UN Post 100th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Ralph Bunche

 

UNITED NATIONS POST on 7 August 2003 issued three stamps to commemorate the centenary birth date of Dr. Ralph Bunche. The first day cover envelope carried postmark cancellations originating from UN headquarters in Geneva, New York and Vienna. He was also honoured in a USPS stamp.

Dr. Ralph Bunche received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s work as a United Nations mediator in the Palestine conflict. He called himself 'an incurable optimist'. Bunche was the first African American and person of colour to be so honoured in the history of the prize.
 
Dr. Bunche was present at the creation of the United Nations, as one of the co-authors of the Charter and a leading advocate of decolonisation. He laid the foundation for UN peacekeeping. He was intimately involved in every one of the key questions which the UN grappled with in its first decades.

As if that was not enough, Bunche was also a leading figure in the civil rights movement in the United States, and an acclaimed and pioneering scholar of political science, especially race relations.

On receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 1950, Bunche gave voice to that keenly felt anxiety about the inability of human beings to live together peacefully. In a few memorable words, he encapsulated the mission of the United Nations. The United Nations exists, he said, “not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change –even radical change –possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo”.

Source: United Nations

Österreichische Post Theatre and Cinema (Actors) - Maximilian Schell

ÖSTERREICHISCHE POST on on 20 September 2008 released a series of Theatre and Cinema (Actors) stamps, including  a 1.00 Euro stamp of Maximilian Schell. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei GmbH printed this horizontal stamp.

Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss film and stage actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film "Judgment at Nuremberg", his second acting role in Hollywood.

 

 Born in Austria, his parents were involved in the arts and he grew up surrounded by acting and literature. While he was a child, his family fled to Switzerland in 1938 when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, and they settled in Zurich. After World War II ended, Schell took up acting or directing full-time. He appeared in numerous German films, often anti-war, before moving on to Hollywood.

Schell was top billed in a number of Nazi-era themed films, as he could speak both English and German. Among those were two films for which he received Oscar nominations: "The Man in the Glass Booth" (1975; best actor), where he played a character with two identities, and "Julia" (1977; best supporting actor), where he helps the underground in Nazi Germany.

During his career, he also played personalities as diverse as Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar, Russian emperor Peter the Great, and physicist Albert Einstein. For his role as Vladimir Lenin in the television film "Stalin" (1992) he won the Golden Globe Award. On stage, Schell acted in a number of plays, including a celebrated performance as the title character in William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet".

Schell was an accomplished pianist and conductor, performing with Claudio Abbado and Leonard Bernstein, and with orchestras in Berlin and Vienna. His elder sister, Maria Schell, was also an internationally noted actress, about whom he produced the documentary "My Sister Maria", in 2002.

Schell died at the age of 83 on 1 February 2014, in Innsbruck, Austria.  His grave is in Preitenegg/Carinthia (Austria) where the family home was and where he and his sister lived until the end.

Source: Wikipedia

Österreichische Post Maria Schell -- Austrians in Hollywood

ÖSTERREICHISCHE POST  in 2015 honoured the actress Maria Schell as part of its popular "Austrians in Hollywood" series. It was franked with a unique overprint of her image and bore the appropriate special cancellation.  

The Hollywood star from Austria -- the film actress Maria Schell was born in Vienna in 1926 and died in Carinthia in 2005. Maria Schell was without doubt one of the biggest stars of German-language films in the 1950s and 1960s as well as many Hollywood films. 

She had starring roles in "The Brothers Karamazov", "The Hanging Tree", "Inside the Third Reich" and other films.

She was the eldest sister of Actor-Writer-Director-Classical Pianist Maximilian Schell.

Österreichische Post 75th Birthday Anniversary of Oskar Werner

ÖSTERREICHISCHE POST  on 31 October 1997 released a  75th birthday anniversary stamp of Oskar Werner, the brilliant Austrian actor most people have either forgotten or are unaware of. The stamp depicts Werner in the 1966 François Truffaut film "Fahrenheit 451", based on Ray Bradbury's masterpiece.

Oskar Werner (born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer; 13 November 1922 – 23 October 1984) was an Austrian stage and cinema actor whose prominent roles include two 1965 films, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and "Ship of Fools". Other notable films include "Decision Before Dawn" (1951), "Jules and Jim" (1962), "Fahrenheit 451" (1966), "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968) and "Voyage of the Damned" (1976). He was also in the Columbo TV episode "Playback" in 1975.

 He died at age 62 from a heart attack and is buried in Triesen, Liechtenstein.

La Poste de Côte d'Ivoire 50th Anniversary of Tabou Radio Station

 

La Poste de Côte d'Ivoire on 9 March 1968 issued a first day cover stamp marking the 55th Anniversary of the Tabou Radio Station. It was one of the earliest coastal stations in France's African colonies.

