Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 16:00, 29 December 2024

Eugen Derocco
Евжен Дероко / Evžen Deroko
Eugen Derocco in Sušak, 1928
Born	19 August  [O.S. 7 August] 1860 Belgrade, Serbia
Died	May 18, 1944(1944-05-18) (aged 83) Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Relatives	Aleksandar Deroko (son)

Eugen Derocco (Serbian: Евжен Дероко, romanized: Evžen Deroko, 19 August [O.S. 7 August] 1860 - 18 May 1944) was a Serbian and Yugoslavian railway administrator. He is best known as the father of Serbian philately and author of numerous philatelic books and papers. He was and remains the foremost expert on Serbian pre-World War I postage stamps.

Biography

Eguen Derocco was born on 19 August [O.S. 7 August] 1860 in Belgrade, the capital of the Principality of Serbia, where he spent most of his life. His father, an art teacher, originated from Dubrovnik. He finished elementary school graduated from gymnasium in 1878. Then, he enrolled the Department of Science and Mathematics of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. In 1883, he was given a state scholarship by the Ministry of Construction for studying at the Austrian State Railways. Later the same year, the Society for the Construction and Exploitation of Serbian Railways (Society) gave his scholarship for studying at the Belgian Railways. After graduating in Belgium, he returned to Belgrade in 1884.

Railways career

After returning from Belgium, Derocco was given a job at the Society as a railway inspector. After the Serbian Railways were nationalized in 1889, Derocco continued to work for the railways. He gradually progressed in his career, and on 31 October 1913, he became head of the transport department of the Railways. After the World War I and the creation of Yugoslavia in 1918, Derocco worked with the Ministry of Transportation. On 6 November 1920, he was named deputy director of the State Railways, a position he held until his retirement on 2 October 1924. Deroocco participated in many international conferences and negotiations regarding railways.

After retiring from the Railways, Derocco worked for a while as a director of the "Putnik" tourist agency.

Philately

Derocco started collecting stamps in 1872. He especially collected stamps of Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia. He studied and wrote about the stamps of Serbia, Sloveni and Yugoslavia. He was licensed atestator of Serbian and Slovenian stamps. His collection of pre-WWI Serbian stamps was exhibited at the 1906 London Philatelic Exhibition and the 1911 Vienna Exhibition. He was member of the jury on many international philatelic exhibitions, including the 1911 Vienna exhibition, IPOSTA 1930 in Berlin, WIPA 1933 in Vienna, SITEB 1935 in Brussels, Ostropa 1935 in Königsberg, Praga 1938 in Prague, and was president of the jury at the 1937 ZEFIB in Belgrade.

Derocco's collection of Serbian postage stamps and postal stationeries was destroyed in the World War I. He sold another one of his notable collections, that of Slovenian stamps, during the World War II because he fell to poverty. The rest of his stamp collections were inherited by his daughter who was living in the United States. His collection of postal cancelations was given to the Postal Museum in Belgrade by his son.

In 1921, when the Serbian Philatelistic Club was established in Belgrade, Derocco bacame a honorary member, and in 1925 he was elected president of the club. He was a honorary member of the Croatian Philatelic Society in Zagreb and Slovenian Philatelic Association in Ljubljana. When the Yugoslavian Philatelic Association was established in 1933, Derocco was elected its first president, and he remained on that post until the Association was abolished in 1941. In 1937, he resigned as the president of the Serbian Philatelistic Club due du old age, and was then elected Club's lifelong honorary president.

Derocco was fluent, beside Serbian, in German, French, English and Italian. He studied foreign philatelic literature and became the foremost philatelic expert in Serbia. He published many articles in Serbian, Yugoslavian and foreign juournals, including Berliner Briefmarken-Zeitung, Die Postmarke, Die Ganzsache, Illustriertes Briefmarken-Journal, and Donaupost. He wrote popular philatelic columns for Vreme and Novosti. He was one of the main editors of the Belgrade's Filatelist journal. He also wrote several books about the history of postal stamps of Serbia.

Works

Source:

• Geschichte der Postwertzeichen von Serbien 1866-1911 ("History of Postage Stamps of Serbia 1866-1911"), Berlin, 1914
• Poštanske marke Srbije u istoriskom pregledu ("Postage stamps of Serbia in historical overview"), Belgrade, 1935

• Die Poststempel von Serbien 1840 bis 1921 ("The Postmarks of Serbia 1840 to 1921"), Vienna, 1936
• Građa za istoriju pošta u Srbiji ("Material for the history of the post office in Serbia"), Belgrade, 1939
• Istorija poštanskih maraka Srbije ("History of postage stamps of Serbia"), Belgrade, 1940

Awards

Eugen Derocco was recipient of those chivalric orders:

• Order of the Cross of Takovo, 4th class
• Order of St. Sava, 2nd class
• Order of the White Eagle, 3rd class
• Legion of Honour, 5th class
• Order of the Crown of Italy, 2nd class
• Order of the Star of Romania, 3rd class
• Order of the Crown of Romania, 2nd class

References

1. ^ Petrović, Al. J. (1 May 1950). "Евжен Дероко". Filatelista. II (5): 139–142.
2. B92. "Srpske železnice slave 131 godinu postojanja". B92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 2024-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. ^ Stanojević, St. (1921). Народна енциклопедија српско-хрватско-словеначка (in Serbo-Croatian). Vol. I. Zagreb: Bibliografski zavod. p. 582.
4. ^ Petrović, Al. J. (1 June 1954). "Евжен Дероко". Filatelista. VI (6–7): 78–79.
5. "Српски филателистички клуб изабрао је г. Евгена Дерока за свог доживотног почасног председника". Vreme: 7. 26 April 1937.
6. Ko je ko u Jugoslaviji (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade: Jugoslovenski godišnjak. 1928. p. 28.

• Serbian Railways
• 19th-century Serbian engineers
• 20th-century Serbian engineers
• Philatelic authors
• Philately of Yugoslavia
• Philatelists
• 1860 births
• 1944 deaths
• Engineers from Belgrade