Slovakia | |
![]() Click here for higher resolution image Click here to see FDC's | First day of issue: November 18, 2016 Width: 40 mm Height: 30 mm Perforation: Perforated 12.00 x 12.00 Printing method: Offset Printer: Postal Printing House of Securities Prague, Inc., Prague, Czech Republic Creative team: L'ubica Segečová, Designer Catalog number: Scott 755 Location: Ice Hockey Volume LXXX Stamp ID = 9139 100th anniversary of the birth of Slovakian actor František Dibarbora who played goalie for Team Slovakia in 1940. Stamp shows František Dibarbora (From the Slovak wikipedia page "In his youth, he actively played ice hockey, playing three matches as a goalkeeper for the Slovak national team.") From Linn's "Stamp Issuing Entities Of The World" page. Slovakia (1939-45, 1993-) Stamp-issuing status: active; Population: 5,393,016 (1997 estimate). Republic in central Europe. A part of the homeland of the Slavic Moravian Empire in the middle ages, Slovakia was conquered by the Magyars in the early 10th century and remained under Hungarian rule until 1918. With the defeat of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Slovakia united with the Czech regions of Bohemia and Moravia to form the Republic of Czechoslovakia. When the country was occupied by Germany in 1939, Slovakia was established as a separate German puppet-state. The Soviet army liberated the country in 1945 and it again became part of Czechoslovakia. The post-war communist republic was dominated by Czechs, and old ethnic rivalries were revived. When Czechoslovakia began to democratize in 1989, Slovakia began to pursue an increasingly nationalist course. In 1992 Czech and Slovak political leaders agreed to dissolve the union, and on January 1, 1993, the two republics formally separated. |