FINLAND

FINLAND / SUOMI.

Reincorporation of the Porkkala area to Finland.
Map of Porkkala Peninsula and lighthouse.
Stamp issued on 26.01.1956.
Face value: 25 Finnish markka.
Design: Aarne Karjalainen (1898-1965).
Engraving: Birger Ekholm.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,996,519 copies.
Size: 24 x 34 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 460.
- LaPe Finland No. 453.
- Michel No. 453.
- Scott No. 335.
- StampWorld No. 460.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 553.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 436.

Porkkala (Swedish: Porkala; Russian: Порккала) is a peninsula located in the Gulf of Finland, about 30 km (19 mi) from Helsinki. In the first half of the 20th century it had a great strategic value, since the coastal artillery located in it could cover more than half of the Gulf of Finland, attack the coast of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, only 36 km (22.4 mi ) away, and block maritime connections between Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) and the Baltic Sea. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union secured the right to maintain a naval base at Porkkala as established in the Moscow armistice that in 1944 ended the Continuation War. According to the armistice clauses, reiterated in the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, the area would be ceded to the Soviets for 50 years. However, on September 19, 1955, a bilateral agreement was signed that put it under Finnish control as of January 26, 1956. The stamp commemorates this agreement.