Öesterreich Post "The Dawn of Peace"

ÖESTERREICH POST on 10 September  1945 issued a  surtaxed charity stamp of 1 Mk. + 10 Mk. denomination for public welfare. The design was an allegorical representation of "The Dawn of Peace", and it featured a dove of peace at the top, and an Austrian returning to his Alpine home.

 

When one considers the history of Austria from the moment of the Anschluss in 1938, the Austrians who served in the German Wehrmacht (many of whom ended up fighting on the Eastern front and were interned in Soviet gulags until the 1950s), the internees who died at or survived the Mauthausen and concentration camp elsewhere,  the destruction of Austrian cities, the occupation of the four Allied powers and the multitude of displaced people, this stamp is truly touching and reflects a nation looking forward to peace.

This stamp is also interesting in that the Soviet occupied eastern region of Austria initially used overprint stamps of Hitler, then  the Austrian coat of arms (an eagle) with hammer and sickle in its talons.