Esperanto - The International Language

Here are a couple of poster stamps advertising the 10th World Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, or UK). They inform us that the congress was scheduled for 2–9 August 1914 at the Gaumont-Palace cinema in Paris, with a post-congress excursion to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley on 10 August.


What makes these cinderellas special, though, is that these events were cancelled right as they were about to begin. France mobilized on 1 August and declared war on Germany on 3 August. Some people coming to the congress were turned away at the border, while some from enemy nations who had already arrived in Paris were jailed. Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, was halted in Cologne and hurried back to the Russian border, only to find it closed. He returned to Berlin and was eventually able to make his way home to Warsaw by way of Sweden, Finland, and St. Petersburg.

Another World Congress fell victim to war, namely the 32nd, which was supposed to take place in Marseille from 3–10 August 1940.

It was postponed when war broke out in September 1939 and eventually came to fruition in Bern, 26 July–2 August 1947.

Here's one of my favorite Esperanto cinderellas from my collection, advertising the 3rd Hungarian Esperantist Congress, to be held in Szeged in 1914. Like the 10th UK, it was cancelled due to the outbreak of the First World War.

Many thanks, erilaz! didn't know there are so many items about Esperanto.

Belgium issued a single stamp to publicize the Esperanto World Congress held in brussels on June 5-6 1982. it shows the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis chapter 11. The first phrase says: "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech":


Here are postcards with different cachets and commemorative postmark:



Second postmark has same design of Tower of Babel:

Greetings from Tallinn

Centenary of Esperanto, on commemorative postmark issued by France on September 26, 1987:


Cinderella label on the cover, same design as the postmark:

Gliding over Viljandi

Two postal stationeries from Hungary with printed stamp about Esperanto:

The 34th Congress of IFEF (International Federation of Esperanto-Railway workers), 1982:

The 29th Esperanto Congress:

"The most beautiful health resort" : Pärnu

Antoni Grabowski (1857–1921) was a Polish chemical engineer, and an activist of the early Esperanto movement. His translations had an influential impact on the development of Esperanto into a language of literature.

Grabowski on a postmark from DDR issued in 1988 to publicize the Esperanto book day:

Julio Baghy (1891 – 1967, Hungarian Baghy Gyula) was a Hungarian actor and one of the leading authors of the Esperanto movement. He is the author of several famous novels but it is particularly in the field of poetry that he proved his mastery of Esperanto.

Postmark (very poor) and cachet show Baghy, postcards issued by Hungary on June 14, 1997:

Dr Zamenhof on a Soviet postal stationery (Michel # USo 120) and a Lithuanian stamp (Michel # 880)

World Esperanto Congress, Budapest, a single stamp issued by Hungary on July 29, 1983:

The stamp on a postcard with commemorative postmark and cachet issued in 1998 probably to celebrate century of Hungarian book in Esperanto:


Postcard with the same postmark but with minor changes in the cachet:

Different cachet:

Soviet stationery envelope,depicting Vasili Yakovlevitch Eroshenko,blind esperantist writer and teacher

Green version of a label showed by LaoPhil

Here are three postmarks from France:

The first Esperanto song competition, Montferrand, 1978:


The 60th international Esperanto congress, 1987:


The 47th congress of SAT-Amikaro, Bordeaux, 1992:
SAT-Amikaro - L'Amicale de SAT - Union des Travailleurs Espérantistes des pays de langue française - Union of Esperantist Workers of French-speaking countries: