31:3 3 2000
SEMANTICS: 'OCCUPATION' vs. 'LOCAL' ISSUES OF 1918-1921

Mr. Dezsö Flasch's writings in the 1999 Stamp Day Program brochure prompted me to try to categorize these issues and to open up some dialogue in generating a consensus, at least within our Society. Mr. Flasch is an internationally known specialist in the stamps of this era and his expertization mark is an accepted guarantee of genuineness in the jungle of mass-counterfeited overprints. Erstwhile, Mr. Flasch's interpretation represents the 'purist' definition of what is an 'occupation' issue vice an issue of a successor state, several of which utilized basic Hungarian stamps with an overprint to indicate new sovereignty. His opinion also is in accordance with the listings contained in the Magyar Posta- és Illetékbélyeg Katalógus/Catalog of Hungarian Postage and Revenue Stamps and the Magyar Bélyegek Kézikönyve/Handbook of Hungarian Stamps. On the opposite side of the coin, Chris Brainard's Catalog of Hungarian Occupation Stamps employs a broader-based definition of accepting 'anything on a Hungarian stamp' and lists all of these issues under the terminology of 'occupation' stamps. The collector is left up to his/her discretion to pick and chose.

In the communist era of Hungarian philately (1948-1989), collecting of these issues was, at best, frowned upon, at worst, strictly forbidden. In this vacuum, several prominent members of our Society (Chris Brainard, Leslie Ettre, Kalman Illyefalvy, and Paul Szilagyi to name just a few of them), pioneered research efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to pull together whatever contemporary information existed about these issues and to further the new findings in these areas. Coupled with an occasional article or handbook that was published in Hungary, a clearer picture concerning these issues started to emerge. In the past decade of the 1990s, philatelic interest in these occupation issues seems to have exploded both in Hungary and worldwide.

My treatise is to try to classify these issues into one of three categories: occupation, local, or Successor State. Right away, naming these categories is controversial because the two Hungarian references cited above literally call all of these issues as 'local' (sic, helyi kiadások). Geographically speaking, that is correct because the utilization of most 'occupation' stamps was restricted to a certain, pretty well defined locality. What constitutes a true 'occupation' issue vice 'local' issue? And, when does an overprinted Hungarian stamp become an issue of a Successor State?

Starting in 1918, Hungarian stamps were overprinted by Italian, Croatian, Serb, Rumanian, Czecho-Slovak, French, and Austrian authorities, some of whom were representatives of an official government or of a military force or of a postal directorate or just plain village entrepreneurs. In making a proper determination, one must account for the various lines of demarcation commanded by the French following the armistice agreement signed on 3 November 1918 up to the signing of the Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920. The cease-fire agreements stipulated the lines of demarcation in southern and southeastern Hungary between the Hungarian and French, Serbian or Rumanian forces. There was no demarcation line established in northern Hungary with the Czech forces, who occupied territory on their own initiative. In the spring of 1919, the Hungarian Red Army pushed the Czech forces back, but then withdrew to behind a de facto demarcation line. In my opinion, between the date of the Armistice and the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, any portion of historical Hungary under the control of foreign jurisdiction, whether it was military or civilian, could be considered as being 'occupied.' If Hungarian stamps were overprinted during this time under the direction of foreign authorities (military or civilian government), then they should be considered as occupation issues. If they were overprinted through local initiatives (speculative or patriotic), then they should be considered as 'local' issues. Following the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, the state of war between Hungarian half of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Entente Powers ceased, but parts of rump Hungary remained 'occupied.' True 'occupation' stamps continued to be issued in these areas. I'd like to review all of these issues, in a counter-clockwise motion around the map of historical Hungary. If the overprints were authorized by the postal authorities in a successor state OR the postal validity of the issues extended beyond the borders of historical Hungary OR the Hungarian postal authorities recognized the stamps as being valid, then the issues should be reconsidered as those of the successor state. Obviously, the criteria are convoluted; and controversies or exceptions arise when applying them uniformly.

