2021100th Anniv. Of The Croatian Association Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing - First Day Cover

This year, the Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HSGN) is celebrating 100 years of organized existence. It was historically founded at the beginning of the 20th century when the first students graduated from the Zagreb School for the Deaf, which was opened in 1885 by the deaf teacher Adalbert Lampe. Exactly 100 years ago, in 1921, the first association for the Deaf called Dobrotvor was registered, and its first president was the deaf painter, Ivan Smole. The association existed under this name until 1945. After the war, in 1945, a new organization called the Association of the Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Persons of Croatia (SOOSH) was founded, and its purpose was a social activity with stage performances and intense sports activity. The first deaf president of SOOSH was Josip Komerički. In 1948, SOOSH also founded the company DES (acronym for Defektni sluhom/hearing impaired people) and initiated professional rehabilitation, education and training of deaf children and youth and Slava Raškaj School for the Deaf was founded in 1949. In cooperation with the World Federation of the Deaf and the Association of the Hearing Impaired of Yugoslavia, the 2nd World Congress of the Deaf was held in Zagreb in 1955, with more than 2,000 deaf participants from all over the world.