Our History in Miniature

by John Knight

(1) American Airmail

Left (2) 2020 Mayflower, (3) 1920 Mayflower, (4-5) Nieuw Nederland Stamps, (6) Stamp with monument near the St. Johns River in the Jacksonville area (7) 1985 Huguenot Cross

When our family immigrated in 1950, I carried two treasures: a sketchbook to use on board the SS Volendam as we crossed the Atlantic; and a stamp collection. My second-hand album of Nederland en Kolonien only showed pictures of stamps from 1852 to 1938.

Every few weeks I would spend dubbeltjes en stuivers [dimes and nickels] at a stamp store in Delft to fill in gaps. In the years after the war, I became the envy of friends when I showed off American airmail stamps (1) received from family who had emigrated in the 1930’s. For me, one US stamp brought five or six Dutch ones in trades.

Winter 2021 7

(12-13) The Red Cross, (14-16) Voor het Kind Series (8) Willem III, (9) Queen Wilhelmina, (10) M. C. Escher, (11) Drawbridge in Schipluiden with the long Moerdijk bridge behind it

Winter 2021 (17) Operation Manna (18) Herrijzend Nederland, (19) Fundraising stamp, (20) Churches in wartime, (21) The resistance, (22) Refugee help, (23) 50 years United Nations

(24) PTT (25) Volksdienst, (26) Honoring Van Roijen, (27) US stamp honoring occupied Netherlands

8

For decades, collecting amounted to little more than filling a cookie jar with stamps torn from envelopes; buying occasional new issues at the post office; finding collections at yard sales; and inheriting stamps from our sons who earned merit badges while in cadets then quickly lost interest when they went on to college. To someday organize all those stamps was put on hold. Then came COVID-19 and a forced quarantine existence. For weeks, I caught myself sorting what seemed like tons of stamps spread out on a six-foot table. Boxfuls had to be soaked off envelopes. Still, going through them brought back excitement I hadn’t felt since my early years.

As someone with a lifelong career in graphic design, I also treasured my stamps as miniature posters created in someone’s studio.

When in October 2020, the USPS released a Mayflower stamp (2). It didn’t take long for me to locate its 1920 companion (3) commemorating this 1620 event. In 1924, the Post Office also came out with a Nieuw Nederland stamp (4) recognizing a group of Huguenots that established Fort Orange (5), now Albany, NY, as a trading post of the Dutch West India Company. Few Americans know that six decades before 1624, a group of Huguenots had come ashore in Florida only to be massacred by the Spanish at the direction of Phillip II. A rare stamp (6) features a small monument near the St. Johns River in the Jacksonville area. DIS members who own a Huguenot Cross may be surprised that in 1985 France, officially a secular nation, finally recognized these persecuted Protestants (7).

Era of Four Queens

My grandparents, whose butcher shop was located on Emmastraat in Rozenburg, told me much about Emma who was not really a queen but certainly lived the title. Emma von WaldeckPyrmont was 30-years old when she married the widowed, 60-year old Willem III (8). The following year Emma gave birth to Wilhelmina. When four years later the last of Willem’s three sons from his previous marriage died, it left only Wilhelmina as eligible sovereign to the Dutch throne.

Since she was too young to take over the reins of the kingdom, Emma simply took over. Three times she was challenged to form new governments. Refreshingly, Emma proved to be much more accessible to the public than the three Willems had been. Emma (13) also headed up several charities (10): tuberculosis in 1906 and starting in 1924 an annual Voor het Kind (14-16) series. Each stamp used a surcharge as a fundraiser. On the market for barely a month, collectors lined up to buy them, even today.

The Genius of Van Royen

Jean Francois van Royen as head of the Dutch postal service, PTT, had strong connections to artists in many fields. In 1913, he contracted an architect to design stamps for the centennial of Dutch independence (24). Later, he used artists from other disciplines: Jan Toorop who used woodcuts; photographer Piet Zwart who added an industrial background to his portrait of Queen Wilhelmina (9); and M. C. Escher who playfully used geometric shapes (10). To this day, the Dutch still publish names of stamp designers. In 1932, Piet Schuitema created stamps to promote tourism. Each showed double images: stamp # 11 shows a drawbridge in my birthplace, Schipluiden with the long Moerdijk bridge behind it.

The War Years

By 1941, German occupation forced anyone involved in the arts: musicians, writers, radio and publishing folks, to join the Nazi Kulturkamer. Anticipating this would happen, van Royen assembled key figures in the arts and media to lay

Winter 2021 9

(28) Wartime stamp with three generations of royalty, (29-31) Young princesses who had lived in Canada, (32) Queen Julianna

(33, 35, 36) Overprints on the Queen’s picture (34) Benjamin Franklin, (37) Republic of Indonesia stamp with a celebrative slogan

(38) Dutch version of identical US stamp, (39) International Court of Justice, (40) US version

(41) Surcharged stamp for flood relief, (42) The Delta Works (43) Queen Beatrix, (44) Three queens who followed in the footsteps of the beloved Emma. (45) Three daughters of Queen Maxima and King Willem

Winter 2021 10

(46, 47, 48) New calligraphy, (49, 50) Voor Het Kind series

the groundwork for resistance only ten days after the fighting ended in 1940.