 

Czechoslovakia Post 10th Anniversary National Broadcasting

CZECHOSLOVAKIA POST on 25 April 1963 issued two first day cover stamps to commemorate the 10th anniversary of national television broadcasting in Czechoslovakia.

Deutsche Post 15th Anniversary of Radio Berlin International & 25th Anniversary of German Radio Broadcasting

DEUTSCHE POST (DDR) on 13 May 1970 issued two stamps commemorating the 15th anniversary of Radio Berlin International, 10 pfennig denomination, and the 25th anniversary of the Deutsches Democratischer Republik radio broadcasting, 15 pfennig denomination. A total of 3,000,000 stamps, for each design, was printed using an offset printing method. Manfred Gottschall designed the stamps. Postmark cancellation originated from East Berlin.

Moldova Post 80th Anniversary of Radio Moldova

MOLDOVA POST on 29 October 2010 issued a first day cover stamp marking the 80th anniversary of Radio Moldova. Cancellation postmark originated from Chişinău, Republic of Moldova. The printer was Tipografia Centrală, Chişinău and the designer was Vitalie Roşca. The stamp depicted the heaquarters of Radio Moldova. This particular FDC also carries an antique radio (one of two) issued in 2019.

The first radio transmission from Moldova was broadcast on 1 November 1928 by the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Company in Bucharest. On 30 October 1930, in Tiraspol started broadcasting a Soviet radio station of 4 kW whose main purpose was the anti-Romanian propaganda to Moldova between Prut and Dniester. A new radio mast, M. Gorky, built in 1936 in Tiraspol, allowed greater coverage of the territory of Bessarabia. In that context, in 1937, Chişinău City Hall gave the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company a building to open the first radio station in Chişinău, to counter Soviet propaganda. Experimental programmes began in the early days of June 1939. The transmitter installed by Marconi Company in Chişinău was the best in Romania. The first radio station in Chişinău was "twice stronger than that of Bucharest or that one in Tiraspol" wrote Gazeta Basarabiei in July 1939.

Source: Wikipedia

Nippon Post 25th Anniversary of Radio Japan.

NIPPON POST on 1 June 1960 issued a 10 yen stamp commemorating the 25th anniversary of Radio Japan. A total of 8,000,000 stamps were printed. It was red in colour with radio waves encircling a globe. Postmark cancellation  originated from Tokyo. The cachet on this envelope depicts a microphone and their radio transmission coverage around the world. That said, alternative cachets for the same FDC were printed. 

Posti Group Oyj 50th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting in Finland

POSTI GROUP OYJ (Finland) 9 September 1976 issued a commemorative stamp marking the 50th anniversary of radio broadcasting in Finland.  This multicoloured stamp carried a currency denomination of 0,80 mk. A total of 4,000,000  stamps were printed. Perforation was 12 3/4 x 13.

 

An Post 50th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting in Ireland

AN POST on 5 October 1976 issued two stamps to mark the 50th anniversary of radio broadcasting in Ireland: one with radio waves and another depicting a radio tower,  waves and globe.

The scholar-poet Dr. Douglas Hyde, who later became the first President of Ireland, inaugurated the State-controlled service on 1st January, 1926. The first studio was in Dublin and the station was named Dublin 2 RN. Shortly afterwards Cork acquired a studio, identified as 6CK. Early Irish broadcasters proved remarkably imaginative in the  use of the medium. They  helped to develop broadcast drama as a genuine art form and they were among the first to use radio for the live coverage of  sport.

In 1932 a high-power transmitter (strength 60 kw, soon increased to 100 kw.) was opened near Athlone in the centre of Ireland. The service became known at home and abroad as Radio Eireann­ Radio of Ireland-and its possibilities could now be fully exploited. The post-war years saw the formation of important professional groups within the  broadcasting service, such as the Radio Eireann Players, the Radio Eireann Singers and the Radio Eireann  Symphony Orchestra.

A television service was opened in 1961 and the State handed over control of broadcasting to a cor­ poration, now called Radio Telefis Eireann, established by act of parliament. RTE radio continued to develop. A VHF (FM) network was built, stereo broadcasts became common and a subsidiary service in the Irish language (Radio na Gaeltachta) was set up with headquarters in the West of Ireland. A powerful new transmitter (strength 500 kw) was brought into use in 1975. Irish broadcasts could be heard in Britain and many parts of Europe on 530 metres (566 kilo Hertz).

The ultra-modern studio complex at the outskirts of Dublin appropriately incorporates the house which was the family home of Annie Jameson, mother of Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio broadcasting. RTE radio has won many international prizes, including the prestigeous Prix Italia in 1961 and 1965. The service was an active member of the European Broadcasting Union.

