Barbed Wire

in July 1943, in the Rostov Region, lieutenant Kontratyev during an attack raised his hands barbed wire fences in front of the German trenches. His platoon was able to take the trenches by storm, but the lieutenant died in battle

A charity stamp dedicated to the Heroic Defenders of Warsaw, both men and women, in 1944. Stamp issued already in 1945 by the Polish exile community in London. A monument stands in Krasinski Square across from the Field Cathedral. Sculptor Wincenty Kucma

(Alexey, Dramatic cover!)

A stamp commemorating 20 years after the end of the second WW; four flags represent the allies and the swastika is shattered, the concentration camps liberated.

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. The stamp was issued for the International Resistance Month in 1962. At the sides one sees the typical arched concrete pillars that carried the barbed wire, and it was electric wire. Majdanek lies just a bit south of Warsaw in the city of Lublin.

A stamp issued by Iran in support of the Palestinian struggle for independence, 2008. In the background there is an olive twig but no Peace Dove.

The Battle of Moscow in the winter of 1941-2 was one of the most gruesome of the second WW. Losses on both sides were in the 100s of thousands, not even counting the civilians who died of cold and hunger. The Germans were stopped short of taking over the city. Maldives, 75 years after the battle.

Italy honored the bravery of soldiers in the First World War with a set of stamps in 1934. This one shows an infantryman cutting through an entanglement of barbed wire. These soldiers were completely exposed - the enemy was only a few hundred feet away.

The same motif as above. 1934

Another stamp in the Italian set shown above. Commemorating the valiant soldiers of the first WW, here a soldier reporting from the front, just behind the wire entanglements.

Janusz Korczak, doctor, educator and author, was head of a large orphanage in Warsaw. When the Nazis came to take the children to a concentration camp, he did not leave them, seen in the background in the stamp. He was murdered in Treblinka in 1942.

This year Europe is celebrating 30 years after the fall of the wall and the almost endless barrier of barbed wire separating East from West which extended from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean. Nature lovers of both Germanys joined to preserve the strip of land on which the barrier had been built. It is now the Green Ribbon and makes a wonderful nature hiking path stretching for almost 1,400 kilometers. The stamp which was issued this month shows a section of the ribbon passing through the agricultural landscape of the northern section.

50 Years since the Turkish invasion and occupation in Cyprus

2024 marks 50 years since the Turkish invasion of July 20, 1974. This constitutes half a century of illegal and violent occupation of 36.2% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus by the Turkish army. All these years, the Turkish occupier continues to keep approximately 170,000 refugees away from their ancestral homes and properties – more than a third of the population.

Settimia Spizzichino (1921 - 2000)

was the only survivor of a band of 50 Jewish women deported from Rome's Old Ghetto to Auschwitz in 1943.
In October 1943, the Nazis rounded up 1,022 Jews in Rome's "Old Ghetto" neighbourhood, where the Spizzichino family lived.

From Canada, July 17:



From Canada Post's website:

Internment stamp.

Depicts bilingual, red text "Internment in Canada" against grey background with barbed wired. Booklet cover. Depicts handwritten details from a certificate of release from an internment camp and features "Internment in Canada" text.Booklet interior. Features typewritten text about internment over gray background on the left panel and six stamps on the right panel. Back of stamp booklet. Depicts handwritten details from a certificate of release from an internment camp, text in white and captions/credits.NewExpand buttonInternment stamp. Depicts bilingual, red text "Internment in Canada" against grey background with barbed wired.

Overview
This stamp issue explores the history of civilian internment in Canada, in which many thousands of civilians were unjustly interned in camps across the country during both world wars – and even peacetime.

Canada Post hopes to raise awareness about this history and the resilience of the people and communities whose lives were profoundly affected by this forced displacement, confinement and hardship.

This stamp issue reminds us of our responsibility to learn from the past and build a future rooted in compassion and justice. It honours the many lives and communities impacted by internment.

Internment in Canada
During past international conflicts – and even in peacetime – Canada confined or detained thousands of people in camps across the country. Internees were denied their civil liberties in the stated interest of domestic security. This internment was often accompanied by forced labour and mostly targeted immigrant communities. During the First World War and following the armistice, Canada interned more than 8,500 people, including more than 200 women and children who voluntarily chose to stay with their male relatives. At least 100 detainees died. In the Second World War, Canada interned thousands more civilians, confiscating property and imposing forced labour.

In both world wars, tens of thousands of people were forced to register with and regularly report to the authorities. These measures mainly affected immigrants from states legally at war with Britain and its allies, as well as their Canadian-born children. They had to adhere to restrictions on their freedom of speech, movement and association. These restrictions could apply to anyone that Canada mistrusted, including homeless people, conscientious objectors and other "subversives." Efforts to achieve official recognition for these abuses and injustices continue today.

About the design
Bilingual vertical text in red features against a grey background, with barbed wired providing depth of perspective and seeming to imprison the typeface. The colour palette captures the grey gloom of the internment camps, with the bold red typography representing Canada and the civilians interned during two world wars and in peacetime.

The stamp emphasizes themes of separation, displacement and the hope for freedom.

Italo Tibaldi (1927 - 2010)

As a young partisan, he took part in the resistance movement during World War II. In 1944,
he was arrested and deported to the concentration camps of Mauthausen and Ebensee, where he endured inhumane conditions.
After the war, he dedicated his life to researching deportations and documenting Italian victims of Nazi camps.
He was a longtime member of the National Association of Former Deportees and the author of several important publications on the history of deportations.