Poland 1942 – Nicolaus Copernicus 

As with the Poland issue of 1940 showing the Copernicus memorial in Cracow, this stamp was released while the country was under German occupation during World War II. The words ‘Deutsches Reich Generalgouvernement’ are engraved at the bottom but, unlike in 1940, there is no Nazi eagle. This was the highest-value member of a set of five issued to mark the third anniversary of Germany’s occupation of Poland; the other subjects were Veit Stoss, a German-born sculptor who worked for some time in Poland; Hans Dürer, younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, an artist who also worked in Poland; Johann Schuch, an obscure landscape gardener; and Joseph Elsner, a Polish composer. This same Copernicus design, but coloured red, reappeared the following year to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the astronomer’s birth. 

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