Stamps from Germany

The second largest pile of foreign stamps is from Germany.  Germany has a complex history for this time period -- thru the 1960s.

The oldest German stamps we have are the 1889 Scott 48 and 51. Our version of 48 is perferated with "D6A" (or maybe "DGA").

The next oldest are the 1902 Scott 67 and 68 with a picture of Germania.

 We almost have a stamp from 1919 from the German state of Wurttemberg (its capital was Stuttgart).  Although it joined the German Empire in 1870, it kept issuing its own stamps until about 1923.  We have Scott O48, an official stamp overprinted with "Volksttaat Wurttemberg", but it is so old and fragile, it is in two pieces.

The Horn is often used as a postal symbol on German stamps, including these from 1921 or so.

The 50 stamp would be Scott 184.  The 4 stamp would be 179 or 187, it would seem to depend on the watermark or perforations -- I'm not sure the difference.  All from the 1921-1923 time period.

In 1921, there was a series showing various workers.  We have the Iron Workers (Scott 144) and Farmers (Scott 227)

At first, I thought that the Farmers stamp was Scott 149, but that was for a different amount.

Now we come to a very difficult period for Germany.  The German money system is in terms of "marks", essentially the same as our dollar.  A mark is the same as 100 pfennings (like our penny).  At this time (1920s), first class postage in the U.S. was 2 cents, going to 3 cents in 1932.  But we see a stamp here that is 40m, or 40 marks -- the equivalent of $40 in U.S. terms.  That is because Germany was about to undergo extreme inflation.  Germany had lost World War I, or rather they had agreed to the Treaty of Versailles ending the war and putting the blame on Germany, causing them to pay billions in reparations. The German government paid these reparations by printing money, causing truly awful inflation.  Prices went up like no one had seen before.  And they went up so fast, you couldn't keep up.

The Farmers stamp, for example, was issued in 1921 in amounts of 10m and 40m.  But prices went up so fast, that they could not use these stamps because 10m and 40m was almost nothing.  So they overprinted the stamps to make them 15,000 (Scott 243) and 30,000 (Scott 248):

In 1923, a 50,000 (50 Tausend) Mark stamp (Scott 239) was issued, followed by much larger denominations, from 500 Tausend to 20 Millionen, Scott 280, 281, 285, 287.

Overprinting was used widely, 100 Tausend over 400 Marks (Scott 254), 250 Tausend over 500 Marks (Scott 260), 2 Millionen over 5000 Marks (Scott 271) and 2 Millionen over 200 Marks (Scott 269).

 By 1924, things seem to have calmed down, we are back to a 5 pfenning stamp (Scott 331)

By 1933, Germany seems to have adopted some of the approach of the British -- one stamp of the current leader, in multiple colors with different denominations.  In this case it was of the President, Paul von Hindenburg (Scott 416, 418, 419, 420, 422, 423, 424, 426, 427, 429, 431)

In 1941, this trend continued, but now the leader was not Hindenburg, but Hitler who covered the range from 1 pfenning all the way up.  (Scott 506, 507, 508, 509, 511, 511A, 512, 514, 516)

There may have been some quality control issues.  Scott says that the 6p stamp (Scott 510) is "purple" and the 12p stamp (Scott 511B) is "carmine", but we have versions of these where the colors vary:

This pattern continues into larger denominations, with a larger size stamp (Scott 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523)

and even to 1 (Scott 524) and 2 Marks (Scott 525) (now probably "Reich Marks")

And what are you going to do for stamps as you rapidly invade and conquer most of Europe?  Well for the Baltic states, parts of Poland and Belarus, (which you considered "Eastern"), you just overprint the German stamps with "Ostland" and used those:

and

You would do the same for the parts of Europe to the South, and East, which was Ukraine:

and

In addition, there is Poland, which was called the "General Government" area/

In 1939, German annexed Czechoslovakia, and issued stamps for them, again with images of Hitler.  These say "Deutsches Reich", but maybe they should be under Czechoslovakia.

In 1943, the "semi-postal" stamps for the Reich Labor Service Corporation were issued (Scott B237, B238, B239, B240)

And in 1944, for the National Shooting Matches at Innsbruck, Scott B278, B279.

But then the war was over -- Germany lost -- and they went back in 1946 to a very simple design, just to get something out there that would work. (Scott 534, 535, 546, 551).

Things improved some late, when we got a drawing of a "Laborer" (Scott 572)

And a series of "Germany Reaching for Peace" (Scott 574, 575, 576, 577)

By 1948, there was a series on important buildings that had survived the war, including "Cologne Cathedral" (Scott 641) and "Brandenburg Gate, Berlin" (Scott 646).

In 1951, they went back to a plain pattern, the Post Horn (Scott 671, 675, 677)

These stamps also show the 1948 Postal Tax Stamp for the "Berlin emergency levy" (Notopfer Berlin). (one of Scott RA1 to RA6, depending on watermark and perferations (?)).

Things return to a more normal pattern with the issue of stamps of the current leader, this time President Theodor Heuss in 1953 (Scott 706, 708, 710, 717)

These were down-sized somewhat and issued again in 1959 (Scott 793, 794, 795)

By 1960, we are beginning to get back to more random German related stamps, like Philipp Melanchthon (Scott 809)

and Bach  (Scott 829)

We have a random set of stamps from parts of Germany.  For example, from Berlin, we have the Berlin Bear from 1945 (Scott 11N1) which was from the Russian Occupation.  And Scott 9N126, the Ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (1956).

From 1946, Saxony Provice issued Semi-Postal stamps for reconstruction (Scott 13NB1, 13NB2)

The 1947 Leipziger Marketplace was honored by some stamps (580, 581) and some  semi-postal stamps (Scott B296, B297)

This was repeated in 1948 with Scott 582, 583.

And then, of course, there was the other side of Germany -- East Germany, which called itself the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (eventually shortened to DDR, but not in our stamps).

Our first stamp for them was actually issued by the Russian occupying force, in 1948 showing G.W.F. Hegel (Scott 10N42)

When East Germany starts it's own stamps, it goes back to the familiar "stamp of the leader", and does President Wilhelm Pieck (Scott 54, 55)

In 1953, there is a series of stamps about various workers: Woman Mariner (Scott 188), German and Soviet Workers (Scott 189) , Stalin Boulevard (Scott 228), Dancing Couple (Scott 335), Laboratory Worker (Scott 200), Launching Ship (Scott 202).

The 20p stamp is strange because it also comes as a 24p stamp, which is then overprinted to be a 20p (as well as the actual 20p stamp shown above) (Scott 220)

And we can see a sequence starting with the 12p Worker, Peasant and Intellectual (Scott 192) which is then overprinted to be a 10p (Scott 218) and then printed as a 10p (Scott 227).

I'm not sure if they just couldn't make up their mind, or if something else was going on.

 In 1954, there is an Official Stamp for DDR of  Arms of Republic (Scott O4, O8)