To German authorities he became a thorn in the flesh. His beloved PTT was absorbed into a wider, European entity (16). New stamps focused on Germanic symbols. Even the annual Voor het Kind series became propaganda vehicles for Volksdienst (25) which most Dutchmen refused to buy. Early in 1942 Van Royen was arrested supposedly for helping a friend publish a potential subversive book. He wound up in the Amersfoort concentration camp. Summoned to a Sicherheitsdienst (Secret police) office on June 11, his wife Gusta was told that her husband had died the previous day. The officer added, “Der Mensch hat eben Pech gehabt.” A stamp in his honor was issued in 1947 (26). In 1943, the US honored 13 occupied countries by issuing stamps of national flags (27).

Liberation

On April 29, 1945, our noon meal was interrupted by the loud drone of bombers, 75 of them, flying very low. They had left England as part of Operation Manna (17) and dropped food to alleviate a starving nation at nearby Ypenburg airport. Teary-eyed we waved at the pilots. ‘Manna’ continued for seven more days and saved hundreds of lives. Liberation came none too soon.

The Netherlands released an orange stamp that read Herrijzend Nederland (18). For several years victim assistance stamps were used as fundraisers, (19) some with a surcharge as high as three times the usual postage. In 1950 came Kerken in Oorlogstijd with a Good Samaritan image (20). Revenue helped churches that were destroyed or severely damaged during WWII. Stamps to honor resistance (24), refugees (25) and the liberation (26) continued for decades and often tie in to national commemorative events in May.

For Dutch possessions in the Caribbean, a wartime stamp with three generations of royalty (28) reminded citizens that its government was still functioning. Right after the war, the Dutch nation was introduced to young princesses who had lived in Canada (29-31). In 1948, their mother, Juliana (32) took over as queen of the Netherlands and overseas possessions. A tragic flood in 1953 that claimed 2,000 lives called for a surcharged stamp (41) and finally forced the country to put an end to its centuries-old battle against the sea. An ingenious systems of dikes, causeways, and flood gates known as the Delta Works (42) changed shipping and traffic networks

Winter 2021 11

(51) Bronx commemorative sheet

(52-53) Tulips

(54) Mmm ... Rookworst

Winter 2021 with added new recreational and nature preserves. Juliana reigned during turbulent times. Her daughter, Beatrix, became queen in 1980. Stamp # 43 shows a photo taken by her husband, Prince Claus. A seven euro stamp (44) honors the three queens who followed in the footsteps of the beloved Emma.

Since Beatrix and Claus had sons, a century of queens came to an end in 2013 when Willem Alexander became king. But he and queen Maxima only have daughters (45) a future queen as head of state seems likely.

Losing an Empire

During WWII, the Dutch East Indies were occupied by the Japanese. But stirrings for independence from colonialism had become prevalent. Dutch troops were sent to fight the insurgents with many casualties. At first, Indonesia used overprints on the Queen’s picture (33, 35, 36), but soon issued stamps printed in Austria. One even honored Benjamin Franklin (34) recognizing US pressure on the Netherlands to let go of its former possession. When the last Dutch enclave at Batavia (now Djakarta) was liberated in 1949, the new republic overprinted some of its first stamps with a celebrative slogan (37).

This painful event in Dutch history also called into question the future relationship between the Netherlands and Surinam, and other western possessions. A new statute for the kingdom was agreed on in 1954 (41).

The Netherlands is also home to the International Court of Justice with its own stamps (39). Its Peace Palace, financed by Andrew Carnegie and completed in 1913 today employs 720 people.

12

In 1982, the strong bond between the US and the Netherlands, made both countries print identical stamps (38, 40)

Dutch Stamps Today: Playful Designs

Van Royen would be pleased with the whimsical nature of Dutch stamp design. He had encouraged designers to come up with new calligraphic alphabets. (46 - 48). Often a single word explains why a stamp was issued. One, celebrating 150 years of the Dutch Institute of Engineers, simply says ‘vernuft’ (ingenuity). ‘Voor het Kind’ stamps continue to bring chuckles (49, 50 ) to this day. Turn one of them upside down and you see why.

Coming Full Circle

In the spring of 1639, a ship of Dutch settlers, including some cattle, arrived at the New Amsterdam harbor. A month earlier they had left the port of Hoorn on the Zuiderzee. The Dutch Republic felt the West India Company had failed to establish enclaves in the New World which the British had successfully done. On board were the newly-wed Jonas Bronck and Teuntje Joriaens with enough resources to buy land. Others on board were less well off. They had lost their fortune in a stock market crash caused by Tulip Mania.

Jonas and Teuntje, immigrants with no plans to return, bought a parcel of land we now know as the Bronx. In 1937, a group of New York collectors issued a commemorative sheet in their honor (51).

Tulips, a major export item, continue to illustrate stamps of the Netherlands. (52-53) But for all their showiness, few items can claim my own Dutchness as the 2020 stamp “Mmm ... Rookworst” (54). John Knight is a life member of Grand Valley Artists, which he joined in 1963. Retired as Director of Communication at Bethany Christian Services, John led the art program at the Franciscan Life Process Center in Lowell, Michigan for eleven years. He keeps busy designing liturgical banners at his studio. John invites you to contact him at knightart1@juno.com.

Winter 2021 13