The stamps were designed  by RTE graphic artists, Graham  Shepherd and Al  O'Donnell,  and  the first day cover, featuring an illustration  of a woman  using  a crystal  radio set of the  1920's, was designed by RTE graphic artist Jan Mitchell.

Croatian Post "For Peace in Ukraine"

CROATIAN POST on 12 April 2022 issued a single stamp in support of Ukraine in its war against Russia. It was created by Alenka Lalić, a designer from Zagreb. AKD d.o.o., Zagreb, was the printer. An offset printing process was used in this multicolour (blue sky and yellow field) stamp measuring 42.60 x 35.50 mm with a value letter code of 'B'.

The stamp "For Peace in Ukraine", issued by the Croatian Post in these difficult times for the Ukrainian people, is intended as a symbol of friendship between the Republic of Croatia and Ukraine, as well as strong mutual support for comprehensive efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, the return of its displaced and refugee citizens, and the normalisation of life on the Ukrainian territory.

On 11 December 1991, Ukraine was one of the first countries to recognise the Republic of Croatia as a sovereign and independent state. The Republic of Croatia was one of the first countries to recognise Ukrainian independence on 5 December 1991.


Source: Croatia Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs

Deutsche Bundespost Beatification of Edith Stein and Ruppert Mayer

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 14 January 1988 issued a first day cover stamp honouring the Seligsprechung (Beatification) of Dr. Edith Stein and Ruppert Mayer by Pope John Paul II in Cologne and Munich. The cancellation postmark of this 80 pfennig stamp originated from Bonn, West Germany. The cachet depicts both individuals.

In the Roman Catholic Church, beatification is a declaration by the Pope that the deceased is in a state of bliss, constituting the first step towards canonisation and permitting public veneration. While their beatification is admiral for Catholics, I discovered the personal histories of Dr. Edith Stein and Ruppert Mayer commendable, especially during the Nazi Germany period.

Dr. Edith Stein (or, Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce OCD; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a Discalced Carmelite nun. She was canonised as a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church in 1987; she is also one of six patron saints of Europe.

She and 243 fellow Catholics of Jewish origin were arrested by the Gestapo in the Netherlands on 2 August 1942. They were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were murdered in a gas chamber on 9 August 1942.

Rupert Mayer, S.J. (23 January 1876 – 1 November 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and a leading figure of the Catholic resistance to Nazism in Munich.

From 1914, Mayer volunteered as a chaplain in the First World War. He was initially assigned to a camp hospital; but was later made a Field Captain and sent to the fronts in France, Poland and Romania as chaplain to a division of soldiers. His bravery was legendary and he was held in great esteem by the soldiers.[6] When there was fighting at the front, Fr. Mayer would be found himself crawling along the ground from one soldier to the next talking to them, and administering the Sacraments to them. In December 1915, Fr. Mayer was the first chaplain to win the Iron Cross for bravery in recognition of his work with the soldiers at the front. In December 1916, he lost his left leg after it was injured in a grenade attack. He returned to Munich to convalesce and was referred to as the "Limping Priest".

In January 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he began to close church-affiliated schools and started a campaign to discredit the religious orders in Germany. Mayer spoke out against this persecution from the pulpit of St. Michael's in downtown Munich and because he was a powerful influence in the city, the Nazis could not tolerate such a force to oppose them.

On 16 May 1937, the Gestapo ordered Mayer to stop speaking in public which he obeyed, but he continued to preach in church.Mayer spoke out against anti-Catholic baiting campaigns and fought against Nazi church policy. Since he believed that a Catholic could not be a National Socialist, conflict inevitably arose between him and the Nazis. He preached that Man must obey God more than men. His protests against the Nazis landed him several times in Landsberg prison. Mayer resolutely spoke out against the Nazi régime's evil in his lectures and sermons.

On 5 June 1937, he was arrested and found himself in "protective custody" in Stadelheim Prison for six weeks. When he became the target of defamatory attacks on the part of the Nazis, his Jesuit superiors allowed him to return to the pulpit to defend himself against slanders that the Nazis made during his silence. He was re-arrested and served a sentence of five months.

Mayer was arrested again 3 November 1939 and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp under the Kanzelparagraphen, a series of 19th-century laws that forbade the clergy to make political statements. He was released from there on the condition of a broad ban on preaching. The sixty-three-year old priest developed heart problems, From late 1944, he was interned in Ettal Monastery, mainly because the Nazis were afraid that he would die in the concentration camp, and thus become a martyr. He remained there until liberated by the US forces in May 1945.

Source: Wikipedia