Before the war of the III. Reich against the then-existing Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Germans threatened the Hungarians that if they did not participate in that war, the Volksdeutsche would declare a German state on the territory of Bačka, Banat and eastern Srijem all the way to Belgrade. That German state was supposed to be connected with a corridor that would go partly around the Danube to the territory of III. Reich, that is, to the Slovenian Prekomurje, which was then part of III. Reich.

There were several names planned for that German state: "Prinz-Eugen-Gau", "Reichsgau Banat", "Donauprotektorat", "Schwabenland", "Donaudeutschland" or "Autonomes Siebenbürgen".

The concept of the Reich fortress in Belgrade was born in the "big secret memorandum" of the state secretary and SS leader Wilhelm Stuckart in 1941, which talks about "discussions between the SS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior" about the reorganization of Southeastern Europe after the war against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This "big secret memorandum" talks about the "situation and future fate of Germans in the former Yugoslav national territory" after the war against Yugoslavia. Early plans for this were already drawn up in 1939 under the leadership of Werner Lorenz and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi).

Wilhelm Stuckart's memorandum talked about the idea of the military leader of the Habsburg monarchy, Eugen von Savoyen (Prince Eugen), who proposed to turn the Belgrade fortress into a so-called "deutschen Reichsfestung" (fortress of the German Reich), which would then be in some kind of new military landscape of German III. Reich and which would be controlled by Volksdeutsche from Banat. That fortress, which should be called "Prinz-Eugen-Stadt" was supposed to secure III. Reichs control of the Banat, Bačka and eastern Srijem. In the memorandum, they foresee that all Volksdeutsche from the territory of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia should move to that new country.

In order to bind as few German units of the Wehrmacht as possible in Serbia, the Volksdeutsche (term for: "ethnic Germans") should take over the security of the area : "The idea of "Reichsfestung Beograd" can be realized all the easier because the backland of Belgrade consists of communities where the Germans have absolute or the relative majority, and the entire backland was shaped exclusively by German cultural achievements. The Germans who settled there [about 300,000 Danubian Germans] were able to fulfill the conscription in the German garrison in Belgrade and thus form a permanent team of the Reichsfestung". In the summer of 1941, the State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Wilhelm Stuckart, was in charge of creating the concept "Reichsfestung" in Belgrade.

The later "special representative for the Southeast" Hermann Neubacher proposed in 1941 that the area around Belgrade be included in the "area of the iron gates" ("Eisernes-Tor-Gebiet") with a planned power plant for energy supply and economic development of the Danube area, but these considerations abandoned in 1942 and remaining together with other considerations "in the field of utopian plans for the state-economic reorganization of the Balkans".

In addition to the general enthusiasm of the "Volksdeutsche" in the region for the victories of the German units, especially in the first days of the Second World War, many of them also followed the development of the leaked ideas of the German agencies for such a "Schutzgebiet" ("protected area") with great interest, and around this topic various speculations began immediately.

Above we have already mentioned some names for that area of the planned German state. The leader of the Germans in Serbia, Josef Janko, proposed that the Croatian eastern Srijem be included in that new state, but that plan was immediately rejected by III. Reich.

Politicians from the neighboring countries of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania accepted these speculations with suspicion.

Even on the eve of the German war against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Helmut Triska talked about the possibility of the entire Banat joining World War III. Reich "but that the final territorial division of the Balkans will only be possible after the war."

The German envoy in Zagreb, Siegfried Kasche, reported to Berlin that the Germans in the eastern part of the Independent State of Croatia learned about Josef Janko's plan to declare "Free Banat" at the end of April 1941 as the first step towards a German state, which the German envoy called "Donaudeutschland" ("Danube Germany"). Josef Janko planned a proclamation on April 20, 1941, and that proclamation was supposed to be a gift to Adolf Hitler, who had his birthday that day. The head of the German Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), Reinhard Heydrich, was informed about this planned act through the recruiter Gustav Halwax from the Waffen-SS. Heydrich immediately sent him a telegram: "At once try to stop it - arrest those involved if necessary."

Information about the attempted independence of the Banat also reached the Hungarian government, which complained about it to Berlin. During the presence of Josef Janko in the Füherhautquartier in mid-April 1941, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the III. Reich Ribbentrop said that the German ethnic group must accept the role that they can only receive orders from the Reich and not be the initiators of political initiatives.

For the planned proclamation of "Prinz Eugen Gau" on Hilter's birthday on April 20, 1941, the German ethnic group issued a special overprint of "Prinz Eugen Gau" on three of the five Hungarian postage stamps issued on the occasion of the 500th birthday of Hungarian King Matthias Hunyadi Korvid.

In bad Croatian philately (but also in Hungarian) those stamps do not exist, even if they exist on Wikipedia !!!

The stamps were never issued, so one part was distributed among the members of the German national group and the rest were destroyed.

There are no more than 20-30 sheets in the world.


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Sandžak :

The Sandžak was from the April, 29th, 1941 for 6 months part of the Independent State of Croatia. At this date a stamp set, limited to 99 copies, was issued and given to the some members of the croatian customs members and Ustaša (all croatian muslims).

To honour this annexion, local patriots from the Sandžak who haven´t forgot this event have issued a set of 24 stamps with landscape-motives from the Sandžak at April, 29th, 2024.

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Veterans Association Handschar :

The german Veterans Association Handschar have issued in 1955 two overprinted stamp-sets and between 1989-1994 80 stamp sets to help Croatians in emigration and in the 1990´s to collect money for croatian defense against the serbian aggression against Croatia.

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The “Omoti”-sets :

In 1993 32 music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia. Every set contains 16 stamps.

