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6 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yacquisition from Greece) in the distance and a rising sunblazing in the sky. The final stamp in the series is a view ofthe Poganovski Monastery.Romania participated in Hitler’s invasion of the SovietUnion in June of 1941 and sent troops into Bessarabiato reclaim the territory that Stalin had annexed the previousyear. 22 On the first anniversary of its reconquest ofBessarabia, Romania issued a series of three semi- postalstamps. 23 All three portray General Antonescu, Romania’sde facto head of state. Two of the three also portray theKing of Romania, King Michael; King Michael’s father,King Carol II, had been forced to abdicate in 1940 due tonational outrage over the country’s territorial losses. Dueto Michael’s youth, General Antonescu served as regent.The first stamp in the series depicts the Romanianarmy crossing the Pruth River to retake Bessarabia; thePruth was the western border of Bessarabia. The bridgeis in the foreground, and the soldiers are viewed from theback as they march from Romania into Bessarabia. Inaddition to two icons representing the occupying power(General Antonescu plus the army), the iconic contentincludes one of the optional elements, the crossing of aborder. Both King Michael and General Antonescu appearon the second stamp, along with a portrait of Stephenof Moldavia, a famous fifteenth- century Romanianruler during whose reign Bessarabia was part of Moldavia(justification of occupation by citing historical precedent).The third stamp (Figure 8) is a map of Bessarabia; at thebottom of the stamp, beneath the map, are soldiers. Fourportraits complete the stamp’s iconic content. In additionto those of King Michael and General Antonescu, homageis paid to Hitler and Mussolini: a tip of the hat to the Axis,since Romania’s alliance with the Axis made the return ofBessarabia possible.The purpose here has been to explain the iconic contentand textual messages of the stamps or sets of stampsissued by several eastern European countries to celebratetheir territorial acquisitions obtained during the periodfrom the Munich crisis in the fall of 1938 to Hitler’s invasionof the Soviet Union in June 1941. The stamps havebeen described as propaganda posters, and the analysisof their iconic content and textual messages has shownhow they functioned as such. In conclusion, the issuethat remains to be addressed is the purpose of these miniaturepropaganda posters: specifically, what messagesthe five governments were seeking to convey with thesestamps, and how they wished to influence public opinion.Philatelic literature, once again, is virtually silent on thistopic, and a search for relevant government documents ormemoir material is beyond the scope of this study. AnyFigure 8. On the first anniversary of its reconquest of Bessarabia,Romania issued a series of three stamps. The third stamp is amap of Bessarabia; at the bottom of the stamp, beneath the map, aresoldiers. Four portraits complete the stamp’s iconic content: KingMichael, General Antonescu, Hitler, and Mussolini—a tip of the hatto the Axis, since Romania’s alliance with the Axis made the returnof Bessarabia possible. From the collection of Robin Gates Elliott.conclusions, therefore, are purely speculative. Yet speculationis possible through seeking connections between thestamp designs and the historical background and circumstancesthat produced them.First, all of these stamps convey a positive message:wrongs have been righted, integral parts of the homelandhave been restored, and ethnic brethren have been rescuedfrom foreign domination and returned safely home. Everyoneis happy: soldiers are greeted with flowers, the ethnicbrethren are smiling, flags are flying, and the sun is shining.Even the suffering Szeklar in the arms of the Madonnais at least still alive. The happiness portrayed stands insharp contrast to the national mood caused by the loss ofthe territories. Hungary endured a year of political turmoilin 1919 due to its territorial losses, and the Treaty of Trianonthe following year, which confirmed the losses, wasan occasion for national mourning and defiance. Bulgariamarked the Treaty of Neuilly with a day of mourning. Asa result of Romanian territorial losses in 1940, the king,Carol II, was forced to abdicate in favor of his young son,Michael. It also stands in contrast to the actual conditionsthat existed in eastern Europe when the stamps were
n u m b e r 5 5 • 6 7issued: dictatorial regimes, political repression, economichardship, and war.Second, the various national governments (those samedictatorial regimes practicing political repression) are takingcredit for these joyous events, the territorial acquisitions,by issuing stamps proclaiming and celebrating them.The iconic content of several of the stamps makes this connectionobvious with portraits of the heads of state: AdmiralHorthy of Hungary, King Boris of Bulgaria, and KingMichael and General Antonescu of Romania. All of theother icons representing the occupying power also makethe connection, if not as directly. None of the governmentswere parliamentary democracies, and none of the rulersportrayed on the stamps were governing with the consentof the governed, hence the importance of influencing publicopinion in their favor (especially in the worst of times)through propaganda. Put very simply, the stamps do preciselythat by associating the rulers and governments withsomething positive and popular (the returned territories)and giving them credit for it.To skeptics at home and abroad, the stamps send athird message: the territorial acquisitions are justified, forall of the reasons listed above. They have saved the minoritiesof Transylvania from the Romanians, liberatedBelorussians and Ukrainians from the Poles, and givenBulgaria its long- sought outlet to the Aegean Sea. Justificationabroad through philately was probably most important—andmost calculated—in the Soviet Union. TheSoviet government made a point of selling its stamps tocollectors overseas, and it is questionable whether the setof stamps celebrating and justifying its acquisition of easternPoland even circulated domestically. 