Outlook of 2021

Actually I wanted to post my list of My Favourite History Stamps of 2020 first, but as that one needs a bit more preparation, I now prepone this outlook of the next year. As stamps are the backbone of this blog, let's look first at some that are planned for the next year.

The German stamp programme for 2021 currently lists 53 stamps. Six of these are of special interest for this part of my collection. Issued in February for example will be two stamps about the 150th birthday of Friedrich Ebert and 1700 years of recorded Jewish Life in Germany. At first I was not very interested in the second stamp, but since I know that it will commemorate a specific event, I am excited. Currently I plan a post about it, so I do not want to write too much about it now. The next issues will celebrate the Birth Centenary of Sophie Scholl in May, the Centenary of the AVUS in July and the 500th anniversary of Augsburg's Fuggerei in August. At least for Sophie Scholl I plan a post, but currently I do not know how it will look like. Also I still try to find an answer, why Sophie now already gets the third stamp, while her brother Hans have not got any yet. The last stamp I want to mention here will be issued in November and commemorates without any anniversary Robert Blum, who definitely deserves to be finally shown on a stamp. A jubilee I really miss in this programme is the 150th anniversary of the Proclamation of the German Empire. I also plan a post why it maybe was omitted. 

Austria also plans some interesting stamps for the next year. These for example include the Centenary of the Burgenland, the 50th anniversary of Diplomatic Relations with China and Climate Change. The real highlight however will already be issued in January. A stamp will honour the Frankfurt Kitchen and a post for this one will follow for sure, so again I do not want write too much about it yet. 

France so far only published the first half of its programme, but the most important stamp is already included in these first six months. On 17th April a stamp for the 200th death anniversary of Napoleon will be issued, which is definitely among the stamps that I am most looking forward to. Other issues include for example Madeleine Brès, Simone de Beauvoir and the Gaul hillfort Bibracte. 

Among various actors and singers also Italy will issue a stamp about Napoleon. This is currently the only European jubilee for which I saw stamps planned by more than one country. Other issues of Italy include the 1600th birthday of Venice and the 450th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto. However also Italy so far just published the first half of its programme. An issue which should be expected in the second half of the year is the 700th death anniversary of Dante Alighieri, which will also be honoured by a Vatican issue next year. 

Thinking outside the European box shows that the USA currently only have one anniversary issue in their programme about the Bicentenary of Missouri Statehood. History themed stamps about Chien-Shiung Wu and Japanese American Soldiers of WWII are however also planned without anniversary. A Chinese jubilee to look forward to is the Centenary of the Communist Party, while no stamp about the 650th birthday of Zheng He is planned.

My list of jubilees that I will include in the page above in the next days so currently looks like this:

100th birthday of Friedrich Dürrenmatt

100th birthday of Sophie Scholl

100th birthday of Stanislaw Lem

100 years Burgenland

100 years Communist Party of China

100 years Discovery of Insulin

150th birthday of Friedrich Ebert

150 years Proclamation of the German Empire

200th death anniversary of Napoleon

200 years Beginning of the Greek Revolution 

200 years Congress of Laibach

300 years End of the Great Northern War

450th birthday of Caravaggio

450th birthday of Johannes Kepler

450 years Battle of Lepanto

500 years Diet of Worms

500 years Fuggerei in Augsburg

550th birthday of Albrecht Dürer

650th birthday of Zheng He

700th death anniversary of Dante Alighieri

750 years Beginning of Marco Polo's Journey

1600 years Venice

1700 years Jewish Life in Germany

1900th birthday of Marcus Aurelius

Unlike in recent years 2021 does not offer a BIG jubilee, however there might be one which is not on my radar yet or maybe more countries decide to issue stamps for example for Dante or Napoleon. If you think I missed one please post a comment.

During 2020 German museums were closed for more than three months (mid-March until early May, since November until ???). Nonetheless I still visited some new museums and interesting exhibitions, but the excitement for next year is even bigger. Unfortunately however I think it is quite hard to find comprehensive information about upcoming exhibitions here in Germany, so these are just a few selected exhibitions I am looking forward to:

The Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum here in Braunschweig will show in March an exhibition about the Silver Furniture of the Welfs, which are currently here as a loan from the Marienburg Castle. Later a exhibition will deal with the early life of Max Beckmann. The two big museums in nearby Hildesheim, the Cathedral Museum and the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, will deal with nunneries and epidemics and the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover is supposed to show an exhibition about dinosaurs in movies, which was actually planned to open this month, which now however is postponed, as the museums are still closed. After Fascination City in 2019 the Cultural History Museum in Magdeburg again prepares for a big medieval exhibition, about the Premonstratensians this time. Some rather faraway exhibitions I would love to visit are about the Silk Road (Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg), Gothic art (Berlin) and the Nebra Sky Disk (Halle State Museum of Prehistory). The one big exhibition I wanted to visit this year however, Krieg Macht Nation in Dresden, I could not visit, so I am not very hopeful that these will work. Interesting is also the reopening of the Prussian Museum in Minden and an exhibition about the Diet of Worms in Worms. Currently shown in the Netherlands, the Baden State Museum in Karlsruhe will later also show an exhibition about women in Jugendstil art, but as that one will be shown here in Braunschweig in 2022, I will wait. 

