the north of the country in Croatia and Slovenia. The center of the country, as in older days contained the security apparatus of the country and was mainly Serb. Serbian Aleksandar Rankovic was a Communist who had fought in the resistance with Tito. As head of the security section of the Yugoslav League of Communist parties, it was his job to keep a lid on nationalist sentiment of the various peoples of Yugoslavia. This made him revered by Serbs and resented by the rest. In 1966, Tito purged Rankovic and threw him out of the party. This was seen as telling the security agencies to lighten up. Tito had an excuse, there was an accusation that Rankovic had bugged Tito’s private quarters.

Lighten up they did. By the early 1970s, there was a Croatian spring where Croatians began protesting that more power should be with them and less in Serb Belgrade. Also in Bosnia, Muslims were protesting talking up a Greater Albania. Instead of a crackdown, Tito, now well into his 80s, responded with a new constitution that devolved much power to the ethnostates that comprised federal Yugoslavia. This was much in line with the demands of the Croatian Spring.

Serbia saw all this differently than the rest of the country. Despite living in obscurity for the last 17 years of his life and there being no official public announcement of his death in 1983, approximately 100,000 Serbs turned up for Aleksandar Rankovic’s funeral. Pretty unusual for the purged head of the secret police of an authoritarian country. An early sign though of how serious the Serbs were about keeping Yugoslavia together.

Well my drink is empty and the Balkans are too lively a place to toast anybody and risk the following fight. So instead I will wait patiently till tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Montenegro 1898, Prince-Bishop Nicholas trades pan Slavism and religion for war mongering and exile

19th century Balkans featured mainly German Kings arguing with their cousins over the spoils from the falling back into Asia Ottomans. What if an Orthodox, Slav King from Montenegro with a flair for soldiery was empowered. Would the Slav people fall behind him. 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.

With “Game of Thrones” now over, perhaps an enterprising Montenegrin could concoct a replacement based on the European Balkans of the 19th century. Here we have a bearded Slav, descended from Orthodox monks ready to take up the sword against Turks, Austrians, and occasionally his fellow Slavs to get ahead. In the background are Austrians and Russians handing out just enough arms and treasure to convince that unification will only happen through them. I would watch that.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 Novcic stamp issued by the Bishopric Principality of Montenegro in 1898. This series of stamps was issued for many years with this the later version, Nicholas having ruled from 1860 till the Austrians sent him packing for the French wine country in 1916. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents. The early printing of the same denomination in lilac is worth $280.

The Royal line of Montenegro took some degree of power from the Ottoman Empire in 1696. The Royal House were monastic monks who did not marry. Thus the line passed from Bishop-Prince to his nephew. Prince Danilo, assassinated in 1860, tried to modernize by not taking the Bishop part of his title and marrying. However his son Prince Mirko refused the throne and so it still went to the nephew Nicholas. Things were still pretty old fashioned.  Nicholas studied in Trieste and Paris. His wife Milena to whom he was betrothed when he was 12 and her 6, was uneducated and illiterate. She was from a prominent family but at the time they were just not educating females. Later she was tutored in the Palace in French in time for her elderly French exile years. She was fertile, they had 12 children.

Nicholas inherited the title of Prince but on the 50th anniversary of his rule in 1910, he took the title of King. Nicholas claimed to be a pan Slavist but did nothing to unite with the next door larger Slav country Serbia. Serbia had the complication of two royal families, one pro Austrian and one pro Russia. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/   .Montenegro fought on the winning side on the many wars of the time, especially against the Ottomans. Though his military exploits are perhaps better remembered at home, in the west he is remembered for having sold Gatsby a fake bravery medal in F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. During World War I King Nicholas made the mistake of siding too quickly with Serbia only to be quickly defeated with it by Austria. The treaty at the end of WWI saw Montenegro given to the new Yugoslavia under the Serbian King, the pro Russia line. With the Austrians conquering, King Nicholas and Queen Milena left for France never to return.

King Nicholas, Queen Milena and family in exile in France in 1916. Stop by their gift shop and pick up a medal.

Montenegro stayed with Serbia initially as Yugoslavia broke apart. Serbia was greatly punished by the wars of the 90s trying to keep Yugoslavia together. In 2006, Montenegro again put pan Slavism aside and broke off from Serbia peacefully. Pretender King Nicholas, the great grandson of King Nicholas, has returned the Royal line to Montenegro. It is not a monarchy but they allow him to use his preferred title Crown Prince, live in the old Palace, and perform some ceremonial functions. Not bad for a French born and raised architect. Nicholas has grandchildren named Nicholas and Milena.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I ponder the upsides and downsides of pan Slavism. No doubt a common drinking game from Vienna to Moscow. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.