TWICE REBORN

In 1919 Austria was forcibly cut from Hungary, her Siamese twin, and lost all the Slavic territories from Poland and the Ukraine, down to the Adriatic and Balkans. Austria as a republic was now about a quarter of the pre-war Empire.
Like the small wizened grapes that make Tokay wine, Austria, though small, gained an incredible concentration of artistic and cultural flowering. The spirit of the Secession continued to flourish. In the 1920s, starving musicians and artists were supported by the charity stamp issues of 1922 and 1923 and on into the 1930s. Klimt, the scandalous, renegade artist of the Secession around 1900, was rehabilitated sufficiently to appear in the 1932 set of famous and honoured Austrian painters (SG 697, see illustration).
Even when Austria "disappeared" in the 1938 Anschluss, the Austrian State Printing Works continued with work for stamp issues of the Generalgouvernement (German Poland). These small masterpieces were incongruous productions of dark years, but the skill of engraving is second to none.
When democracy returned in 1945, Austria's stamps commemorated far more musicians, painters and works of art than most countries twice the size. The story still continues with current new issues. Even Naomi Campbell looks super-artistic on her stamp of 2006 (SG 2814)! A complete collection of postwar Austria is a story of art and culture.
If you would like to learn more and meet other collectors of Austrian stamps, I suggest joining the Austrian Philatelic Society. Members receive a journal covering all aspects from prestamp to new issues, a library, meetings, and from time to time, an auction.
Membership Secretary there is Nick Coverdale, 38 Hillcrest. Whitehaven, Cumbria CA28 6ST. Email : membership@austrianphilately.com