The table below lists all of the issues in chronological order. There is some discrepancy between the issue dates quoted in the MPIBK and in the Brainard catalog as well as obvious errors. I tried to correct this. The entry in the 'category' column is my 'best guess' determination. I've inserted some key historical dates from information previously prepared by Dr. Ettre and Dr. Szilagyi in order to synchronize the stamp issues with contemporary events.

Issue Authority	Locality	Issue Date	Category	1
4 October 1918: Austria-Hungary asks for an armistice from the Entente.
16 October 1918: Emperor/King Karl/Károly issues the 'People's Manifesto' to develop a federation of independent nation-states within the Monarchy.
18 October 1918: Croatia-Slavonia along with Slovenia elects to secede from the Monarchy.
23 October 1918: Fiume garrison mutinies and declares the city a part of Croatia
31 October 1918: Republic is declared in Hungary
3 November 1918: Austro-Hungarian Monarchy signs armistice agreement
9 November 1918: The Rumanian National Council of Transylvania meets in Arad
12 November 1918: The Republic of German-Austria declared
13 November 1918: The Károlyi-government signs the Armistice of Belgrade
15 November 1918: The Rumanian army occupies the Maros River line in Transylvania and Serb troops occupy Pécs & Baranya County.
National Council of Czechoslovakia	Szakolca/Skalica 'Cesko-slovenská Státni Posta' overprint prepared in Prague	15 Nov. 1918	Local	CS
17 November 1918: Croatians abandon Fiume, Italian navy sails into the city.
18 November 1918: Serbian military completes the occupation of Croatia south of the Dráva River and seizes the Town of Pécs and the Baranya triangle.
Croatian National Council	Croatia-Slavonia	18 Nov. 1918	Successor State	YU
Rev. P. Jehlicska	Budapest ovpt. 'Slovenska Posta'	November 1918	Local	CS
Military Control Commission	Fiume Overprints on Hungarian Stamps	2 Dec. 1918	Occupation / transition to Successor State	F
1 December 1918: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SHS) is formed
1 December 1918: The meeting in Gyulafehérvár/Alba Iulia declares the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Rumania.
Private / Speculative issue	Vienna ovpt., Respublica Cesko-Slovenska	1919	Local	CS
Dr. Vavro Srobár, minister of the Slovak Nat'l Council	Srobár-issue used around Csorba-tó/Strbské Pleso, prepared in Prague	January 1919	Local	CS
Military Control Commission	Fiume stamps of original design	January 1919	Successor State	F
Ensign Gobcevic, Serb Military	Muraszerdahely	3 Jan. 1919	Local	YU
Count Matzenau / speculative	Pártosfalva	January 1919	Local	YU
Serbian Military	Zombor	8 Feb. 1919	Local	YU
Serbian Military	Ada	15 Feb. 1919	Local	YU
Rezsö Valic / speculative	Csáktornya	24 Feb. 1919	Local	YU
Rumanian Military Government	Nagyszeben/Southwestern Transylvania	15 March 1919	Local	RO
Jean Oddor, Bucharest dealer	Borosjenö	1919	Local	RO
21 March 1919: The fall of the Károlyi-government, the establishment of the Soviet Republic under Béla Kún.
23 April 1919: Debrecen occupied by Rumanian troops.
1 May 1919: The trans-Tisza territory occupied by Rumanian troops.
French Military	Arad	5 May 1919	Occupation	RO
Serbian Military	Baranya I.	5 May 1919	Occupation / Officially sanctioned by Budapest authorities	HU
