The First Slovak Republic was a client state of Nazi Germany which existed between 14 March 1939 and 4 April 1945.

Exactly 80 years before, Nazi Germany was preparing a mobilization into Czech territory. Germany decided to make Slovakia a separate puppet state under the influence of Germany, and a potential strategic base for German attacks on Poland and other regions. On 13 March 1939, Hitler invited the Slovak ex-prime minister and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence.

On his refusal, Hitler arranged a meeting of the Slovak parliament. In fear of possible division, Parliament unanimously declared Slovak independence, thus creating the first Slovak state in history. Jozef Tiso was appointed the first Prime Minister of the new republic.

As a client state of Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic issued many indigenous stamps inscribed with the name of the country as Slovensko. The first couple of year the country of Slovakia issued old stamps overprinted with a new name. The first stamps with the name Slovensko were issued in the April 1939.

This set of 13 stamps depicted the portrait of Andrej Hlinka II - one of the most important Slovak public activists. The stamps were issued with the denominations ranging from 5 Slovak haliers to 2.50 Slovak koruna.

After World War II, Slovakia was again part of the re-established Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1992. Czechoslovakian stamps inscribed ?eskoslovensko were used during that time.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com

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