Stamps and Postal History of World War II in the Former Yugoslavia.
A random page from my book...
"As some of you know, my book on NDH revenues was published in late 2015. Over the last five years, a lot of new information has been found about this interesting area of NDH collecting. This includes previously unknown stamps along with information on such things as plate numbers, pane sizes, security network varieties, etc. Consequently, I have put together a revision to the original 153-page book which adds over 80 pages of additional information. This version is in electronic format and only in English. I am making it available as a free download to anyone who purchased the original book. If you are a purchaser of the original book and wish a copy of the new version, please contact me at pj_in_sb@yahoo.com."
Today marks 80 years since the release of the first NDH local issue. A group of officials led by Dr Ivan Gliha, Chef de Cabinet of the temporary Međimurje Government and Dr Stjepan Wolf, a lawyer and renowned stamp collector, decided to prepare and release a local stamp issue of the Independent State of Croatia for the Međimurje area. The overprinting was executed in Kraljek & Vezić Printing Works in Čakovec between 12th and 15th April.
I am still shocked by the death of my philatelic friend Dario Filjar. I knew of his severe illness, but I somehow believed he would defeat it. Dario was one of the most excellent experts on the postal history of Croatia. I will never forget our discussions and researches. He really enjoyed philately ...
A hardcover version of the manual is now available. For purchase, click here.
The Philatelic Manual
Another fraudulent attempt. A seller from Albania is now selling fantasy fakes of the 1944 Second Šibenik local issue. Unfortunately, it looks like that there are buyers for such bizarre products...
During the second world war, the Gorski Kotar area has a strong national liberation movement. Italian and Ustasha crews were constantly under the attacks. On December 17, 1942, the 6th and 14th Brigades of the 5th Operational Zone of the Partisan Army occupied Ravna Gora and remained there for almost one month. The Partisans' strategy was to promote the national liberation struggle through different propaganda activities...
The Philatelic Manual
Aleš Marinšek
2020
In recent years, I have written various articles about local issues of the Independent State of Croatia. Most of them were published in Acta Philatelica Nova, a yearbook that, by the way, I warmly recommend to anyone collecting stamps and postal history on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. I have received positive responses and many requests to prepare and publish a manual. Therefore, I finally decided to bring things together, unify and supplement them accordingly. The result is a manual that I hope will contribute to the popularisation of these issues and maybe to philately in general.
The Philatelic Manual
Aleš Marinšek
2020
Following Allied intervention across the Adriatic into the Balkans in late 1944 and early 1945, postal services were disrupted and fell into the control of Allied Military Liaison Headquarters, part of the Middle East Command. In November 1944, the Controller of Civil Posts BMA Dodecanese reported that arrangements had been made in the Balkans for urgent civilians posts to be accepted for disposal through the Director Middle East Censorship (part of the British MEF) and Cairo, then the Egyptian Postal Services. Only a few examples of such mail are known.
"Hrvatska država" error (also known as "Hd" error) is scarce at 0.25 Din. There are only a few examples identified, mostly as singles...
So far, I have not found any relevant information about the Palermo Court Prison. Concluding from the stationery below, this prison also served as a transit point before being transferred to Ustica concentration camp...
I know that circular censure cachet "MILITARY CENSORSHIP / No. / CIVIL MAILS" was used by Allied in south Italy in 1944 and 1945. However, I do not know if the same type of cachet has been used elsewhere...
The Split provisional issue was used mainly in the mainland part of southern and central Dalmatia. Use north of this, in Lika or even Kvarner, is very rare...
Non-issued 4 pf Hindenburg is the most valuable stamp of all Slovenian 1945 provisional issues. Only 15 sheets were overprinted. Its catalogue value is 500 EUR while its current market value is around 200 EUR. Therefore, you should be suspicious when you see this...
Oflag VI C in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony, Germany) was an officer's camp of Yugoslav prisoners of war with about 6000 officers captured in 1941. Most were imprisoned until the end of WWII. After the capitulation of Germany on May 9, 1945, the officers remained in the camp for a long time. The main reason was the logistical difficulties in returning to Yugoslavia, as well as the fact that not all officers wanted to return to the country where communism came to power. Ex-inmates continued to live in the camp, so they organized their own rules...
Forgers seem to be very hardworking lately. I recently wrote about the forgeries of a local issue for Dalmatia (see here). Now you can buy them on eBay...
Confinements and other forms of restriction of the movement were usually in hard-to-reach areas. Remote islands such as Ponza were often used.
If the sender or addressee was a military person, the basic fee for shipments was free of charge. However, all additional services such as registration, express handling etc. were charged at the applicable tariffs.
I found a nice example of a bicolour stamp. The most likely explanation for this is that a part of a stamp was exposed to UV light. However, it is interesting that colours perfectly match known colours of 6pf stamp - so one might believe that this occurred while printed...
Some new forgeries are being sold on eBay again. This time it is a fake overprint of 1945 Murska Sobota provisional issue. The fake is amateurish and of poor quality. It can only fool those who have not seen the original...
One inverted sheet of No 12 exist, therefore each of the overprint flaws is unique...
Recently, forgeries made with quality laser printing have appeared. Both, the basic stamp, as well as the overprint, are forged. Plain medium-sized office paper is used, and usually, there is no gum. If you have such forgery in your hands, it is not dangerous because you can immediately see from the paper what it is about. But it is a much bigger problem if you see only the front image (e.g. on the online store) because the reproduction is pretty credible even under the scan of usual resolution.
For other types of forgeries of the Banja Luka issue, see my article in Acta Philatelica Nova 2017.
Usage of Young King Peter stamps and stationery in April 1941 and beyond was very scarce. Even scarier was the use of nationalized Cyril & Metod stationery in the Independent State of Croatia...
