Refugees On Stamps

The horrors of the 2nd WW in Belgium have been commemorated recently. Remember the winter of 1944-5, Bulge and Bastogne. The Belgian stamp of 2004 and the photo show refugees fleeing the ruins of Bastogne in freezing temperatures. The US stamp of 1994 shows what it was like for soldiers.

The plight of the Kurds in Iraq under Saddam Hussein was featured in two stamps issued in 2012. Now the Kurds are fleeing from northern Syria.

The second Iraqi stamp of 2012 showing primarily Kurdish women and children in distress. The same situation now in Syria.

People made homeless and helpless by natural disasters and climate change are not considered to be refugees in the strict sense of the word, although they do receive help from the UN, for example. From the UN home page: "Regardless, the term "climate refugee" is not endorsed by UNHCR, and it is more accurate to refer to "persons displaced in the context of disasters and climate change." These persons are usually displaced within their own countries. They number in the many millions per year and those numbers are rising. I think they should also be included in this thread, so I'm beginning with a stamp from Afghanistan, 1972. The earthquake of 1972 in Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, destroyed approximately 7,000 houses, killing 450 and injuring 3,000 people. The Red Crescent assisted and supported the homeless and injured.

The very night that the three Kings (Magi) had visited the Holy Family in Bethlehem (in our calendar the 6th of January), Joseph was told that it was no longer safe to stay. Joseph was included in Dürer's engraving, so I have added him to the picture. The Flight to Egypt has been seen on other stamps featuring refugees, check earlier pages.

The atoll island of Penrhym, way out in the middle of the Pacific, also featured Dürer's art on their Christmas stamp 1976. The faint print at the bottom of the stamp says Northern Cook Islands

The Swedish stamp for the year of Refugees has been shown earlier on FDCs, but not by itself. Slania's artwork is impressive - the only thing a bit 'off' in this motif is that those shown appear to be only men; most refugees are women and young children. Note the uprooted tree, the UN logo.

The Philippine stamp of 1991 honors the 50th anniversary of the UNHCR. Boat people are still fleeing across dangerous waters but nowadays they are more numerous crossing the Mediterranean than in south east Asia.(Photograph borrowed from the New York Times 2017)

Countless people fleeing floods and waiting for drinkable water in Bangladesh, one of the countries suffering also from rising sea levels. Hundreds of thousands are internally displaced. Charity stamp 2007

2020 marks the 60th year after the UN declared 1960 to be the year of Refugees. The stamp issued by Bhutan also shows the twin dragon coat of arms for Bhutan. The uprooted tree is shown on most stamps issued for refugees that year.

The Temple of Dawn in Bankok was featured in the Thai stamp for the year of refugees, 1960.

The League of Nations raised money and awareness for the plight of refugees with stickers like the one pictured. Fritjof Nansen was the first high commissioner for refugees for ten years. The UN refugee agency was founded in 1950, UNHCR. The Geneva Convention of 1926 has been expanded and modified several times.

A charity sticker (Spendenmarke) for refugees issued for the year of refugees (Weltflüchtlingsjahr), 10 Pfennig, 1960. The red line is symbolic for the paths of refugees looking for safety and hope.

The other charity sticker issued for refugees during the year of refugees, 10 Pfennig. Millions had nothing more than they could carry or pack into a "Bollerwagen", seen in the background on the stamp and in the photo.

International Year of the Refugee - Italy, 1960

I already posted these stamps and items but I think they are more appropriate to be posted here.

"The Fire in the Borgo" (detail) by the Italian artist Raphael, located in the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo ("The Room of the Fire in the Borgo") in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican, engraved by Vittorio Nicastro and issued by Italy on April 7, 1960 to publicize the International Year of the Refugee.

The detail: The Virgil's Aeneid tells that Aeneas carried his father, the elderly Anchises, and together with his son Ascancius they escaped from Troy, after it has been burned by the Greek army. Raphael, inspired by this scene, painted a group in the left foreground, made up of an old man on the shoulders of a young man, and a child escaping the fire.


A Maximum Card depicting the complete painting "The Fire in the Borgo" by Raphael. The commemorative postmark show the uprooted tree, the symbol of the International Year of the Refugee:

A MC depicting the detail of the escaping family: