Isle of Man Battle of Jutland

ISLE OF MAN POST on 17 February 2016 issued a First Day Cover miniature sheet marking the  centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

The Battle of Jutland was the First World War's largest naval engagement, a battle fought between the "Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and Admiral Reinhard Sheer's High Seas Fleet". Jutland was the largest meeting of dreadnoughts in history. It was the only encounter between the main British and German fleets during WWI and in a struggle that lasted less than 12 hours, 249 ships and 100,000 men fought each other to maintain maritime dominance, with the Germans attempting to lift the naval economic blockade that was slowly but surely draining Germany's lifeblood.

The battle saw a great loss of life with significantly more British casualties for Britain compared to Germany; 14 British and 11 German ships were sunk. Both sides claimed victory. Jutland has been described as a tactical victory for the German High Seas Fleet but a strategic victory for the British Grand Fleet. The Germans had inflicted heavier losses on the numerically superior Grand Fleet and escaped near destruction but had failed to break the British blockade or control of the North Sea and had not altered the balance of power in any meaningful way.

This action packed miniature sheet features stamp designs by Francesca Jellicoe, daughter of Nick Jellicoe, and is divided into two parts, each showcasing a painting of HMS Iron Duke, the flagship of the Grand Fleet during the First World War, including Jutland. On the left is William Whyillie's painting of HMS Iron Duke opening fire at Jutland on a stamp depicting Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and Admiral Scheer. To the right, is William Stӧwer's painting of a German torpedo boat with portraits of Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty and Vice Admiral Franz Hipper on a stamp.

Source: IOM Post

Deutsche Bundespost "Europa" 300th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach

DEUTSCH BUNDESPOST on 16 April 1985 issued a First Day Cover "Europa" postage stamp, commemorating the European year of music and 300th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1985—1750).  Georg Friedrich Händel (1685—1759) was also part of the series. Value was 80 Pfennig. Graphic design was done by Walter. Postmark originated from Berlin.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

Deutsche Bundespost Centenary of Otto Nossan Klemperer

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 7 May 1985 issued a centenary First Day Cover stamp of Otto Nossan Klemperer who was a Jewish German-born conductor/composer and described as "the last of the few really great conductors of his generation," despite his much-cited tendency to extremely slow tempos.  This postmarked maxim card originated from Berlin.

Klemperer studied music first at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and later at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin under James Kwast and Hans Pfitzner. He followed Kwast to three institutions and credited him with the whole basis of his musical development. In 1905, he met Gustav Mahler while conducting the off-stage brass at a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. He also made a piano reduction of the second symphony. The two men became friends, and Klemperer became conductor at the German Opera in Prague in 1907 on Mahler's recommendation. Mahler wrote a short testimonial, recommending Klemperer, on a small card which Klemperer kept for the rest of his life. Later, in 1910, Klemperer assisted Mahler in the premiere of his Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand.

Klemperer went on to hold a number of positions, in Hamburg (1910–1912); in Barmen (1912–1913); the Strasbourg Opera (1914–1917); the Cologne Opera (1917–1924); and the Wiesbaden Opera House (1924–1927). From 1927 to 1931, he was conductor at the Kroll Opera in Berlin. In this post he enhanced his reputation as a champion of new music, playing a number of new works, including Janáček's From the House of the Dead, Schoenberg's Erwartung, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, and Hindemith's Cardillac.

Klemperer is less well known as a composer, but like other famous conductors such as Furtwängler, Walter and Markevitch, he wrote a number of pieces, including six symphonies (only the first two were published), a Mass, nine string quartets, many lieder and the opera Das Ziel.

One of his greatest struggles was with cyclothymic bipolar disorder, which exacerbated his personal and professional relationships.  He was the father of actor Werner Klemperer, and the diarist Victor Klemperer was a cousin.

Czech Post Tribute to Nicholas Winton

 

CZECH POST on 2 September 2015 issued a First Day Cover commemorative postage stamp titled  "Tribute to Sir Nicholas Winton".  The stamp designed by Czech graphic artist, painter and illustrator Zdeněk Netopil is the first stamp in the world issued as a tribute to the man who saved 669 children from transportation to concentration camps. The CZK 13 stamp portraying Nicholas Winton came out in a limited number of 750 thousand pieces, which was printed by the Postal Security Printing Company.

In 1938, Nicholas Winton, a young stockbroker from London planned to spend his 2-week vacation skiing on the Alps. He went to Prague instead, and devoted the next months to saving the lives of 669 children. He arranged for trains -- "Kindertransport" -- that carried mostly Jewish, but other children as well out of then-Czechoslovakia.

To ensure the safety of these children required battling bureaucracy as well as fundraising. In London, Winton raised money to pay for the transport of these kids from Prague to England, including a 50-pound-per-child guarantee that was demanded by the British government. Besides that, he also had to find families willing to care for these refugees, all while he worked as a stockbroker during the day. The late afternoon and evenings were devoted to this worthy cause.

In total, he managed to get 8 of 9 Kindertransport trains loaded with 669 children out of Czechoslovakia. The last train carried 250 children, but when WWII began the Nazis  stopped the train and these children eventually perished in concentration camps. Nevertheless, Winton and his colleagues saved at least 669 children: 566 of them Jewish, 52 Unitarian, 34 Catholic and 17 others.

He never spoke about this for over 50 years until his wife discovered a scrapbook with details about some of the children. For his part, in 2003, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him and the Czech Republic honoured him with a similar accolade -- the Order of the White Lion (1st class). Winton was the subject of numerous films. In 2015, he died at age 106.

Stamps dedicated to Sir Nicholas Winton have been issued from the  the UK and Israel as well.

Source: Czech Post