The aftermath of WWI and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire left many regions of the old Empire contested by neighbouring countries. Some regions of the Empire declared their independence and formed new nations, the Czechs and Slovaks formed Czechoslovakia, Hungary became independent finally, several regions in the western balkans formed the Kingdom of Croats, Slovenes and Serbs(later called Yugoslavia), but other regions remained contested. One of these regions was Bukovina which straddles what is now SW Ukraine and Northern Romania.

The Austrian governor of the region handed over power to the General Congress of Bukovina, an elected assembly which comprised officials representing their respective nationalities in the region. The majority of the residents were Romanian at the time, and the chairman of the assembly, Iancu Flondor. When it appeared as though the Ukrainians in the assembly were going to request that the Ukrainian Peoples Republic annex the region, Iancu Flondor requested that Romanian and Polish soldiers occupy the region to prevent the Ukrainians from occupying the region.

With the subsequent Romanian occupation of the region, and the demise of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, the Romanian claim to the region was recognized by the Treaty of St. Germain in 1919.

The currency circulating in the region was still the Austro-Hungarian Bank issues, which were called in and handstamped with an official "Romania Timbru Special" with the Romanian coat of arms to validate their continued circulation in the region until the currency was subsequently replaced with the Romanian Leu in 1920.



Notice the handstamp on the front of the note on the Austrian side of the note. Similar handstamps found on the Hungarian side were circulated in the Banat region.



This region would continue to be contested by Romania, the USSR, and later Ukraine. The northern part of Bukovina is now the Chernivitsi Oblast in Ukraine, the southern part is part of Romania.

nice peice of history its sad 2 know that great kingdoms like austria fell after WWI ..ahh

I don't really like the looks of those. Too hard on the eyes. Is there something special going on that us colourblind people might be missing?

Interesting note and nice piece of history.

Very Interesting write up but I cant make out the details on the note it looks blurry

Something in the CP settings, have to click the black banner on top of the image to expand it.