Serbian Military	Temesvár I.	15 May 1919	Occupation	RO
Lajos Varjassy, Minister of Commerce, with the permission of the French Military	Szeged	26 June 1919	Occupation	HU
Serbian Military	Temesvár II	1 July 1919	Occupation	RO
Serbian Military	Bácsszenttamás	25 July 1919	Local	YU
Local Hungarian Postal Authority	Bánát-Bácska	27 July 1919	Local	RO
21-31 July 1919: Temesvár/Bánát-Bácska 'independent' between Serbian evacuation and Rumanian occupation.
1 August 1919: The collapse of the Soviet Republic.
3 August 1919: Budapest occupied by Rumanian troops.
Local postmaster with permission from Temesvár	Homokbálványos/Porto provisional postage due overprints	August 1919 thru Jan. 1920	Local	YU
Local postmaster	Fehértemplom/Franco provisional overprint on postage due stamps	August (?) 1919	Local	YU
Lt. Svetec, Serbian Military	Belantinc	August 1919	Local	YU
Rumanian Postal Authority	Kolozsvár	3 August 1919	Occupation / transition to Successor State	RO
Serbian Military	Pancsova	5 August 1919	Local	YU
Rumanian Army	Temesvár III.	17 August 1919	Occupation	RO
Serbian Military	Lendvavásárhely	22 Aug. 1919	Local	YU
12 September 1919: D'Annunzio's legionnaires occupy Fiume
Rumanian Military	Budapest	October 1919	Local	HU
Rumanian Postal Authority	Nagyvárad	26 October 1919	Occupation / transition to Successor State	RO
Private / speculative issue	Baranya III ('VI" ovprt)	October 1919	Local	HU
13 November 1919: Rumanian military evacuates Budapest.
16 November 1919: The Hungarian National Army commanded by Admiral Miklós Horthy enters Budapest.
Rumanian Military	Debrecen I.	20 Nov. 1919	Occupation	HU
Czechoslovak Postal Authority	Posta Ceskoslovenska	12 Dec. 1919	Successor State	CS
Serb Military	Baranya II.	15 Dec. 1919	Occupation / Officially sanctioned by Budapest authorities	HU
Serb Military	Perlak	22 Dec. 1919	Local	YU
Rumanian Military	Debrecen II.	23 Dec. 1919	Occupation	HU
Rumanian Major Boboiceanu	Debrecen / Boboiceanu issue	March 1920	Local	HU
Local Postmaster	Villány Provisional	1920	Local	HU
1 March 1920: Admiral Miklós Horthy elected Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary.
20 March 1920: Rumanian military occupation of Debrecen ends.
4 June 1920: Signing of the Treaty of Trianon.
26 March-4 April 1921: King Károly's first attempt to claim the Hungarian throne
14 August 1921: The Hungarian-Serb Republic of Baranya-Baja declared.
20 August 1921: Serbian military occupation of Baranya ends.
August 1921: Insurgents lead by Pál Prónay infiltrate Western Hungary and establish independent Lajtabánság on 4 October 1921.
Insurgent Army of Western Hungary	Lajtabánság	Several series starting on 4 Sep. through 21 Dec. 1921	Local	AU
11 October 1921: Meeting of foreign ministers in Venice resolves the future of Laj-tabánság and authorizes the Sopron plebiscite.
20-31 October 1921: King Károly's second attempt to regain the Hungarian throne.
14 December 1921: Sopron plebiscite, the city votes to stay with Hungary.
Private / speculative issue	Jennersdoft issue prepared in Graz, Austria /Austrian Eagle ovpt. on Hungarian stamps/	1921	Local	AU
Private/ speculative issues	Burgenlands Befrieung and Burgen/land ovpt. on Austrian stamps	1921	Local	AU
22 February 1924: Fiume annexed by Italy.

