ABSTRACT
The 20th century was an extremely turbulent period in Polish history. From the beginning of the century, Poland successively: did not formally exist being under the rule of the partitioners, regained independence in 1918, then underwent World War I, a short interwar period and then experienced World War II. In 1952 Poland’s name was changed to the Polish People's Republic ruled by the communist party, which remained under the strong political dominance of the USSR. Poland regained real freedom in 1989 after the fall of communism and the adoption of a democratic system. Each of these events was accompanied by drastic political changes that are reflected in the subjects of Polish stamps. In the chapter, I discuss changes in the subjects of Polish stamps in the second half of the 20th century. In the early period of communism (the 1950s), socialist authorities used stamps as one of the powerful tools of communist propaganda; a point reflected in stamp topics and themes. When propaganda declined in the 1960s and 1970s, the subjects changed significantly, departing from previous political themes. In the 1980s a new phenomenon related to postage stamps occurred. Official stamps were issued by the communist authorities and illegal issues by interned Solidarity activists to stimulate Poles to fight for freedom. It is estimated that from 1981–1989 roughly 3000-5000 types of stamps were issued in the second category. After the fall of communism, the subjects of stamps appeared to be censored, for example, the Katyn massacre, the Solidarity movement, and Lech Wałęsa receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 1990s, after forty years of isolation, Poland could cooperate with countries previously behind the Berlin Wall, which is reflected in commemorative stamps issued jointly by the Polish Post Office and postal offices from Germany, Belgium, France, or Israel.
