
Carinthia Plebiscite Semi-Postal
At the end of the World War I the frontier between Austria and Slovenia was disputed.
Low values in a set of six semi-postals issued in 1920 to support the campaign to support the Carinthian Plebiscite.
At the end of World War I, the area around Klagenfurt was disputed between Austria and Yugoslavia. The majority of the population was Slovene but the towns were dominated by German speakers. A vote held in October 1920 resulted in a vote of 22 000 to 15 000 in favour of remaining with Austria. This was probably the result of traditional economic links with Austria, the perception that Austria was more economically advanced and a desire to avoid the military draft in Yugoslavia.
The stamps pictured here, overprinted KGCA (Carinthian Government Commission Zone A), are newspaper stamps originally issued for use in Slovenia. Yugoslavia (of which Slovenia was a part) had occupied southern Carinthia and these overprinted stamps were sold at three times their face value with the proceeds being directed to the campaign for the plebiscite.
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