Footnote:

¹ The letters in this column indicate the country that the particular stamp issuing region belonged to following the 1919-1920 peace treaties. AU=Austria; CS=Czechoslovakia; RO=Rumania; YU=Jugoslavia; F=Fiume; HU=Hungary

The cease fire agreements (signed initially by the military command in Italy on 3 November 1918 and by the Hungarian government in Belgrade on the 13th) stipulated that the postal services in the areas of historical Hungary occupied by Allied armies would remain in the hands of the Hungarian postal administration. The occupying authorities specifically were not authorized to alter (overprint) any postage stamps on their own initiative. Using this legal interpretation, the Hungarian postal authorities in Budapest refused to recognize all but three issues as proper postage stamps. Those that were accepted were the overprints of Croatia (SHS), Fiume, and Baranya. (Ironically, the forgers of the 'occupation' overprints avoided criminal prosecution in the 1920s and 1930s by claiming that there were not 'creating' or faking legal postage stamps, Hungarian or otherwise. It is also interesting to note that the Hungarian almost had to prosecute itself for the Szeged issue, but more on this later.)

Politically, Fiume was an integral part of the Crown of Hungary separated geographically by the semi-independent Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. On the day (October 28, 1918, which more or less coincided with Croatia's declaration of independence) the Hungarian garrison, made up mostly of Croatian ethnics, abandoned the city, the port city declared its intention to join Italy. (The population was split between Italians and Croatians.) In order to prevent this, Croatian volunteers seized the city, which became a part of Croatia for a couple of weeks. However, the Allies objected and sent in a military Control Commission, which included Italians, on 18 November 1918. The Commission restored the civilian postal service and overprinted the available stock of Hungarian stamps. Thus, these issues should be considered as 'occupation' stamps because military force was used to alter the sovereignty of the territory. Secret treaties signed during the war awarded the territory to the South Slavs, but the Treaty of Rapallo concurred with the Italian annexation. (The South Slavs were awarded the eastern half of the area around the town of Susak. The treaty intended to allow the Italians and the Slavs to manage the port jointly.) During this wrangling over who gets what, Italian poet Gabrielle d'Annuzio and his legionnaires, acting without support from Rome, seized the city on 12 September 1919 and claimed it for Italy. They also occupied several neighboring islands in the Bay of Carnaro (Arbe on 13 November 1919 and Veglia on 5 January 1920), which they held for about a year. /See the write-up of their stamp issues in the Jan-Mar 2000 issue of The News./ In actuality, D'Annunzio established a de facto city-state in Fiume governed by a Constitutional Assembly, which first met of 24 April 1921. Fiume continued to issue stamps until 1924 (starting with stamps of original design to replace the Hungarian overprints in January 1919) when, with the advent of fascism, the Slavs acquiesced to its annexation by Italy. The Hungarian postal authorities, realizing the facts of Fiume's population mix and its geographic separation from Hungary, never disputed the validity of these stamps as being those of a successor state. Hence, the overprinted Hungarian stamps, which initially met the definition of an 'occupation' issue, transitioned into being accepted as an issue of a successor state.

Historically, Croatia (including the eastern region called Slavonia) was a separate kingdom under the Hungarian Crown. As a part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, it had its own legislature as well as representatives in the Hungarian Diet in Budapest. Zagreb declared its separation from the Hungarian Crown on 29 October 1918 and one month later joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes under King Peter of Serbia. The politics of the separation were not contested by the Károlyi government. Within days, existing stocks of Hungarian stamps were overprinted 'SHS' for use in Croatia and Slavonia. Thus, the postal decision to recognize this issue as an issue of a successor state reflected political reality. The overprinted stamps were valid until April 1919 and also could be used with non-overprinted Hungarian stamps.

The six overprints which appeared in the Medjimurje and the Prekomurje regions of Croatia (part of this region is inside Slovenia today) all belong in the 'local' category. Four (the issues of Muraszerdahely/Mursko Sredisce, Perlak/Prelog, Belatinc/Beltinci, and Lendvavásárhely/Dobrovnik) were created during the occupation of towns and villages by Serb soldiers as the areas of occupation kept expanding into historical Hungary. Two overprints (Pártosfalva/Prosenjakovci and Csáktornya/Cakovec) were created out of patriotic motivation to show a desire to change allegiances, as to being a part of Croatia. The use of these issues was tolerated on letters but the distribution seldom extended beyond a couple of town or villages.