Last but not least next year also the new preselected sites for the European Heritage Label 2022 should be announced this year. As far as I know Finland already preselected the Seminaarinmäki in Jyväskylä and Germany chose Fulda and the Oderbruch, but only one of these can get the label.

What did I miss? What are you looking forward to in 2021? 

A PDF Today

I had already written it on my main blog, but here again: I HATE the new Blogger. Nothing works as it should, so instead of getting a normal post here you get a

PDF

Check it out to see what it is about. ;)

However here is a small hint:

Some Recent Stamps

Actually I was hoping to be more active on this blog this year, but other tasks prevented me from doing so. If you also follow my other blogs you will have noticed that I am also not very active there. However for this blog I am currently working on the post about World War II that I had promised earlier this year. Also I finally found a good book about European History that I am currently working through (1/4 finished). Nonetheless here are a few history themed stamps that I got in the past few weeks and that I really think deserve this short post. None of these have so far been shown on my main blog.

Let's start with this stamp from Germany. Some of you might remember that back in 2017 I wrote a post series about the Reformation. It was back then when I still had time and leisure for something like that. Although I later merged most of the posts, I still enjoy the theme and I am still happy for every new stamp about it. A stamp called Frauen der Reformation (Women of the Reformation) was thus an issue I was really looking forward to, especially as not many women appeared in my post series. Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther, was the only one to get an independent post (now part of Proponents of the Lutheran Reformation) and Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess consort of Brunswick-Göttingen-Calenberg, was mentioned in The Reformation in Lower Saxony. I was really looking forward to get to know other strong and powerful women of the time through this stamp issue. Unfortunately however it disappointed me three times. At first there was the value. Personally I think 3,7€ is way too much to really enjoy a stamp. Next came the design. While claiming to celebrate the strong and powerful, the three women look more like alien handmaids from Gilead. Is it just me or do they look like Elisabeth Moss? Finally there was also the treatment of the issue. For the jubilee issue in 2017 and the Zwingli stamp last year there were multiple special postmarks available officially planned and designed. For this stamp there were none. Still I think this is an interesting and important issue and I am happy that not only Katharina von Bora is the focus of the stamp. If you want to know more about this theme there is a complete German website about the Frauen der Reformation with many profiles of many women who used their new possibilities and especially their necessity to read. Three names you could search for for example are Elisabeth von Rochlitz, Argula von Grumbach and Katharina Zell.

2020 I think was going to be the year of Beethoven, but we all know that it came different. Many countries still issued stamps for the jubilee, but it took until October for me to get my second one after the German stamp. It is this one from Austria. While it shows the same potrait shown on so many other stamps, it becomes more interesting due to the silver text. Among the pages above you can find a complete list of Beethoven stamps of this year. 

Next is this interesting stamp from France celebrating the oldest faculty of medicine in the World in Montpellier. The prestigous university was especially famous for its arguments about the Black Death in the 14th century, a theme of real interest during the current time. Famous students include for example Guy de Chauliac and Nostradamus. Shown on the stamp are two other famous students: François Gigot de la Peyronie, first-surgeon to King Louis XV, and Paul Joseph Barthez, an editor and contributor to several entries in the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and d’Alembert. I really like this stamp!

Women's Suffrage is an interesting theme to collect with many new stamps issued at the moment. The latest one comes from the USA. As I am thinking about a whole post about the theme, I do want to show the stamp yet, but here is an interesting postmark I got recently. It honours Harry T. Burn from Tennessee, who is best known for his action taken to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. I will include him if I write a post about women's suffrage, but you should check him out. I think he is quite interesting.

Last but not least is this postmark from Germany about the European Heritage Label. Although I have some stamps and postmarks about the sites, this is the first philatelic souvenir directly mentioning the label.

The Baron of the Lies

Lower Saxony is home to at least three World famous literary figures: Till Eulenspiegel, the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Baron Munchhausen. While all three most likely have real historic roots, we know it for sure only for the last one. As his historic model would have turned 300 this year, let's discover the life of Hieronymus Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen, the man behind the fantastic tall tales. 

Baron Munchhausen was born on 11th May 1720 in the small town of Bodenwerder. In his youth he went to Wolfenbüttel and became the page of Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, who later was generalissimus of the Army of Russia and husband of Anna Leopoldovna, who reigned as regent of Russia for one year. In 1738 he followed his master to Russia, where he most likely fought in the Russo-Turkish War and the Russo-Swedish War. His troops were stationed in Riga and it is said that in the small Latvian town of Dunte he first told his tall tales. In Dunte he also met his first wife. In 1750 they returned to Bodenwerder. There he lived the life of a country gentleman and told his stories to his visitors. However he never wrote them down and was actually even terrified when Rudolf Erich Raspe and Gottfried August Bürger published them anonymously, as he was so much exaggerated that he went down in history as Baron of the Lies. Furthermore his last years were also overshadowed by the death of his first wife in 1790, his unfortunate second marriage and the financial ruin after the following divorce. Hieronymus Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen died on 22nd February 1797. Both in Bodenwerder and Dunte there are museums about his life. 

