Republic of Croatia's first postage stamps

Postage Stamps of the Republic of Croatia

The Republic of Croatia's first postage stamps

Following the referendum in the country, the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Declaration of Independence on 25 June 1991. In view of the armed aggresion of the Yugoslav federal army agains Slovenia and Croatia, a temporary moratorium was imposed on the implementation of that decision on the initiative and with the mediation of the European Community (so-called Brijuni Agreement), so that a peaceful solution of the Yugoslav crisis could continue to be sought. Since the aggression continued unabated, the decision was effectively implemented on 8 October 1991, when the independence of the Republic of Croatia was formally proclaimed. The international recognition of this act came on 15 January 1992, when the first of the European Community members and then also other countries recognized the new state, making the Republic of Croatia an internationally recognized sovereign entity.

This was the historical framework for the appearance of the Republic of Croatia's first postage stamps. The manner of their preparation and issuing was a good illustration of the way the new state was formed and the anticipation of the ultimate outcome of the political and armed struggle for independence. Even before the formal proclamation of independence, on 17 July 1991, the Croatian Government made the following decision: "The Croatian Postal and Telecommunication Service (HPT) is hereby ordered to prepare and issue, in the shortest possible time, a definitive airmail postage stamp of the Republic of Croatia." (Document no. 450-020-91/02) Acting on this order, the HPT postal autohority issued the following announcement on 6 September 1991 (no. P-1-3432/91): "A definitive postage stamp for domestic supplementary airmail postage in the Republic of Croatia will be issued on 9 September 1991." Thus, the first Croatian postage stamp was issued a month before the formal proclamation of the Republic's independence. The move was understandably, suited to Croatia's very sensitive political position at that time: it was important to start issuing postage stamps, not only as an instrument of the postal service, but also as a manifest sign of the state's sovereignity, without, however, infringing upon the authority of the still existing federation. Hence the somewhat unusual designation: "definitive stamp" for "supplementary airmail postage", only "in the Republic of Croatia". The choice of the motifs for the first stamps was also dictated by the situation. The newly establishd national airline was just starting its domestic service, and the first three airmail stamps were issued to mark the occasion.

With the arrival of the first Croatian stamps, both Croatian and Yugoslav stamps were used for postage and it was not unusual to find the same postal item franked with mixed stamps. This interim arrangement came to an end on 15 January 1992, when the Croatian Postal and Telecommunication Service withdrew the stamps of the former Yugoslavia from circulation (Documents P-1-4603/91 and P-1-4721/91).

[Vukovar] The same historical contest was resposible for the Republic of Croatia's first (non-postal) charity stamps. Thought not treated as postage stamps, they were the necessary first step that heralded the arrival of the postage stamps of the new state. Issued by the HPT on the orders of the Croatian Government to finance the Hrvatski radisa self-employment project and the recostruction of Vukovar, these charity stamps and the motifs shown on them represent perhaps the most impressive philatelic testimony of the emergence of the new state. For the reason, the first twelve charity stamps make an inseparable part of the corpus of postage stamps of the Republic of Croatia.

Source: "Katalog postanskih maraka Republike Hrvatske", published by Croatian Post and Telecommunication, 1993)