The Bánát region west of the Tisza River had an ethnically mixed population of Serbs, Rumanians, Germans, and Hungarians. Serbian soldiers belonging to the Balkan Army of the Entente commanded by the French General Franchet d'Esprey occupied the region, including principal town of Temesvár. The locally initiated Ada, Zombor/Sombor, and the Pancsova/Pancevo issues appeared early during the occupation. The Bács-szenttamás/Srbobran was a speculative issue to commemorate the visit of Serbian Crown Prince Alexander with the troops. The Homokbálványos/ Banavista provisional postage due overprints (along with the lesser known Fehértemplom/Bela Crvka 'franco' overprints) were strictly local in nature, generated out of true necessity (Homokbálványos) but influenced by possible speculation (Fehértemplom). The first two Temesvár issues were official issues under Serbian occupation. When the mapmakers decided to award a part of the agriculturally fertile region to Rumania, the Serbs evacuated Temesvár. In the interval between the Serb evacuation and the Rumanian occupation, the local Hungarian postal authorities overprinted stamps in order to raise money for the salaries of postal personnel. Thus, the Bánát-Bácska overprints were created. This issue did not see any postal use, and it's a misnomer to call it 'occupation' issue. It is strictly a locally initiated issue created without authorization from Budapest at a time when there were no foreign armies in the city. The fourth series of overprints produced in Temesvár appeared two weeks after the Rumanians occupied the city.

It's interesting to note from the chronological listing that, with the exception of the SHS and Fiume overprints, only a smattering of privately produced overprints existed until May of 1919. By that time, unoccupied Hungary had become a Soviet Republic (the Republic of the Councils was established on 21 March 1919) under Commissar Béla Kun. Also, the Hungarian Red Army had achieved military victories against the Czech in the north, contributed to the establishment of the Slovak Republic of the Councils, and was mobilizing to face the Rumanians moving into the Great Hungarian Plain. In order to cordon off the red menace, the Entente decided to firm up its occupation of the regions under their control and assert the same with postage stamp issues. The Arad, Baranya I, Szeged, Temesvár, and Kolozsvár overprints appeared within three months of each other.

The Arad and the Szeged issues were approved and prepared under the supervision of the French army. No question here that both of these are 'occupation' issues. The irony is in the text of the Szeged overprint, which states 'Magyar Nemzeti Kormány' (Hungarian National Government). It was a government in name only. The legal government was in Budapest, and the 'national army' was moving into Transdanubia still awaiting the appointment of a commander. (The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog listed both the Szeged and the Bánát-Bácska issues in the chronological listing of Hungarian stamps well into the 1970s. Only then were they moved to the back of the listings correctly reserved for 'local' stamp issues.)

Incongruously, the legality of the Szeged issue became a political hot potato in the early 1920s. On 1 February 1920, the Minister of Commerce issued an edict declaring invalid all illegally overprinted Hungarian stamps without realizing that the Szeged issue was included. Three years later, after convoluted legal backpedalling, the Szeged issue retroactively was declared a legal issue of Hungary, but it doesn't alter its true 'occupation' nature.

For me, categorizing the Kolozsvár (and the Nagyvárad) issues presents a problem. (Scott lists these as Hungarian occupation issues. Some European catalogs concur, some list the issues with Rumanian stamps.) The central die for the combined Rumanian royal monogram and PTT emblem was provided by Bucharest authorities. It was modelled after the one used to overprint the King Carol stamps commemorating the acquisition of Transylvania (Rumania Scott #245-7, issued on 8 November 1918). The actual annexation was declared at Gyulafehérvár/Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918. By this time, the Rumanian army had occupied southern and eastern Transylvania along the line of the Maros River. In the next few days, the Rumanians crossed the Maros and advanced the demarcation line approximately 50km to the east. On March 19, 1919, Colonel Vyx handed a directive to President Károlyi demanding that the Hungarians evacuate additional, Hungarian-inhabited territory. Károlyi found this ultimatum unacceptable and resigned, handing over power to the Communists, who established the Soviet Republic. This turmoil was exploited by the Rumanians to exert their claim for additional Hungarian territory. They crossed the previous demarcation line on 19 April 1919 and captured Debrecen within a few days. The Hungarian Red Army attacked the Rumanians along the Tisza River on July 20th, but the front collapsed in the face of the Rumanian counterattack on July 24th. Next, the Rumanians crossed the Tisza on July 30th and continued to advance toward Budapest, which they occupied on 3 August 1919. (Kun's Soviet Republic collapsed on August 1st.) Although the overprinting started in May and was completed by June 26th, the appearance of the Kolozsvár stamps was held up for a month. The stamps were finally issued coincidentally with the occupation of the Hungarian capital. At first impression, the Kolozsvár overprints were intended to be a true 'occupation' issue. The Rumanian postal officials from Bucharest authorized the overprinting of the stamp supply found in 'captured' Hungarian post offices throughout Transylvania. As in the case of the Fiume overprints, their status transitioned to that of an issue of a successor state but for a different reason. The overprints were given postal validity throughout Greater Rumania until 1 January 1922. In reality, they were rarely used outside of Transylvania. While the Fiume overprints achieved acceptance status by the Hungarian postal authorities, such was not the case with the Kolozsvár overprints.