Over the years Baron Munchhausen appeared on some international stamps. To commemorate this year's birthday a new German stamp was issued on 7th May 2020. You can see the new stamp on my new blog about Childhood Heroes on Stamps. Using the label "**Literary Figures from Lower Saxony" you can also find stamps of Eulenspiegel and the Pied Piper. 

German Stamp from 1970

Latvian Stamp from 2005

Liechtenstein Stamp from 2012
from a set about Figures of Classic Literature

The Hanseatic League - Narratives and Local Perspectives

When I started this blog in July 2015, the second post I wrote was about the Hanseatic League. Since then however I had plans to rewrite or expand this post and although there were two interested Hanseatic jubilees in the last two years, 800 years Rostock in 2018 and 350 years last Hanseatic Day in 2019, it took me until this year's jubilee (see below) to do so. But first let's take a look at what I wrote nearly five years ago:

"The Hanseatic League existed between the 12th and the 17th century. First it was only a union of merchants, but since the 14th century it was organised by the cities itself. Since then also Hanseatic Days were held frequently. The Hanseatic League was not only an important factor in the development of the Northern European economy but also of its politics and culture. At its climax nearly 200 coastal and inland cities joined the league. In the 15th century the demise of the Hanseatic League began with the strengthening of the local sovereigns, the shift of trade route and the new competitors developing due to the discovery of America. In 1669 only the nine cities Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne, Gdansk, Hamburg, Hildesheim, Lübeck, Osnabrück and Rostock came together for the last Hanseatic Day."

Although some things might me improved here, I actually still like what I wrote back then and do not intend to change anything, but instead I want now to focus a bit on historic narratives about the Hanseatic League and some perspectives from different cities. 

In Germany the Hanseatic League is usually rated as a positive aspect of history, but during the last 150 the reason for this has changed. From the 19th century up until the Nazis the Hanseatic League was regarded as a German entity or even precursor of the national state maintaining a powerful position in Northern Europa, which was for example added by fleet glory during the rule of Emperor William II or as carrier of the expansion of the German lebensraum in the East by the Nazis. After World War II that changed. In East Germany for example the Hanseatic League was now an example for the influence of the masses on the history, although even East German historians denied this view. In Scandinavia the view of the Hanseatic League was more negative, as it was regarded as an exploiter of the local people. This negativity however faded away and gave rise to a new narrative, which was also shared with West Germany. As such the Hanseatic League was now viewed as a precursor of a unified Europa. This change of view is nicely documented by a German-Swedish joint issue back in 2006 celebrating the 650th anniversary of the Hanseatic League of Cities and also German Chancellor Angela Merkel followed this narrative during a speech in 2015, during which she highlighted its role as "first big successful trade network in Europa" ("der erste große erfolgreiche Wirtschaftsverbund Europas"), long lifespan, transnational thinking and joint interests and also draws a continuity to the European Union and the central thought of strength through unity. As I actually like this narrative, I do not want to discuss it too much, but just two other thoughts show that this view is as fragile as any other. At first it has to be said, that there might be Hanseatic cities in Estonia, Iceland, Poland and so on, but they were only part of the Hanseatic League, because German merchants lived there, which makes them not really transnational. Also I want to quote one of my docents who once said in a seminary about the history of the Baltic states in the Middle Ages that the Hanseatic League was a "semi-criminal forwarding cartel bullying out other competitors." All of these narratives for sure have their true core and although it is not ideal I think everyone knows that in the end the loudest narrative will be prevalent.

So, if it is not easy to really examine what the Hanseatic League was in history as a whole it should be easier to take a look in its role in the history of its constitutent parts, the cities, right? This however brings up an interesting problem: There is no complete list of Hanseatic Cities and it probably never existed. Some cities were part of the league for centuries, while others were just short time members. For some the membership was an important part of the local identity and economic importance, while others had many different pillars. And also the membership in the Hanseatic League of New Time, founded in Zwolle in 1980, is not a good indicator, as it includes on request all cities that were once part of the original league. In theory this however means that some Hanseatic cities which never made a request are not part of it, while other cities which were short time members are now full members of the new league. Without claim to completeness below you can find nine cities and groups of cities which I chose to examine different aspects of Hanseatic history and identity.

