Figure 3. The famous 3-koruny blue, Carpatho-Ukraine’s first stamp, showing the
Church of the Ascension (Struk Church) and bell tower in the town of Yasinia.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STAMPS OF CARPATHO-UKRAINE, 1939 and 1945
| Background | |
| The National Assembly Issue | Watermarks |
| The Yasinia Local Trident Overprints | First Edition |
| Carpatho-Ukraine Postal Rates | Second Edition |
| A Change in Regimes | Forgeries |
| The National Council Definitive Issues | Cancellations |
| First Definitive Issue | Censorship |
| Second Definitive Issue | Epilog |
| Third Definitive Issue | Conclusion |
The National Assembly Issue
Early in 1939, plans were drawn up to hold the First Carpatho-Ukrainian National Assembly (Soim) in Khust. The date of 2 March was agreed upon and a special regional stamp, with appropriate commemorative stationery and cancellations, was designed to mark the occasion (Figure 3). The 3-koruny blue stamp, depicting the wooden church at Yasinia, was delivered to Khust by the beginning of February.
Figure 3. The famous 3-koruny blue, Carpatho-Ukraine’s first
stamp, showing the
Church of the Ascension (Struk Church) and bell tower in the
town of Yasinia.
In actuality, the new stamp was a re-engraving of a 60-haléřů, orange red stamp from the 1928 Tenth Anniversary of Czechoslovak Independence Issue. The printing sheet format consisted of two panes of 100 side-by-side. Each pane had 16 horizontal rows, with the first and last rows consisting of only one stamp at the far left along with six blank tabs. The other 14 rows had seven stamps each. The last tab at the bottom right bore the plate number, either "1" or "1A" (Figure 4). A total of 900,000 stamps were prepared, with 300,000 forwarded to Khust and the remainder kept in Prague.
Because of its high value, the 3-koruny stamp was really only suitable for registered mailings or special delivery letters (see postal rates sidebar).
Fearing a possible
loss of its easternmost province during this charged time, the Czech government
repeatedly postponed the convening of the Assembly. Nevertheless, fast moving
events during the middle of the month proved to be decisive. On 14 March,
Slovakia declared its independence. Geographically now separated from Prague,
Carpatho-Ukraine became de facto independent. That same day, the Hungarian army
crossed the Carpatho-Ukrainian frontier, seeking to annex the province. In the early
evening of the 14th, Voloshyn announced on the Khust radio that
Carpatho-Ukraine had declared its independence. The following morning he handed
over a handwritten decree to the Khust post office authorizing the sale of the
stored stamps as the new country’s first postal issue. A telegram was sent to
Prague around 10:30 am informing postal officials of the stamp release, and the
600,000 stamps at the Philatelic Section in the Czech capital went on sale later
that day. Around mid-afternoon of the 15th, the 22 elected deputies
met in Khust and unanimously passed a bill officially declaring Carpatho-Ukraine
a sovereign republic. Voloshyn was then unanimously elected its first president. Although the
semi-military formation known as the Karpatska Sich (Carpathian Sich) put up a
spirited defense to the Hungarian advance, it was inadequately armed and
trained. By 4:30 pm on 16 March the Khust post office was taken and by 6 pm the
entire town was occupied and the Carpatho-Ukrainian Government had fled. The
National Assembly Issue was valid, therefore, for only two days. Over the next
several days, the remainder of Carpatho-Ukraine fell to Hungarian forces; it
became the Hungarian province of Kárpátalja until late 1944. The short duration
of Carpatho-Ukraine’s existence in 1939 - and its lone stamp release - gave
rise to the myth that Carpatho-Ukraine was the one country that could be
collected complete simply by obtaining the 3-koruny stamp. Such is far from the
case, however, as many more Carpatho-Ukrainian stamp issues were produced after
the five and a half years of Hungarian occupation ended in the fall of 1944. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Figure 4. Printing sheet layout for the
1939 stamp.