Europe : CEPT - 02b "1956" protest stamps

Shortly after the Second World War, communist influence grew in Romania.
King Michael, king of the Romanians was under high pressure in his own country, by members of the Communist Party.
In 1947 he was forced to abdicate, when Stalin's troups were there end of december 1947.
After King Michael left, Romania became a Soviet satelite state of the former USSR

In 1956 Romania was therfor still under communist leadership.
Not everyone was happy about that, and the gouvernment in-exile issued some stamps, similar to the ones issued by the European Community for Carbon and Steel.

One can recognise the colours of the Romanian flag.

The tower that is supposed to symbolise the construction of Europe, is tumbling down on these stamps.
Also the text underneath the building is a cry for help to the western world, to help Romania (from the communist influence).

"Europa nu poate trai, fara tarile ei din est" - "Europe can not live without her eastern countries"

These 'stamps' are not official - to be considered as propaganda, or cinderellas.
But it's a nice addition to the 1956 set of CEPT stamps.

Europe : CEPT - 02a "1956"

In 1956, the so-called European Community for Carbon and Steel, also coordinated the first emission of common design european stamps.
In order to spread the idea of european integration, a common design stamp was one way to distribute the idea throughout Europe.

For this first series, the 'construction' of Europe was the main theme.
In the design, the word EUROPE is shown as a newly constructed building.
The design was made by Frenchman Daniel Gonzague.
6 countries participated and in total 13 stamps were issued.
Belgium, West Germany (BRD), France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.
Luxemburg mint is the most expensive part of this set, and has the key values.