The first four cities are Bergen in Norway, Bruges in Belgium, London in the United Kingdom and Veliky Novgorod in Russia. None of these cities was ever an actual Hanseatic city, but they played an important part in the Hanseatic history, as the were home to the major foreign trading posts of the league, the Kontore. Of these Kontore not much survived until today, as most of them were closed at some point in history and were later demolished. Only the Kontor in Bergen, known as Bryggen, survived and as a "reminder of the town's importance as part of the Hanseatic League's trading empire" it is even on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The next city is Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. Visby or actually Gotland as a whole was an important early step in the formation of the Hanseatic League, as this was one of the earliest stages and centres for the trade in the Baltic Sea. In the early days in the second half of the 13th century Visby was also on a good way to become the leader of the nascent league, but was neutralised by the later Queen. Just like the Bryggen also Visby is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is there described as "the best-preserved fortified commercial city in northern Europe" and the "main centre of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic from the 12th to the 14th century."

Stralsund and Wismar in the German State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are usually presented as a pair, as as such they are together on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Both were major trading centres of the Hanseatic League and also share the common fate of later becoming part of Sweden. As the UNESCO highlights, they also "contributed to the development of the characteristic building types and techniques of Brick Gothic in the Baltic region." After having visited Stralsund myself last year plus making a short stop in Wismar, I can say that the Brick Gothic architecture there is truely amazing. Highlights are the Town Hall of Stralsund and Stralsund's Saint Mary's Church, which was once even the tallest building in the World. Check out this post on my other blog to see the cards I bought during this trip including many cards of Brick Gothic buildings. Stralsund is also inseparably linked to the Treaty of Stralsund, which was signed on this day 650 years ago in 1370 and which marked the peak of power of the Hanseatic League. This treaty ended the war between the Hanseatic League and the Kingdom of Denmark and assured the league of free trade in the entire Baltic Sea resulting in a monopoly on Baltic fish trade. Also now the league had a right to veto against Danish throne candidates. Unfortunately there was not (yet?) any philatelic commemoration of this jubilee. No stamp, prepaid cover or card and not even a special postmark were available. Only the magazin "Postfrisch" of the Deutsche Post published an article about the treaty in its most recent issue called "Triumph der Kaufleute" (Triumph of the Merchants). The article begins with the question, "who thought that merchants might defeat a kingdom?" and ends with a statement on its historic importance, which however was not much mentioned in contemporary sources of the 14th century.

Tallinn, Estonia's capital, is yet another Hanseatic-themed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also Tallinn is described by the UNESCO as a major centre of the Hanseatic League, whose "wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the public buildings (the churches in particular) and the domestic architecture of the merchants' houses." In fact it was one of the centres for the Hanseatic trade with Russia. An interesting building in Tallinn is the Great Guild Hall, which got the European Heritage Label in 2013. The Panel Report says that the "Great Guild's history of interactions with the Hanseatic League reveals the intriguing story of European 'integration' in medieval times."

I am still looking for a card of the Great Guild Hall. If you can help me please comment below.

Latvia's capital Riga was also one of the key centres of the Hanseatic League in Eastern Europa and just like Tallinn it is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List, important for the inscription was however not only the Hanseatic past but also the fine collection of art nouveau buildings. Generally the UNESCO describes Riga as "living illustration of European history." The Three Brothers, characteristic dwelling houses found in Hanseatic towns in the Baltic Region, also got the European Heritage Label in 2019. The restoration in the 1950s is described in the Panel Report as "instrumental in building resistance to the destruction of Latvian culture during the Soviet occupation, and for sustaining the link with Europe and the value of freedom during this period." Riga's Hanseatic past is thus described as its link with Europa. In 2007 Latvia and Germany celebrated their common Hanseatic past with a joint issue about Riga, Stralsund and Wismar. The House of the Blackheads is depicted for Riga on these stamps. The ones for Stralsund and Wismar you can see above.

I am still looking for a card of the Three Brothers. If you can help me please comment below.

Another former Hanseatic city, which would like to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is Gdansk in Poland. To reach this goal "Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom" is currently inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List. While the application also includes Hanseatic memory next to the Westerplatte and sites of the Solidarity Movement, the text on the website mentions the Hanseatic League itself only shortly. Although the Hanseatic identity is still expressed today, it seems to have been even stronger one hundred years ago. Back then during the Interwar Period Gdansk as Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state separated from Germany and put into a binding customs union with Poland. To commemorate the proclamation of the state (15th November 1920) a series of stamps was issued on 31st January 1921, which showed the famous Hanseatic Kogge (wrongly depicted with three masts) and thus activated the city's Hanseatic past and with that back then also its German identity.

Unfortunately I do not own this stamp.
The image is from the Colnect catalogue.

In Germany the image of the Hanseatic city is mainly defined by Bremen and Hamburg. Both of them managed to maintain their independence as free cities until today and still proudly call themself officially "Hansestadt" (Hanseatic City). After the last Hanseatic Day in 1669 it were these two cities plus the Queen who were responsible for the Hanseatic legacy and managed and later sold the Kontore. Their inhabitants and with them all Hanseaten are usually described as cosmopolitan, urban, sober, reliable and stiff. After the German Reunification also other cities were allowed to officially call themself Hansestadt and more in East and West followed since then. Main reasons for this decision was not only a link to history and Europa but also a good touristic marketing. Beside Stralsund and Wismar the earliest were Greifswald and Rostock, which celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2018 and was thus chosen as location for a Hanseatic Day of New Time. In total there are now at least 27 official Hansestädte.

Special Postmark about the Hanseatic Day of New Time in
Rostock in 2018 with a stamp about Rostock's 800th anniversary

These were more or less the cities with the highest identity-establishing connection with the Hanseatic League, who decided to put their Hanseatic past on the UNESCO World Heritage List or still proudly present themself as Hansestadt, but keeping in mind that there were around 200 Hanseatic cities you can see that there are nearly 170 left without such a connection. These include formerly important members of the league like Braunschweig, Dortmund and Cologne, two more of the last nine (Hildesheim and Osnabrück) and so many more little and big cities. As my own home town Braunschweig is among these cities, I can say from my own experience that not much is left of a Hanseatic identity, although the fifth Hanseatic Day of New Time was hosted here in 1985 and will be again hosted in 2027 (I was not even born in 1985, but I look forward to the next one.). A reason for that might be that other aspects are more important for our historical awareness here, but also that actually nothing of Hanseatic architecture can be seen here and unlike in other cities like Stralsund or Wismar the Hanseatic League is so not so present in the cityscape. In fact the only Brick Gothic building is the Liberei, a small and well hidden library building from the 15th century, of which for example I have never seen a postcard. I would have really liked to tell you how the Hanseatic League is presented in our city museum, but unfortunately that branch is still closed due to Covid-19. I might add that later. I am sure other cities have similar experiences. If you are from a former Hanseatic city it would be great if you would post your experience in a comment.

But wait, one city is still missing: the afore-mentioned Queen, Lübeck. Here the Hanseatic identity is still alive. It quite natural officially holds the title Hansestadt and is since 1987 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its historic importance comes not only from its role as Queen of the Hanseatic League, but also because its town rights known as Lübeck Law and the Brick Gothic spread from here across Northern Europa. Of enormous architectural significance is especially the Saint Mary's Church, as it is considered to be the mother church of the Brick Gothic. The Town Hall on the other site was once the meeting place for the Hanseatic Days and inspired other town halls in the Baltic area. Since 2015 Lübeck is also home to the European Hanseatic Museum, the World's largest museum about the history of the Hanseatic League. During the opening of the museum Angela Merkel also hold the speech I quoted at the beginning. I already dealed with Lübeck's history in the old post linked at the top, so check that one out if you want to know more. Also if you ever are in Lübeck visit the European Hanseatic Museum. It is one of the best museums I ever visited and I can really recommend it.

Actually I planned to devote more time to the creation of this post, but now honestly I spent more or less just a day writing it. Sources were Wikipedia, the website of the UNESCO, the Panel Reports of the European Heritage Label from 2013 and 2019, the Postfrisch Ausgabe 3/2020, some older posts from this blog and my other and the speech of Angela Merkel from 2013, which you can find here (in German only). Also I began reading Rolf Hammel-Kiesow: Die Hanse, Munich2 2002 and used it for this post, but so far did not finished it, so I might change some things when/if I finish it.

Collecting Corona

No matter how terrible it might sound, but the situation with Covid-19 seems to have a positive effect on philately, as more people seem to be interested in a hobby which does neither require much time outside nor with other people. A very interesting article about that you can find here on the website of the Punk Philatelist. Another interesting effect is the emergence of a new philatelic collecting theme, the virus itself and its impacts on the mail service. So far stamps, cancellations or postal notations have appeared from all continents. For the "Truths, Lies and Rumors" of the early Philately of Covid-19 let me just include another link. This article on Philatelic Pursuits by Mark Joseph Jochim gives an good overview of the situation at least until early April, but which, as I just discovered, was also updated later on. For my part, I am still not sure whether I want to start a philatelic collection about the virus and if yes how. Usually I like mint stamps, but real sent mail also has its charme for such a historic event. On the other side there are already so many stamps about the theme and more seem to be issued or announced every week that I do not know if I really want all of them. Nonetheless I will try to keep here an updated list of all stamps issued about Covid-19, which will be issued in 2020 and maybe early 2021 (excluding all tasteless catch-penny issues). However I will not show them here. If I have the stamps I will put in links to one of my other blogs, either my postcard blog or my stamp blog. On my postcard blog I also created the label *Covid-19 to keep a "postal diary", where you can find also other cards I connect to the current situation like super long travel times, stamps, cards and postmarks about cancelled events or about the virus itself or maybe just some cards I was happy to receive whether they might be the only ones in some weeks or just have some nice messages. 

