On Tuesday November 29th, 2022, Banbury Stamp Society welcomed Peter Barnett who gave a presentation on ‘Yugoslavia 1945 to the end of the Federation’. We started with the German retreat. In June 1945, Slovenia was liberated and, as it had been occupied by Italy, Germany and Hungary, there are three sets of overprinted stamps. The driving force in the region was Tito and by late 1945 the idea of a federation was well established. The first definitive issue celebrated Tito and the partisans. Stamps were printed in Cyrillic and Latin and in four languages to reflect the diverse population. One region that remained in dispute was the Trieste zone which had been occupied by Italy. Tito’s troops recaptured all but Trieste, which was occupied by New Zealand troops and remained linked to Italy. Occupation stamps were the same as the Yugoslavian issues but in different colours and overprinted. The arrangement was formalised by treaty in 1954. The post-war period through to the late 1950’s saw a rebuilding to repair the war damage. Tito had a vision of global cooperation, and many foreigners went to help at summer work camps, particularly on the railway. Each camp had its own post office and we saw examples of postcards from the camps. In the 1960’s Yugoslavia became a popular tourist destination and many of the stamp issues helped to promote this. Tito died in 1980 and by the 1990’s, nationalism had taken hold in the regions of the Yugoslav republic leading to wars, UN interventions and the end of Yugoslavia in 2002.
The next meeting will be on Estonia and on South Africa on Tuesday 15th December 2022 at 7:30pm at the Hanwell Fields Community Centre. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.