The conclusions reached concerning the Kolozsvár issues also apply to the Nagyvárad overprints.

The two local issues of Transylvania appeared many months before the Kolozsvár/Nagyvárad overprints. The so-called Nagyszeben issue was prepared under the direction of a military governor in the area. The Nagyszeben overprints were used in several larger towns (Borosjenö, Déva, Gyulafehérvár, and even Hódmezövásárhely in southeastern Hungary). The Borosjenö issue represents a private, speculative initiative by a Bucharest stamp dealer.

While the Budapest occupation overprints may seem to be true 'occupation' stamps, they should be categorized as speculative, local issues. While the Rumanian military initiated the overprinting, it was without authorization and with local initiative only.

After the evacuation of Budapest on 13 November 1919. the Rumanians slowly withdrew from the region between the Danube and Tisza Rivers. However, they were determined to stay in eastern Hungary as long as possible and set up a zone of occupation east of the Tisza River (but separate from the occupied Transylvanian area. The Debrecen I and II series were prepared after a joint Rumanian-Hungarian Administrative Council was established on 20 October 1919. The Debrecen I overprints were issued on 20 November 1919. The Debrecen II series, which was issued on 23 December 1919, represented stamps of original design printed in Nagyvárad and overprinted with the circular occupation seal in Debrecen. There is no disputing the 'occupation' nature of these issues. (Just prior to the end of military occupation which lasted until 20 March 1920, Major Boboiceanu, who was responsible for postal matters, surreptitiously overprinted Hungarian stamps with the circular seal used for the II. series. Most of these stamps were confiscated, but some reached the philatelic market.)

The Baranya I series appeared after the regional postal directorate of Pécs requested permission to issue new stamps in order to alleviate the stamp shortages and to generate postal revenue. (During the early period of Serbian occupation, Pécs maintained communications with Budapest and received postal supplies. With the establishment of the Soviet Republic, the supplies ceased to follow. The Serb authorities overprinted the circulating currency in the occupation zone to differentiate it from the worthless 'whiteback' currency of the Budapest government. This mix of currencies caused speculation with postage stamps resulting in revenue losses to the postal administration in Pécs.) Permission to issue overprints was granted on March 30th, but it's not clear that Budapest authorized the overprinting of the entire stamp stock, including the re-activation of obsolete stamps, e.g., the Turul design. So, it's fairly safe to conclude that the Baranya I series represents an approved Hungarian occupation issue. Similarly, the Baranya II series was prepared to generate revenue for postal salaries. Again, it represents an occupation issue. The third Baranya series, consisting of stamps 'overprinted' with the Roman numeral VI, is often overlooked. These stamps were a private, speculative issue that was the brainchild of the members of the Philatelic Club of Pécs. The Villány postmaster's provisional (negyven fill overprint on 10f stamped envelope) was created out of necessity and may be the scarcest of the local issues.

The Slovak National Council declared its intention to separate from Hungary on 30 October 1918 at its meeting in Túrócszentmárton/Turciansky Svaty Martin. The region's southern border was established by the armistice on 23 June 1919 following squirmishes with the Hungarian Red Army. Several issues (Skalica, Srobár, Budapest, and Vienna overprints) appeared, which are identified in a mixed fashion by the authority that prepared the stamps or where they were produced. All of these issues saw very limited distribution. The Budapest issue, for example, was advocating an independent Slovakia and was prohibited by the Czechoslovak Post. Postage due stamps were created in the early part of 1919 by stamping the letters 'T,' 'D,' 'Porto' or 'Doplatit' on Hungarian stamps, but they are more likely to be classed as 'provisional postage due' stamps rather than 'occupation' issues. Such varieties are known to have been used in Érsekújvár/Nové Zámky.

