Germany — Stamps & Postal Service

Postal Service Overview

Deutsche Post is Germany’s national postal carrier, privatised from the former state Bundespost in the 1990s and now operating as a major international logistics group (DHL). Germany has one of the world’s richest philatelic traditions, reflecting the country’s complex political history. Stamps have been issued by the German states, the German Empire, Weimar Republic, Third Reich, West Germany (BRD), East Germany (DDR), and the reunified Federal Republic.

Notable Stamp Issues

The inflation era of 1921–1923 produced some of philately’s most extraordinary material: stamps with face values escalating from thousands to billions of marks as hyperinflation destroyed the currency. The 1923 5 milliard (5,000,000,000) mark stamp is an astonishing artefact of economic history. Early German state stamps — Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Baden, Württemberg — each form distinct collecting areas. The Third Reich’s 1938 Hitler portrait definitives and propaganda stamps are historically significant. East Germany’s (DDR) 1949–1990 stamps documented the socialist state comprehensively.

Collecting Tips

The Michel Deutschland-Katalog and Michel Europa-Katalog are the standard references. East and West Germany should be catalogued separately — their stamps are not interchangeable. German inflation stamps require careful study of surcharges and printings. The Saarland, which had a separate stamp-issuing status 1920–1935 and again 1947–1956, is a popular specialist area. Allied occupation zone stamps (1945–1949) also attract dedicated collectors.

Part of the Europe Postal Directory.