Refugees On Stamps

Hi, Litho, Thanks for the great additions! Could you help me understand the artwork on the 0.25 Israeli stamp. The family on the flying magic carpet does not look Jewish and it seems to be enjoying the ride away from a tent camp encircled by barbed wire. The family on the 0.50 stamp looks to be Jewish (note the man's hairdo) and is arriving in a land of plenty with grapes and figs. Egypt issued a stamp which illustrates the situation in a different way and on the web there is a photo of refugees having to leave Palestinian areas.

Back to Cyprus in 1974: the first two refugee fund surcharge stamps to appear were an overprinted, marked up version of St. George slaying the dragon (1971) and a new stamp Mother and Child appearing in December. (Ikey, your cancellation reads "Help the Danish Red Cross help others", so both stamp and cancellation fit the topic well.)

Kris, I believe the design on the stamp is based
on what was called Operation Magic Carpet whereby
almost 50,000 Yemenite Jews were airlifted
out of Yemen in 1948/50.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera..._%28Yemen%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewis...im_countries



The above pic is titled "A YEMENITE FAMILY WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT TO A RECEPTION CAMP SET UP BY THE "JOINT" NEAR ADEN."
Look at the man and boy on the left of the photo and compare
them with the figures on the stamp.

Thanks Litho, that adds valuable historical perspective! K.

These two Indian 1971 tax stamps were issued
to aid East Pakistan Refugees.


India

Michel Z1iv



India

Michel Z2

Kris, the story behind the stamp is one of the things I
find so interesting and has kept me hooked to this
hobby for over sixty years.

Stamps don't have to be pretty or valuable to be interesting.
Just look at the Indian stamps ; poor photogravure
printing, not the greatest design, even the colour
is annoying but they served their purpose.

The three stamps for the Refugee Fund in Greek Cyprus appeared again together in 1999; written in English instead of Greek. As a small addendum: Cyclamen cyprium, endemic to the island.



Hi, Ikey, I couldn't agree more, learning something every time you look is the best part of it. K.

Cyprus issued a postage stamp commemorating 40 years of UNHCR aid. Letters would then also carry the "Refugee Fund" stamp with the child on it. A photo of the "Dead Zone" still being upheld by the UN.

Cyprus put the UNHCR on another stamp for its 50th anniversary in 2001. The refugee camp at Kokkinotrimithia was maintained until the beginning of 2015 (photo R. Sunbring).

Have found the second stamp of the set by Cyprus for the 40th anniversary of the UNHCR.

Croatia issued a set of two stamps in 2001 commemorating the help provided by the IOM (International Organization for Migration) and the UNHCR when their country was involved in the war following the dissolution of Jugoslavia. Photos: Croats leaving their destroyed city of Vukovar in 1991 and Syrian refugees waiting at the border to Croatia this week, not far from Vukovar.

In January 1944, Croatia issued 2 War Tax stamps to raise revenue for aiding those made homeless by the second World War. Photo of refugees at close of WWII, unknown location.

The painting of refugees fleeing from the destroyed Croation city of Vukovar by Zlatko K. Atac appeared on the FDC for the stamp in 1997. The young figure in the foreground seems eerily similar to one we recognize from a very famous photograph. Note refugees in the Vukovar cancellation as well.

The artist Ljubicic was asked to design a stamp depicting Vukovar; the result was a tragic scribble, there was almost nothing left of the ancient city. Croatians know what it is like to become a refugee. Photo: Syrian refugees in Croatia being brought to Zagreb, close to the Slovenian border, last week.