Refugees On Stamps

San Marino chose a painting by Italian graphic artist Lorenzo Mattotti for their se-tenant stamps honoring 50 Years of UNHCR in 2001. Photo: refugees in a train station in Hungary this summer.

A Slovenian stamp, 2005, commemorating 60 years of Slovenian refugees of the second world war returning to the region of Slovenia (which soon became part of Yugoslavia.) At present there are thousands of refugees per week from other parts of the world passing through Slovenia on their way to countries further north.

These days the United Nations is holding its 70th General Assembly. Most national leaders are speaking about the need to assist refugees and to prevent more people from becoming refugees. The first UN stamp shows a group of five persons, representing the principal races of mankind, liberated from the chains of bondage and looking toward the UN emblem rising over a peaceful and prosperous landscape. "United Nations" in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, borders the stamp. Designer O.C. Meronti, issued 24th October, 1951.

Another UN agency, now that the 70th General Assembly is coming to a close. "The World Food Programme (WFP) is struggling to meet the urgent food needs of close to six million displaced people in Syria and in neighbouring countries. Food operations are severely underfunded, meaning that WFP has been forced to reduce the level of assistance it provides to refugees across the region." (copied from their home page)

"Created in December 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a relief and human development agency, originally intended to provide jobs on public works projects and direct relief for 652,000 Arab Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the fighting that followed the end of the British mandate over the region of Palestine." (copied from their home page) This agency is separate from the UNHCR, and today assists 5million refugees in several countries. Yesterday the Palestinian Flag (seen in the Iranian stamp) was raised at UN headquarters in NYC.

Haiti issued a set of stamps for the UN Year of Refugees; they show both the uprooted tree and the protecting hands. The small print under the photo on the FDC reads "Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong". Thousands of Chinese fled the mainland for the relative safety of Hong Kong, where most of them lived in poor conditions. (Photo from a "Life" report of that time)

World Refugee Year
Netherlands semipostals
Netherlands New Guinea commemoratives
April 7, 1960
Common design depicting a depressed refugee sitting on her belongings

To Kris Rascher:

On your post describing people fled from mainland China in the early 60s, the two stamps were designed by Mr. Chi-Shih Yen and engraved by Mrs. Ping-Chien Lee and Liang-Yu Pao. Mr. Pao in particular was an outstanding engraver and was responsible for most of the intaglio stamps produced in ROC (Taiwan) during the 60s and 70s.

Joe K

p.s. The North Vietnamese refugee semipostal set was also engraved by Mr. Liang-Yu Pao.

United States
World Refugee Year

The 4-cent World Refugee Year commemorative stamp was issued through the Washington, DC, post office on April 7, 1960.

Designed by Ervine Metzl, the stamp features a family group facing down a long, dark corridor towards a bright exit, symbolizing escape from the darkness of oppression into the brightness of a new life.

To Kris Rascher:

The set of six semipostal stamps in your post and a souvenir sheet (Figure 1) were issued by the Republic of China Post during the late stage of the Sino-Japanese War. The surtax collected from the public was applied to the relief effort for the refugees fled from the Japanese occupied territory.

The main design portrays a family leaving their native land on foot. The six denominations have identical main design but different border decorations. The high-resolution scan (Figure 2) shows a copy of the proof which is located in the Chunghwa Postal Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. The characters in the top panel read "Republic of China Post", the characters in the right panel read "refugee relief", and those in the left panel read "semipostal stamp".

The stamps were printed in intaglio by the American Bank Note Co. and intended for release in 1941. Unfortunately, the entire shipment was lost en route to Japanese bombing. A new print was consequently ordered from the same company. As the stamps and souvenir sheets arrived, they were surcharged by typography process in Chungking, while the original denominations were covered by a floral decoration. The surcharges were in black and in both Arabic and Chinese numerals. This set of surcharged stamps were issued on October 10, 1944.

The quantity of the issued stamps and souvenir sheet are not clear. In addition, there are very small quantity of unsurcharged stamps (Figure 3) and souvenir sheets (Figure 4). The original denominations were 8c+8c, 21c+21c, 28c+28c, 33c+33c, 50c+50c, and $1+$1, and the unsurcharged $1+$1 stamps are exceedingly rare.

South Vietnam
World Refugee Year
April 7, 1960

Liechtenstein
1958 World's Fair Brussels stamps converted to World Refugee Year stamps
April 7, 1960

Hello Joe K! Thanks so much for adding the in depth philatelic information and your great scans! That always makes a stamp into a very special tiny historical document. Here is the FDC for the Dutch stamp, it reads in blue "Help for Refugees" and has a nice cancellation to go with it.

A few more FDCs
Norway, Sweden, Portugal

Philippines
World Refugee Year
April 7, 1960

The Philippine Post chose a serene view of a Manila Bay sunset from a painting by artist Ben Alano (1922-1991) as the design.