31st December 1945
Czech New Year
Postcard - Bratislava to London. Czechoslovak New Year postcard bearing the Slovak greeting “Šťastlivý Nový Rok” — “Happy New Year”, sent from Bratislava on 23rd December 1945 to Karel Seifler and “all the others” at 91A Linden Gardens, London W.2. It is franked with 1 K and 1.50 K stamps of the 1945 Bratislava issue, bearing the restored Czechoslovak lion. The 1 K and 1.50 K values are catalogued as Mi. 416 and 417.
The colourful optimism of the postcard contrasts strongly with the realities of Czechoslovakia's first post-war winter. Food and consumer goods remained scarce and rationed, while many families were mourning people lost during the occupation and war. Nevertheless, New Year 1946 represented something extraordinary: the beginning of the first full calendar year of peace in a restored Czechoslovakia. The prominent new calendar page bearing the figure “1”, surrounded by flowers and the greeting Šťastlivý nový rok, therefore provides a particularly evocative contemporary image of hope and renewal at the end of 1945.
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