The List of Covid-19 Stamps (last updated: 30th November 2021)

Iran (17th March)

Vietnam (31st March)

Switzerland (6th April)

Central African Republic (27th April)

Guinea Bissau (27th April)

Isle of Man (4th May)

Morocco (7th May)

United Arab Emirates (10th May)

China (11th May)

Uruguay (13th May)

New Zealand (20th May)

Ukraine (29th May)

Monaco (3rd June)

Sao Tome and Principe (8th June)

Bosnia and Herzegovina - BH Posta (9th June)

Niger (10th June)

Djibouti (12th June)

Curacao (18th June)

Oman (22nd June)

Czech Republic (24th June)

Macau (24th June)

Tajikistan (June)

Lebanon (1st July)

Brazil (10th July)

Philippines (13th July)

Senegal (20th June)

South Sudan (21st July)

Taiwan (21st July)

Saudi Arabia (27th July)

French Polynesia (31st July)

Singapore - Quirks in the Island City (7th August)

Greenland (10th August)

United Nations (10th August)

Kosovo (14th August)

Thailand (14th August)

Indonesia (17th August)

Alderney (19th August)

Guernsey (19th August)

Slovakia (21st August)

Colombia (26th August)

Singapore - Soaper 5 (4th September)

France (11th September)

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Republika Srpska (21st September)

Serbia - Joy of Europa (30th September)

Australia - Greetings (1st October)

Spain (1st October)

Kyrgyzstan (2nd October)

Portugal - World Post Day (9th October)

Saudi Arabia - World Post Day (9th October)

Sri Lanka (9th October)

Egypt (20th October)

Bahamas - Christmas (22nd October)

Austria (30th October)

Russia (30th October)

Mexico (3rd November)

Ireland - Christmas (5th November)

Wallis and Futuna (5th November)

Portugal (6th November)

San Marino (10th November)

Mexico - Postal Worker (11th November, two issues)

North Cyprus (19th November)

Philippines - Christmas (23rd November)

Mali (1st December)

Syria (7th December)

Transnistria (11th December)

Tunisia (17th December)

India (24th December)

Hong Kong (29th December)

Kyrgyz Express Post (30th December)

Andorra - Spanish Post (19th January)

Kosovo (28th January)

Malta (29th January)

New Zealand - Holidays at Home (3rd February)

Georgia (5th February)

Israel (9th February)

Philippines - Valentine's Day (10th February)

Australia (16th February)

Moldova (25th February)

Indonesia (26th February)

Algeria (27th February)

Andorra - French Post (1st March)

Jersey (1st March)

Spain - Corona Waste Reduction (18th March)

Jordan (31st March)

Zimbabwe (31st March)

Kuwait (7th April)

Serbia (12th April)

Armenia (16th April)

North Macedonia (16th April)

Vietnam (29th April)

North Macedonia (8th May)

Bangladesh (19th May)

Saudi Arabia (17th June)

Spain - UNHCR (18th June)

Spain - Operation Balmis (24th June)

Italy - Italy Reopens (30th June)

Bermuda (15th July)

Poland (15th July)

Malaysia (5th August)

Singapore (6th August)

Taiwan (11th August)

Russia (24th August)

Malaysia (9th September)

Peru (9th September)

Austria (16th September)

Faroe Islands (20th September)

San Marino (21st September)

Kosovo (8th October)

Sri Lanka - World Post Day (9th October)

Thailand - World Post Day (9th October)

Israel (30th November)

Just to illustrate this post a bit I want to show the first Covid-19 stamps I got, the set from Vietnam. Here you can just see them used on a cover. Follow the link in the list to see them also mint and on maxicards.

However not only philatelists care about collections on Covid-19, also museums start to collect things about, "as much can already be foreseen, one of the most incisive global events of the 21st century". One of first museums from which I heard of collecting plans was the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum in my home town, but also other began the systematic collection including the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Every museum has a different approach. The Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum for example is mainly interested in things from the region and asks the people to give their personal mementos to the museum "to collect, to preserve, to document and to impart". Thus they started an appeal on their website. I included it below, as I am not sure how long they will keep it on their website, but I did not want to translate it completely and only highlighted the passages I quoted here. The German Historical Museum on the other side is more interesting in the things of "bigger" historic importance like the face mask of Angela Merkel, but for sure also includes things from the normal population. Keeping that in mind, if you have something nice like "self-made face masks, photos of empty cities, posters, rainbow art for windows or toilet paper sculptures" maybe you should donate it to your local museums to see it one day in their exhibition. Most museums will for sure be happy for your support!

Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum

German Historical Museum in Berlin

Coming back to the stamps once again, I want to stress that I will only list stamps issued in 2020 and maybe early 2021. One might imagine that there will also be later stamps about this "most incisive global event of the 21st century". Just like recent issues about the 75th anniversary of the End of World War II there might be issues about the 5th, 10th, 20th, 25th, 50th and so on and on and on anniversaries of the beginning or the hopeful soon end of the pandemic (what actually requires that stamps are still issued then). Also there might be issues about the 2020s including the virus or just stamps including the pandemic as an important event in a country's history (see a similar example below). These will for sure be interesting for a thematic collection, but I think not so much for a historic collection, as they do not really mark history but display the view of the future on a event of the past. This is for sure very interesting and what most history stamps here usually actually do, but it is something completely different and thus I will not list them together.