24A fourth message is support for the Axis. All of theterritorial acquisitions discussed here were made possibleby some type of agreement or alliance with either NaziGermany or the Axis. The willingness to acknowledge theconnection philatelically varied according to the country’sdegree of subservience. 25 Romania issued the clearest messageof support (see Figure 8). 26 It is a reflection of Romanianforeign policy during the inter- war period. 27 Romaniafeared Soviet aggression, at least in part because it had annexedBessarabia, and it had depended upon its relationswith the Entente countries, particularly France, to guaranteeits security. That guarantee evaporated with the fall ofFrance to Nazi Germany in the summer of 1940. EasternEurope had suddenly become a very dangerous neighborhood,with no effective Entente power to counter eitherGermany or the Soviet Union. Romania concluded an alliancewith the Axis, which enabled it to retake Bessarabiawhen Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Bulgaria andHungary also concluded alliances with the Axis. Bulgariaalludes to the Axis connection (see Figure 7); Hungarydoes not. The iconic content of the stamps issued by Polandand the Soviet Union contain no reference to theirrelations with Nazi Germany.The stamps analyzed here are similar in their iconiccontent. The messages that these miniature propagandaposters are designed to send are also similar. Whether theiconic content employed and the messages sent are uniqueto these specific countries or are part of a visual vocabularyand a pattern common to all of Europe during the1930s and World War II (and beyond, both in space andtime) would be a subsequent topic to explore—but onebeyond the scope of this study.Notes1. Jack Child, Miniature Messages: the Semiotics and Politicsof Latin American Postage Stamps, pp. 1–5, 15; Daniel A.Piazza, “Perforated Propaganda,” (Lecture given at the SmithsonianNational Postal Museum, Sept. 18, 2009); Donald M. Reid,“The Symbolism of Postage Stamps: a Source for the Historian,”Journal of Contemporary History, vol. XIX, no. 2 (April 1984),p. 223; Carlos Stoetzer, Postage Stamps as Propaganda, pp. 1–3.2. The description of the component parts of stamp designis based on David Scott, European Stamp Design: a SemioticApproach to Designing Messages, in which he applies conceptsfrom The Second Trichotomy of Signs by Charles Sanders Peirceto stamp design, and on Child, who applies Scott’s resulting conceptsof stamp design to his study of Latin American stamps.3. Alf Harper, Philately of the Third Reich: Postage and propaganda(Raleigh, N.C.: Album, 1998); Albert L. Moore, PostalPropaganda of the Third Reich (Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer MilitaryHistory, 2003); Montgomery Mulford, “Postage Stamps as Propaganda,”Mechanix Illustrated, Oct. 1938, pp. 86, 135; Piazza;Scott; Stoetzer.4. Richard and Ben Crampton, Atlas of Eastern Europe inthe Twentieth Century, p. 37; Dennis P. Hupchick and Harold E.Cox, The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe,maps 42, 44; Hugh Seton- Watson, Eastern Europe Between TheWars: 1918–1941, pp. 269–270.5. In the United States the standard reference book for postagestamps is the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, amulti- volume work issued annually. The Scott numbers for thestamps to be analyzed here are: Poland, Scott 334; Hungary,Scott B98–102 and B123–125; Russia, Scott 767–771; Bulgaria,Scott 360–363 and 392–396; and Romania, Scott B195–197.6. Crampton and Crampton, pp. 41, 57, 67, 99, 101, 111;Hupchick and Cox, map 48; Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919:Six Months that Changed the World, pp. 225, 238–240; Scott2004 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, vol. 5, p. 272; Seton-Watson, pp. 364–365.
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Smithsonian InstitutionScholarly Pr
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smithsonian contributions to histor
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ContentsLETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF
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AcknowledgmentsThe symposium would
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2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 5Figure 3.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 7Figure 5.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 9A Final No
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 3Figure 3.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 5The glazed
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 7Intercity
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 9The End of
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The U.S. 1847 Issue:Stamps That Cha
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 3the positi
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