The Posta Cechoslovenska overprints are indisputably Successor State issues. Hungarian and Austrian postage remnants, having lost their postal validity on 28 February 1919, were collected and overprinted by Czech postal authorities in Prague. The overprinted stamps, which were issued on 12 December 1919 and sold for 50% over face value, were valid through the entire country even though the borders of which were not formally established by peace treaties as yet.

The Lajtabánság/Western Hungary issues of 1921 are all local in nature. In disputing the award to Austria by the peace treaty, Hungarian insurgents occupied the area and squirmished with Austrian gendarmes trying to take possession. Some overprints were produced in the territory of the banate, other stamps were prepared in Budapest or Vienna. The same argument holds for the privately initiated 'Austrian eagle,' 'Burgenlands Befreiung' and the two-line 'Burgenland' speculative, fantasy overprints, which appeared after the evacuation by Hungarian insurgents. For the sake of an argument, a case might be made for the Sopron Plebiscite issue to be an 'occupation' issue. Sopron was originally part of the territory to be ceded to Austria, but was retained by Hungary following a plebiscite. Still, I would rather lump it into the 'local' issue category.

In conclusion, I would like to re-iterate that I did not intend to evaluate the complex postal history of this period, only to identify and categorize the different sources of the 'occupation/local' issues. In reality, basic Hungarian stamps served as postage in most of the occupied areas. (László Filep pointed out an interesting Baranya occupation cover in a recent issue of Bélyegvilág with mixed franking of Royal Hungarian, Hungarian Soviet Republic, and Baranya occupation postage.) So, many combinations of mixed franking occurred. However, the general utilization of these post-World War I overprints was limited to the immediate, respective occupied areas.

Bibliography:

Blistyar, Norbert & Pataki, George, The Timisoara Provisional Issue of 1919,

American Philatelist, February 1985.

Brainard, Christopher E., Catalog of Hungarian Occupation Issues, 1918-1921, 1993

Ettre, Leslie, Hungarica Series, News of Hungarian Philately, January 1971, ff.

Ettre, Leslie, Austrian Documents from the Period of Fight for Western Hungary,

News of Hungarian Philately, Jan-Feb 1976, ff.

Ettre, Leslie, Homokbálványos: A Special Overprint Nobody Knows, News of

Hungarian Philately, Feb-Mar 1978, ff.

Filep, László, article from Bélyegvilág, April 2000, p. 22.

Flasch, Dezsö, A magyar helyi (megszállási) bélyegekröl, 72nd Stamp Day Program,

Mabéosz, 1999

Frazer, Mahlon, Postage Stamps of Fiume, Western Stamp Collector, Feb. 17, 1973.

Illyefalvi, Kalman, The Romanian Occupation Overprint on Hungary, News of

Hungarian Philately, December, 1970, ff.

Surányi, László, Baranya bélyegkibocsátásai 1919, Mabéosz, 1979.

Surányi, László; Visnyovszki, Gábor, Magyar bélyegek kézikönyve, Gondolat, 1986.

Szilagyi, Dr. Paul J., The Occupation Stamps of 1919-1921, News of Hungarian

Philately, Nov-Dec 1976, ff.

Szilagyi, Dr. Paul J., Hungarian Occupation Issues (1918-22), The News of

Hungarian Philately, Apr-Jun 1996.

Szilagyi, Dr. Paul J., The Overprints of Kolozsvár/Cluj and Nagyvárad/Oradea,

The News of Hungarian Philately, Jul-Sep 1996, ff.

Szilagyi, Dr. Paul J., The Overprints of Baranya, 1918-22, The News of

Hungarian Philately, Jan-Mar 1996, ff.

Zalavári, István, et al., Magyar Posta- és Illetékbélyeg Katalógus, Philatelia

Hungarica, 2000.

Csaba L. Kohalmi

Used with permission from the Editor