Stamp with "Beating SARS Together"
for Singapore's 48th anniversary
of independence

From the website of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum:

Sammlungsaufruf für Objekte zur Krise
Selbstgenähte Gesichtsmaske, Toilettenpapier-Skulptur, Regenbogen-Kunst - was ist für Sie ganz persönlich das Symbol der Corona-Krise? Das Braunschweigische Landesmuseum sammelt Objekte zur Corona-Pandemie - und freut sich auf Ihre Unterstützung! 

Corona gehört ins Museum! Die Sammel-Aktion des Braunschweigischen Landesmuseums
Seit fast 130 Jahren hat das Braunschweigische Landemuseum die Aufgabe, Geschichte und Kultur des braunschweigischen Landes zu sammeln, zu bewahren, zu dokumentieren und zu vermitteln. Die Corona-Pandemie, soviel ist schon jetzt abzusehen, wird als eines der einschneidendsten globalen Ereignisse des 21. Jahrhunderts in die Geschichte eingehen. Daher möchte das Braunschweigische Landesmuseum nun systematisch Dokumente, Fotos, Objekte als Zeitzeugen dieses für unsere Gesellschaft brachialen Ereignisses der Gegenwartsgeschichte für unsere Region sammeln.
Wie werden wir uns an die Coronavirus-Pandemie erinnern? Das Museum freut sich auf Vorschläge für alles, was für die Braunschweigerinnen und Braunschweiger zum Symbol der Corona-Krise geworden ist, von der selbstgenähten Gesichtsmaske über das Foto der leeren Innenstadt, Plakate oder Regenbogen-Kunst für das Fenster bis hin zur Toilettenpapier-Skulptur.

Ten Facts about the Weimar Republic

75 years ago World War II ended in Europa. Back in 2018, when the World celebrated the Centenary of the End of World War I, I actually was thinking about a three-year-series of posts here on the blog: World War I in 2018, the Interwar Period in 2019 and World War II in 2020, but as I already wrote here I failed to write much in 2019 and even now I did not managed to write anything in time for this important jubilee. As I currently have an interest in the Weimar Republic, which was actually supposed to be part of the last year, I write this post about this period in German history now and later on I will write some little posts about World War II, but these have to wait. So for the moment have fun with my ten personal favourite facts about the Weimar Republic.

1 The Weimar Constitution was actually quite interesting.

Studying constitutions and other legal textes might not be the most interesting part of history and unfortunately I still did not managed to read the Weimar Constitution as a whole, but its creation and influence are a worthy first fact. First of all it has to be mentioned that is was actually called Weimar Constitution, because it was signed in the small Thuringian town of Weimar. Berlin was unsuitable, because riots would prevent the free work of the delegates. Weimar on the other side was a linking point with the history of Goethe, Schiller and other great figures of the German literature and was also easy to defend in the case of a attack. As news and mail from Berlin were still needed in Weimar, the first regular air mail service in Germany was established between the two cities. When the Weimar National Assembly was elected earlier in January 1919, most of the German women were able to vote for the first time (some were earlier able to vote on state level). After 1933 the constitution was never formally repealed and stayed in force until the 1945. The 1949 Constitution of the German Democratic Republic, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and the first official constitution of the Republic of Korea were later all based on the Weimar Constitution.

2 The first commemorative stamps of the German Empire were issued during the Weimar era.
As it is written in the first article of the Weimar Constitution (shown on the stamp above), the "German Empire is a Republic" and thus also the Weimar Republic is actually still the German Empire. In consequence the Michel Catalog also lists all stamps of the Weimar Republic (and the Third Reich) as part of the German Empire. Looking now in there one might notice that before 1919 only definitives were issued and the first actual commemoratives were issued for the opening of the Weimar National Assembly. Commemoratives however remained scarce until the Third Reich, when more and more were issued for propagandistic reasons. As I unfortunately do not have these stamps, here is an interesting recent postmark to illustrate this fact. It commemorates the centenary of the last Bavarian stamps, which were also issued during the Weimar era.

3 There was not only a Treaty of Versailles.
This is actually just a small note, but while learning history in school I always just heard about the Treaty of Versailles, so if anybody else does not know the others there were also the Treaties of Saint-Germain with Austria, of Neuilly with Bulgaria, of Trianon with Hungary and of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire, which were all signed during the Paris Peace Conference. As result of the conference also the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization were founded.

4 Thuringia was founded in 1920.
While talking about the territory of the Weimar Republic, the main theme usually is the loss of territories after World War I, mainly Alsace-Lorraine and the territories which became part of a newly-independent Poland, so I think it is actually quite interesting to take a look at the inside. Just like the German Empire until then and Germany today the Weimar Republic was a federal state consisting at its high time of 18 Länder. An alteration during the formation time of the republic was the formation of Thuringia from seven of the eight Thuringian States (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Reuss Elder Line, Reuss Younger Line; Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead). Later on in 1929 the Free State of Waldeck with its glorious capital city Arolsen became part of Prussia. The rest stayed the same until after World War II. Although 18 Länder is not much more than the 16 of today, the map was completely different. Just compare a map of 1930 with one of today by youself!

