Refugees On Stamps

World Refugee Year emblem on an airmail stamp printed by photogravure, and issued by Brazil on April 7, 1960, Scott No. C94.

- nethryk

Tanzania thanked the volunteers of the UN organizations in 1996 for their tireless help in providing for the needs of refugees from Rwanda. Written in 2003: "Dar es Salaam (UNHCR) From a peak of more than half a million in the mid-1990s, the last Rwandan refugees in Tanzania have now returned home, marking the end of one of the most dramatic refugee exoduses in the turbulent history of Central Africa. The final group of 3,200 refugees crossed the border into Rwanda from Tanzania last Friday." (Wikip.) Photo: Refugees returning home to Rwanda and camp at its fullest.

This set for April 1960 was hiding in my 'Hands' album but it belongs here. The uprooted tree is being supported by hands of different colors in greeting and there are small roots connecting them. That's a powerful message! Guinea remains the primary asylum country for West Africa's refugees. Refugee influxes from surrounding countries in upheaval during the 1990s were so overwhelming that, for several years, Guinea hosted the largest refugee population on the continent. In April '99, about 350,000 Sierra Leonean refugees were living in more than 60 sites in Guinea. About 75% of the refugees are women and children.

From The Guardian, 2009: "The human exodus from the war-torn Swat valley in northern Pakistan is turning into the world's most dramatic displacement crisis since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the UN refugee agency warned. Almost 1.5 million people have registered for assistance since fighting erupted three weeks ago, the UNHCR said, bringing the total number of war displaced in North West Frontier province to more than 2 million, not including 300,000 the provincial government believes have not registered." It took many months of fighting against the Taliban before the refugees could begin returning home. Semipostal sheet for the Prime Minister Relief Fund.

5 years ago: Portugal issued a souvenir sheet (12.5 x 9.5 cm) for the 60th anniversary of the UNHCR. A lone figure sits in the leftovers of an improvised tent; maybe she was no longer able to walk.

75 years ago: Tens of thousands of Jews fled Nazi-occupied Europe into neutral Portugal from June 1940 until the end of World War II. After harrowing journeys, many of these refugees found themselves in Lisbon. Situated at the edge of the continent, it became a city of transit. Longing for loved ones left behind, harried and impoverished, the refugees stood in long lines begging for visas from any consulate that would listen, and awaited ship tickets to escape Europe.

In 1941 Serbia issued a set of charity stamps for refugees who had to leave the destroyed old city of Smederevo (Semendrina) on the Danube. An old postcard, probably about 1940, and a new photo (found on the web).

Many Italians, or people of italian descent used to live on the Istrian penninsula, across from Venice, especially since Istria was ceeded to Italy after the 1st WW. They had to leave in a hurry soon after Italy and fascism was defeated in the 2nd WW. Italy brought these refugees to new towns on the west side of Sardinia. The stamp (2007) shows Istria in light blue on the right and Sardinia in light brown on the left with the town of Alghero close to Fertilia where many found new homes. Photo: Fertilia today. The Istrian penninsula is part of Croatia today.

Two 1957 semi-postal sheets from the Dominican Republic:
"Asistencia Refugiados Hungaros"

Similar to the situation described for the Italians of Istria, Germans and people of German descent fled from countries primarily east of Germany beginning months before the end of the 2nd WW, and continuing till the wall went up. The map shows the number, approximately 15 million (of course estimated, because thousands died on the way) up to about 1950. It also shows that refugees tried to reach West Germany. The commemorative sheet, 1995, was designed by E. Junger who probably used this photo.





Stampfan, Those overprints are very interesting because they are older than stamps or overprints for the UN year of refugees and also because they document the role played by the Red Cross. The stamps themselves were issued for the Melbourne Games, 1956, perhaps there were enough left over to overprint.

More on the Red Cross: The German Chapter of the Red Cross has been helping refugees in their countries of origin for many years. Now that hundreds of thousands of refugees have been seeking asylum in Europe, its work has also intensified here at home. I did not find the newest German stamp (2013) for the Red Cross on the RC thread, so I am including it here. A tent camp is shown in the lower left corner. The photo shows a situation currently typical for German communities: hundreds of cots have been set up in gymnasiums; the RC team waits for the refugees.

More on the Red Cross (which I didn't find on the RC thread): The Saar issued a stamp for the Red Cross in 1952 depicting a small group of refugees. At that time the Saar was still under French jurisdiction (Francs). This one was engraved by Pierre Munier (1889-1962), as was another Saar posted on Art & Paintings recently (10/22/2015). Photo: Saarbrücken, end of 1944.

In 2009, a monument honoring the Philippines was erected at the Holocaust Memorial Park in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. The monument, shaped like three open doors, thanks the Filipino people for taking in Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. The Philippines was one of the few countries willing to take in large numbers of refugees. A small network of people—Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Filipinos and Americans—combined their resources and used the unique political construction of the Philippine Commonwealth to give a new home to more than 1,300 European Jews. More would have come, but then the war struck the Philippines as well. Only a few weeks ago (August 2015) then-President (1935-1944) Manuel Quezon was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal.

Refugee mother and children, designed by married Luxembourg artists Nina (born Nina-Victorine Kestler, 1904-1981) and Julien (1907-1984) Lefèvre, printed by photogravure (Courvoisier, S.A.), and issued by Luxembourg on December 20, 1947 as one of a set of four semi-postal (charity) stamps benefiting the National Welfare Fund, Scott No. B128.

- nethryk

Having mentioned the Wallenberg Medal a few days ago, Wallenberg himself should be included. "During World War II (1939-45), Raoul Wallenberg (1912- c. 1947), a Swedish businessman-turned-diplomat based in Budapest, was responsible for the rescue of thousands – some estimates are as high as 100,000 – Hungarian Jews from extermination by the Nazis. Wallenberg handed out protective passports and set up safe houses for Jews, among other life-saving measures. In January 1945, he was detained by Soviet forces for reasons unknown, somewhere outside of Budapest, and was never heard from again." (from Wikip.)

Sweden, the country in which Wallenberg was born, issued a stamp in 1947 (the name of the engraver can be read) and for his 100th birthday in 2012, a souvenir sheet; in the background again one of the special passports giving Jews safe passage out of Budapest.