Peter II Kara?or?evi? of Yugoslavia was only 11 years old when he became heir apparent in 1934. Because of Peter’s youth, his father’s cousin Prince Paul was named regent. Wishing to avoid Germany’s war machine that was ravaging Europe, Paul agreed to join the Axis Tripartite Pact. In a defiant move only two days later, Peter, then 17, was proclaimed of age and had himself declared King. He refused to capitulate to Hitler. This prompted the subsequent German invasion of Yugoslavia that diverted the German army and caused an unplanned six-week delay in the start of Operation Barbarossa—the Nazi
invasion of Russia. This delay resulted in Germany’s defeat in the cold Russian winter.
This set contains six wartime banknotes: a Yugoslav 100 dinara (1929), the same note with an Italian (1941) and with a German (1941) overprint from the two occupations; a 10 dinara with an Italian overprint (1941); and a 20 and 500 dinara issued by Nazi occupation forces (1941).