Where To Get A Time Line Of German History Re: Philately

So, I get a little confused on all the German semantics - Third Reich, DDR, German States, etc.... Can anyone recommend a site that might have a nice little timeline and brief history all together as it might relate to the different stages of the State as it relates to collecting and catalogue nomenclature?

I do think I have it almost down, but the bundespost, Berlin editions, etc., throw me off.

Thanks much

You might try to Google "German History"


Peter

Philatelic German History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posta...y_of_Germany

http://www.germanyphilatelicsociety.../history.pdf

Yep - tried that. Thats why I posted here. I also searched the forum here but didnt see exactly what I was looking for. Googling German History gives a nice history of Germany as it relates to history, not Philately. Im not the best on googling sometimes I guess. tks

redwoodrandy - tks much! The second link is exactly what I had been trying to find. I did see the wikipedia site too, but never know whats for real or not there. I think the 2nd link is a good start indeed. thank you.

Before German unification in 1871 under the Prussian Kaiser Wilhelm, there were several independent states (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hamburg etc.) Many of these issued their own postage stamps, and are listed under the German States.

From 1871 to 1918 the German Empire (Deutches Reich) existed. After World War I the Kaiser was deposed, Germany lost her colonial empire, and the Weimar Republic ruled Germany to the rise of Hitler. From 1933 to 1945 the Nazis of course ruled Germany, and this was called the Third Reich (the 1871-1918 empire was the "second" Reich, with the old Holy Roman Empire as the "first" Reich.)

After World War II, the victorious Allies split Germany into zones occupied by different nations. There was the French Zone (which included Saar and Rheinland-Pfalz), the American Zone, the British Zone, and the Soviet Zone. The Soviet Zone officially become the DDR (German Democratic Republic, or "East Germany") in 1948, and was a socialist state allied with the USSR.

Berlin, like all of Germany, was divided itself into zones; the Anglo-American controlled portion of Berlin ("West Berlin") issued their own stamps from 1949 to 1990. The Soviet-controlled area of Berlin was part of the DDR -- they built the wall to keep people from escaping to West Berlin.

The Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) is the present Germany. From 1949 to 1990 it was just "West Germany", the non-Soviet occupied parts, then after the re-unification in 1990, the DDR became a part of the Bundesrepublik as well.

For stamp collecting purposes:

1840s-1871: German States, along with the Thurn und Taxis private post (not actually a state)
1871-1918: German Empire
1918-1933: Weimar Republic
1933-1945: Third Reich
1945-1949: Allied Occupation
1949-1990: West Germany (BRD), East Germany (DDR) and occupied Berlin
1990-date: Germany

hey code happy - tks - exactly what I was looking for. I gathered some top the same info. from wiki. so, in looking at the stamps re: germany, deustche reich = 1918-33, Berlin = occupied Berlin ??? for example.... What im trying to figure out, is by looking at a stamp and reading the print and knowing where to look in the catalogue. I know it will come with experience, but im trying to make sure im not missing something here. Dont have any in front of me right now, but for instance, deutsche Bundespost is ?? Am I making sense?

Stamps4Life,

As a general rule:

1. German States will use the state name on the stamp.
2. If is says Reichs Post, Reichspost, or Deutsches Reich, it's Germany 1872-1945.
3. The post-WWII Allied Occupations are all over the map WRT the text. You'll see Post, AM Post, Deutsche Post, the name of the specific occupied territory, overprints of old German postage, etc.
4. West Germany will normally say Bundesrepublik Deutschland or Deutsches Bundespost.
5. East Germany will normally say Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR, except for the first couple issues.
6. West Berlin will normally look like West Germany, but with the addition of the word Berlin.

Germany & everything related to it certainly is one of the most complicated areas of philately, but extremely interesting because of that! So many different paths down which you can go with collecting. Germanstamps.net is a treasure trove of great info on all that up to 1945.

well im certainly getting pulled in. I love history and this timeline is fascinating. Tks for the link!

Great way of listing PostmasterGS but a couple of things though.

I might have missed it but I've never seen Bundesrepublik Deutschland used as the name of the country on German
stamps.

Also as of May 1995 German stamps are inscribed as just
Deutschland

lithograving,

AFAIK, it was only used on the first set (MiNr 111-112).

PostmasterGS

Yes that has Bundesrepublik Deutschland on the stamp because
it commemorated the opening of the first Federal assembly of
the BRD. It is basically part of the design.
On the bottom is written Deutsche Post and this signifies
the country .
Same as Scott 2042 issued for the 50th Anniversary of
the Federal Republic.
The words Bundesrepublik Deutschland are on each stamp because that's what the issue is about.
But the word Deutschland on the sides of the stamps
indicates the country.

One more thing I noticed where you wrote.




It is Deutsche Bundespost not Deutsches Bundespost

just to add: 1995 was the year when the "Deutsche Bundespost" was privatized into "Deutsche Post AG".

---
while this does not mean that after that we had "Deutsche Post" on the stamps, but "Deutschland" :-).

I always found it interesting that the Deutschland
form on stamps started as of May 1995 exactly 50 years to the month
after the end of WWII.