Hungary Stamps
1939

During World War II, the Kingdom of Hungary was a member of the Axis alliance. In 1938 Hungary adopted a policy similar to Germany's, attempting to incorporate ethnic Hungarian areas in neighboring countries into a greater Hungary. Hungary benefited territorially from its relationship with the Axis, settlements were negotiated regarding territorial disputes with the Czechoslovak Republic, the Slovak Republic, and the Kingdom of Romania. In 1940, Hungary joined the Axis powers. The following year, Hungarian forces participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia and the invasion of the Soviet Union.

While waging war against the Soviet Union, Hungary engaged in armistice negotiations with the Allied powers. Hitler discovered this betrayal, and in March 1944, German forces occupied Hungary. When Soviet forces began threatening Hungary, an armistice was signed between Hungary and the USSR by Regent Miklós Horthy. Soon afterward, Horthy's son was kidnapped by German commandos and Horthy was forced to revoke the armistice. The Regent was then deposed from power, while Hungarian fascist leader Ferenc Szálasi established a new government, with German backing. In 1945, Hungarian and German forces in Hungary were defeated by advancing Soviet armies. The remaining defenders finally surrendered 13 February 1945.

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Michel 593 to 597
"Reclassification after first Vienna Arbitration Award"

Reclassification of parts of Slovakia, which are predominantly Hungarian, as a result of the first Vienna Arbitration Award (1938). These stamps are printed on watermarked paper and perf 12¼:12.

The First Vienna Award, or otherwise known as the First Vienna Diktat, was a treaty signed on November 2, 1938, as a result of the First Vienna Arbitration. The First Vienna Award separated largely Magyar-populated territories in southern Slovakia and southern Carpathian Rus from Czechoslovakia and "awarded" them to Hungary. Hungary thus regained some of the territories in present-day Slovakia and Ukraine lost in the Treaty of Trianon in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.

Mi 593
6f + 3f
bluish grey green
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Mi 594
10f + 5f
dark olive
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Mi 595
20f + 10f
brownish red
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Mi 596
30f + 15f
dark greenish blue
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Mi 597
40f + 20f
dark blue violet
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Michel 598 to 611
"The Church in Hungary"

Issued: 1st Jul 1939. Printed on watermarked paper and perf 12¼.

The Holy Crown of Hungary (Hungarian: Szent Korona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence. kings have been crowned with it since the twelfth century. The Crown was bound to the Lands of the Hungarian Crown (sometimes the Sacra Corona meant the Land, the Carpathian Basin, but it also meant the coronation body, too). No king of Hungary was regarded as having been truly legitimate without being crowned with it. In the history of Hungary, more than fifty kings were crowned with it, up to the last, Charles IV, in 1916 (the only kings who were not so crowned were Władysław I, John II Sigismund, Gabriel Bethlen and Joseph II).