The 20th anniversary of the Holodomor tragedy, stamp series 1953

20th anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine stamp series

In 1953, the "Underground Post of Ukraine" released a series of stamps commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1933 Holodomor tragedy. This memorial issue was created to honor the millions of Ukrainians who perished in the artificial famine orchestrated by Soviet authorities. The project was designed by Mykhailo Dmytrenko, who symbolically portrayed death by starvation in a somber and striking manner, emphasizing the horrors of this atrocity.

The stamps in the series depict a skull held by skeletal hands, evoking a powerful image of the countless victims. The inscription on the stamps reads: "In eternal memory of the millions of victims of the Russian occupier," highlighting the political and historical context of the tragedy.

The series consists of four stamps with different denominations and colors:

• 10 shahs – green
• 20 shahs – purple
• 30 shahs – blue
• 40 shahs – brown

The perforated print run of the series was 4,448 sets. A unique feature of this issue was the inclusion of additional stamps for each denomination in the sheets, printed in similar but lighter shades. There were also imperforated versions of the stamps, but their print run was ten times smaller than the perforated ones