German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Covers

Statues of Roland, issued on January 20, 1987 and November 7, 1989.
A Roland statue is a statue of a knight with a drawn sword, signifying the town privileges of a medieval city. Such statues exist in a number of cities notably in northern and eastern Germany, where they are often placed on the market square or in front of the city hall.

Dogs, issued on August 17, 1976.

Modern agriculture, issued on July 12, 1977.

Stamp Exhibition "SOZPHILEX '77", Berlin, issued on August 16, 1977.

Fire Engines, issued on June 16, 1987.

Leipzig Spring Fair, issued on March 8, 1988.

Personalities, issued on February 23, 1971, engraved stamps on a set of Maxi Cards.

Johannes Robert Becher
Heinrich Mann
Willi Bredel
Franz Mehring
Johannes Kepler
(Missing: John Heartfield)





The cards were sold inside cover with descriptions about the personalities in the inner side of it.

The cachet of each card is also engraved.

The 1st Anniversary of the Death of Otto Nuschkes, a German politician, issued on December 27, 1958.


Fishery in DDR, issued on April 10, 1961.


Youth Stamp Exhibition, Cottbus, issued on July 18, 1978.

Flowers of DDR, issued on August 19, 1975.


Historic Post Uniforms, issued on February 4, 1986.

Protected Animals, issued on September 10, 1963.

Insect, issued on October 16, 1968.

I love these German covers - they are nice to look at.

Tanks, bobcat! glad you like the covers.

A Postal stationary issued for the Sachsen show held in Leipzig in 1962.

The sender franked it with two space stamps.
- 1961 Manned Space Travel stamp
- 1962 perforated stamp cut from SS shows P.R. Popovich (1930-2009) and A.G. Nikolayev (1929-2004), First group flight of space ships Vostok 3 and Vostok 4.
A label with the inscription "First group flight of space" was stuck on the cover.

SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) Day, issued on June 25, 1958.

The 500th Anniversary of the Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, issued on February 13, 1973.

Winter Olympic Games 1976, Innsbruck, Austria. issued on December 2, 1975.

Youth Parliament, Berlin, issued on May 19, 1981.

Youth Stamp Exhibition, Magdeburg, issued on October 4, 1984.

The 70th anniversary death of Marx and Karl Marx's Year issued on May 14, 1953. Two souvenir sheets contain the imperforated set of stamps.

Fauna of DDR.

Domestic Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), issued on August 17, 1976.

Collie
German Shepherd Dog
Airedale Terrier
Boxer
Great Dane
Giant Schnauzer

Guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata), the stamps illustrate different ornamental varieties of this species. Issued on November 9, 1976.

Hunting in the DDR, issued on November 15, 1977.

The 125th anniversary of Dresden zoo, primates, issued on May 27, 1976.

Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)
Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx)
Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Guereza (Eastern Black-and-white Colobus) (Colobus guereza)

Fishing in the DDR, Freshwater Fish, issued on May 19, 1987.

Wels / Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis)
Northern Pike (Esox lucius)
Common Bream (Abramis brama)
European Grayling (Thymallus thymallus)
Common Barbel (Barbus barbus)
Brown Trout (Salmo trutta fario)

Folklore in DDR.

Sorbian Historical costumes, issued on March 22, 1977. The stamps depict historic Sorbian costumes from various towns and villages of Lusatia: Senftenberg, Bautzen, Klitten, Nochten and Muskau, each representing a distinct local costume tradition.

Sorbian Dance Costumes from Schleife and Hoyerswerda, issued on May 4, 1971.

Old musical instruments from Vogtland, issued on June 14, 1977.
Vogtland is a historic and cultural region in central Europe, today it is divided mainly between Germany and the Czech Republic. This region has been one of Europe's most famous centers for musical instrument making for over 300 years.

- Accordion (c. 1900)
- Treble Viola (1747)
- Oboe (1785), clarinet (1830), flute (1817)
- Concert Zither (1891)
- Trumpet (1860)

I have this cover with Swap Control Token affixed on the back. The swap control token was a philatelic tool commonly used in the GDR for exchanging freshly minted GDR postage stamps abroad, which was only open to members of the philatelists' association in the GDR's cultural association as the red mark on the token indicated.


Inside the cover I found this interesting document written in five languages (Russian and Spanish on the back). I enlarged the English part.


In addition, there was a private message from the sender to his friend in Israel asking him to affix the enclosed green token to his reply letter from Israel to the DDR.