5 The first President of Germany was legally a traitor to his country.
The justice of the Weimar Republic made some strange decisions. In general it can be said that right-wing crimes got away much easier than left-wing crimes. Examples include the murders of Matthias Erzberger and Walther Rathenau (Organisation Consul), Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch or the Leipzig War Crimes Trials. Especially strange I think is the trial of Friedrich Ebert in Magdeburg in 1925, which fined a journalist who had called Ebert a "traitor to his country" for his role in the January 1918 strike, but it also said that, legally, Ebert had in fact committed treason. This court case prevented him from seeking medical help for a while, as he wanted to be available to give evidence and was thus even a reason for his death shortly afterwards.

6 The Weimar Republic was a very free period for art, cinema, sexuality and in general.
It is not for nothing that the Weimar period is (in parts) known as the "Goldenen Zwanziger" (Golden Twenties), but due to its horrible end this can be easily forgetten. Nonetheless entire books could be written about the freedoms of the Weimar Republic, so here are just a few keywords and names if you want to know more: Alfred Döblin, AVUS, Bauhaus, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Berlin Night Life, Bertolt Brecht, Comedian Harmonists, Fritz Lang, Käthe Kollwitz, Magnus Hirschfeld, Marlene Dietrich, Max Beckmann, Max Schmeling, Metropolis, Neue Frau, New Objectivity, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Thomas Mann, UFA Studio, ...

7 Many important modern-style buildings were constructed in or for the Weimar Republic.
Just as a small reminder for last year's post about the Bauhaus and because the Werkbund Estates recently got the European Heritage Label, I thought I might include once again the modern architecture. Now I can also include a building I did not have a stamp of last year, the Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. "The pavilion for the [1929] International Exhibition was supposed to represent the new Weimar Germany: democratic, culturally progressive, prospering, and thoroughly pacifist; a self-portrait through architecture" (says Wikipedia). This sounds like just another piece of modern architecture, but it becomes more interesting if you keep in mind that neither Germany nor Spain could really live out their free and modern image presented in 1929, as shortly after both Hitler and Franco came to power.

8 All German Nobel Peace Prize Winners are connected to the Weimar Republic.
Germany has four Nobel Peace Prize Winners. Ludwig Quidde (1927) was a politician and pacifist who is mainly remembered today for his criticism of German Emperor Wilhelm II and whose long career spanned four different eras of German history including the Weimar Republic. Carl von Ossietzky (1935) was a journalist and pacifist exposing the clandestine re-armament of the Weimar Republic. He later died in Nazi custody, who earlier already refused to release him to travel to Oslo to receive the prize. Willy Brandt (1971) spent most of his childhood during the Weimar period and later fled the Nazi regime to Norway and Sweden. As Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany he helped to strengthen cooperation in Western Europa and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europa. The most important winner for the Weimar Republic however was Gustav Stresemann (1926). He served as Chancellor for 102 days in 1923 and was Foreign Minister between 1923 and 1929. During a period of political instability and fragile short-lived governments he was generally seen as a factor of stability. His most notable achievement was the reconciliation between Germany and France, which was also the reason why he and Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize. His death in 1929 and the Great Depression marked the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic.

9 Without the Weimar Republic the USA would probably not have been on the Moon.
The "Weltraumfieber" (Space Fever) in the Weimar Republic is not very famous and without a very interesting seminar in the winter semester 2018/19 I would not know about it either. During this seminar we read texts of famous space flight pioneers who promulgated ideas for spacecrafts and even made succesful tests. While they were mainly pacifist and planned to fulfil the humankind's old dream of space travel, they also included the vision of a new World standing for Germany. The ideas were later corrupted by the Nazis in Peenemünde with the construction of the V-2 rockets and after World War II scientists from Peenemünde came to the USA and the Soviet Union, where they helped to bring the Space Age. The most famous of these persons is for sure Wernher von Braun, who however only played a minor role during the Weimar Republic. If you want to know more search for Hermann Ganswindt, Hermann Oberth, Max Valier, Raketenübungsplatz in Berlin-Reinickendorf, Verein für Raumschifffahrt, Karl Debus, Werner Deubel, Reinhold Tiling, Hermann Noordung and Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond.

10 The Weimar Republic was not doomed to fail.
The Weimar Republic is usually thought from the end, which for sure is understandable, as no other failing state ended in the Holocaust, but that does not mean that this was the only possible end. During its short time of existence the Weimar Republic saw many crises and most of them the state survived. Just because it happened, does not mean it had to happen. Noone in the mid-1920s would have probably guessed what would happen shortly after, so we can not assume it. Historic processes are free and neither deterministic nor teleological. On the other side it was and is for sure important to take a look at the republic's weaknesses and the Rise of Evil to hopefully prevent that something like that will never ever happen again, but it is also possible to take look at the good sides of the Weimar Republic and I hope everyone who read this knows now that the Weimar Republic was not only a take-off ramp for Adolf Hitler but so much more.