8 sets are dedicated bands :
- 3 sets of Depeche Mode.
- 1 set of Kraftwerk.
- 1 set of Front 242.
- 1 set of Nitzer Ebb.
- 1 set of Front Line Assembly.
- 1 set of Skinny Puppy.

24 sets are dedicated to music styles :
- 8 sets of 70s/80s/90s Synthie Pop, Darkwave, Dark Electro, Italo Disco, Neofolk, ... .
- 2 sets of Electronic Body Music.
- 2 sets of Neue Deutsche Welle.
- 2 sets of House, Dance, ... .
- 3 sets of Hip Hop, Miami Bass, Freestyle, ... .
- 3 sets of Heavy Metal, Rock, Hard Rock, ... .
- 1 sets of Punk, Oi, ... .
- 3 sets of Italo Disco, Euro Disco, Hi NRG, ... .

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In 1994 four music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 1 set of Erasure
- 1 set of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
- 1 set of Pet Shop Boys
- 1 set of The Cure

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In 2022 three more music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 3 sets of Neofolk, Industrial ...

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In 2024 three band-sets of the band Rammstein were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

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In 2024 nine music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 1 set of Adele
- 1 set of Ariana Grande
- 1 set of Beyoncé
- 1 set of Christina Aguilera
- 1 set of Lady Gaga
- 1 set of Miley Cyrus
- 1 set of Pink
- 1 set of Rihanna
- 1 set of Taylor Swift

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Counties “Raša” and “Dubrava” :

After the italian capitulation in the year 1943 the croatian territories, occupied by fascistic Italy, returns to the Independent State of Croatia.

Overprints at italian stamps were issued from the Great County of Dubrava for the planed return of the Bay of Kotor and the planned foundation of the Great County of Raša (today known as Istria).

Read more about the [ Great County of Raša ] and the [ Great County of Dubrava ].

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Prince Eugen Gau :

Before the war III. Reich against the in theeses days existing Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Germans threatened the Hungarians that if they did not participate in that war, the Volksdeutsche would declare a German state at the territory of Bačka, Banat and eastern Syrmia all the way to Belgrade. That German state was supposed to be connected with a corridor that would go partly around the Danube river to the territory of III. Reich, that is, to the Slovenian Prekomurje, which was then part of III. Reich.

After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia April 10, 1941 this plans didn´t stop and the Volksdeutsche planed the proclamation of that state at the birthday of Adolf Hitler
April 20, 1941. They had prepared 3 stamps with overprints on hungarian stamps, but the III. Reich didn´t support this plans, because they don´t want to have problems with the new state, the Independent State of Croatia and also not with Hungary.

The Hungarians were afraid of a possible realisation of such a exteritorial german territory and annexed first the Bačka at the April 11, 1941 and some days later Međimurije of the Independent State of Croatia at the April 16, 1941 so that a corridor between a possible "Prince Eugen Gau" and the III. Reich couldn´t be realized without a war between the Allies Hungary and the III. Reich.

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HOS :

On April 10, 1993, the Croatian Defense Forces (Hrvatske Obrambene Snage = HOS) issued set of 16 stamps.

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OZAK :

The "Operation Zone Adriatisches Küstenland" ("Operations Zone Adriatisches Küstenland" or "OZAK") existed from September 10, 1943, and consisted of the Croatian and Slovenian territories occupied by the Kingdom of Italy, as well as the territories in northern Italy, which from October 8, 1943 fell under the control of the German III. Reich, which had the meaning as an operational zone of the German Wehrmacht, means exclusively military.

After the capitulation of Italy on September 8, 1943, the Great County of Raša were established by the Independent State of Croatia from the Croatian areas of Istria, the Kvarer Islands, the city of Rijeka, which was donated to the Kingdom of Italy by Serbian Minister Pasić of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Rapala in 1920, the city of Trieste and the present-day Slovenian coast.

The Independent State of Croatia could only formally establish the Great County of Raša, because since the capitulation of Italy on the territory that the Kingdom of Italy got from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the III. Reich took control since October 1, 1943 over the entire Istrian peninsula, the cities of Rijeka, Sušak, Bakar, Kastav, Čabra and the island of Krk. Those Croatian territories were included in the "Operational Zone of the Adriatic Coast" ("OZAK") together with the Italian provinces of Friuli, Trieste and Gorica, and until the capitulation of Italy to the occupied Slovenian province of Ljubljana from the Italians.

From some German activities, such as the ban of the teaching of the Italian language in schools and the introduction of the Croatian language, it can be concluded that the III. Reich planned the reintegration of the "Operational Zone of the Adriatic Coast" into the Velika župa Raša (Great County of Raša) of the Independent State of Croatia.

The course of the war prevented that return, as well as the return of Sandžak and the Bay of  Kotor from the III. Reich (which controled both areas) to the Independent State of Croatia.

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Prince Eugen Division :

The Volksdeutsche from the Independent State of Croatia issued overprints on German stamps of the “Day of Wehmacht” in 1943 and 1944, which was given to the new members of the division "Prince Eugen".

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Other stamp-series :

The emigration of the Independent State of Croatia has issues also in the year 1999 stamp series of Pope John Paul II.

In 2024 four Independent State of Croatia / Ukraine stamp-series were isued :
Slava Ukraini / Putler

In 2024 the Independent State of Croatia issued seven stamp-series :
- 2 stamp-series of landscapes of the Independent State of Croatia.
- 2 stamp-series with croatian food-motives.
- 3 stamp-series with croatian football fans

Other stamp series :

- Beware of Yugoslavs
- Communist bandit Josip Broz Tito
- Croatian coat of arms.
- Erich von Däniken
- Fazlagića kula
- History of the Croats
- King and Queen of the Independent State of Croatia
- Mother
- Sandžak 2024 in two sizes.
- Ustasha
- Zvonimir Boban