This is a great set of posts. The trouble with Stamp Bears is that I am constantly in danger of being tempted to expand my collecting interests into too many areas! There are limits to both the depths of my pockets and the physical space I have to store stamps.
The battle of the River Sujetska (subject of a famous film and now a national park in Bosnia) was the turning point of WW2 in Yugoslavia, when the partisans stopped the advance of the Nazi Fifth Offensive. This was the battle at which occurred the famous story of Tito being saved by his dog which took the blast of a bomb which exploded nearby. Andrija Mohorovičić was a Croatian seismologist who proved that the Earth was made up of layers around a core, by measuring seismic waves.
I have the rest of the Art set on a cover somewhere. With my New System I might even be able to find it!
Ivan Mestrovic is THE name in Yugoslav sculpture. It is a sign of his ability and reputation that he appeared on so many Yugoslav stamps of the People's Republic when he was a virulent anti-communist living in America.
Dmitri Obradovic, as a poor child in Serbia wanting to learn to read was only given The Lives of the Saints, with the result that he grew up wanting to live as a hermit and do miracles (Career Advice at school in those days was pretty rudimentary.) Eventually he learnt several languages, which he translated into Serbian, and became Minister of Education instead.
Franc Miklosic was one of the early pioneers of Croat orthography and Croat newspapers. He wrote a poem with the wonderful title - Croatia is not in ruins - yet!
Ljudevit Gai - noisy Slovenian nationalist when the wind blew in that direction, and quiet academic orthographer when it didn't.
Vuk Karadzic and Petar Njegus we have done before (Try the wartime Government in Exile issues)
Vis is an island in the Adriatic. During the war it was the HQ of Tito's Partisans. But the significance of 1944 is that a treaty was signed at Vis in that year between the Partisans and the Government in Exile which established that there would be a joint government, including the Partisans.
The first stamp is a commemorative of the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade. The Art stamps show details from manuscripts and paintings from Yugoslav monasteries.
The UIT is the International Telecommunications Union. For those who struggle with Cyrillic the Tourism stamps show 40d - Lake Prespa which is the border between Macedonia, Greece and Albania;50d - Prizren, now in Kosovo; 150d - Lake Shkoder which is the border between Monrenegro and Albania.
The Djerdap Dam is a hydroelectric scheme based on a dam across the Danube between Yugoslavia and Romania.The stamps were each valid for use in either country but the miniature sheet unusually has two stamps only valid in Yugoslavia and two only valid in Romania.
Branislav Nusic was a Serbian satirical playwright who served time in prison for ridiculing the King. Antun Matos was a Croatian poet who was influenced by modernist styles in Western European writing, and helped introduce them into Eastern European writing. Ivan Mazuranic was the first commoner to become Prime Minister of Croatia. Fran Levstik was a Slovenian writer who in his youth was a radical nationalist, but went mad in later life. Josif Pancic was a Croatian botanist who discovered many new plants including a variety of spruce tree.
In November 1965 the Yugoslav PTT issued a 500d stamp. Inflation meant that the ordinary letter rate, which at the end of the war had been 2d, was now 30d. So on New Year's Day 1966 the government revalued the currency in a 1:100 ratio. The stamps for the postcard and letter rates, previously 20d and 30d were now 20p and 30p. The Sibenic stamp commemorates the 900th anniversary of its foundation.
The Racki and Strossmeyer stamp commemorates the centenary of their foundation of the Yugoslav Academy of Arts and Sciences - and, yes, it was called that even though it was 60 years before the establishment of a state called Yugoslavia. Y&T incorrectly refer to Racki and Juraj; Juraj was Strossmeyer's middle name. The Mostar stamp commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Old Bridge at Mostar in Bosnia. This is one of the most iconic structures in Yugoslavia. The present one however is a reconstruction the original having been destroyed in the civil war.
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