"Rodney" wrote in message
...
Thanks guys,
snip

On a Romanian note, today is "this day in history"
in 1947 that King Michael abdicated the throne, under communist pressure
Stamps, generally, from now on lose "Romania" and reveal
"Republica Populara Romania".

One must wonder how popular that really was.

King Michael abdicated the throne under the pressure of the USSR, the
country that totally controlled the occupied Romania. After the WWII, the
Romanian Communist party numbered about 1,000 members only. The king tried
to oppose the increasing domination of the USSR, for example by a so called
royal strike (a refusal to govern), but in vain, because the fate of Romania
was already decided, this starting by the Yalta conference.

King Michael on stamps:
http://www.marci-postale.com/Romania...rship/king.htm

The new name of the country, as it appears on stamps starting by 1948, was
Republica Populara Romana (I have left aside the Romanian characters, that
most newsgroup readers won't display correctly). This means Romanian Popular
Republic (one of many), as opposed to Popular Republic Romania (which means
Republica Populara Romania, the Romanian one). The small difference between
these names is eventually relevant for the spirit of those who have chosen
it.

The name of the country, as it appears on Romanian stamps:
http://www.marci-postale.com/Romania/Census/name.htm

As for the real popularity of this so called Popular Republic, it needed
concentration camps in order to successfully enforce its "popularity". A bit
about this, as related to stamp collecting, is presented on:

http://www.marci-postale.com/Romania...-communism.htm

Victor Manta

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