Local issues In the process of the collapse of Nazi Germany, mail services became disrupted or ceased. Various communities established services locally during the void often using defaced Hitler stamps.
Allied occupation After Germany surrendered from the war, it was divided into four areas, Russian, American, French, and British. Between 1945–1949 was considered to be an interesting period in time as it was complicated to determine how many stamps were issued throughout this time and they were appearing in different areas. With the
occupation of Germany by the
Allied powers postal services returned but were administered under different authorities. Post stamps were provided by the American and British occupation services during 1945 as the first step to restore mail service in their jurisdictions. By December 1945, the French authorities issued stamps for the "zone française", later to be supplemented by stamps for
Baden,
Rheinland-Pfalz, and
Württemberg. In addition, separate stamps were provided for the
Saar. In the Soviet zone, from 1945, the various provinces – namely, Berlin-
Brandenburg,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony (Ost Sachsen, West Sachsen, Provinz Sachsen), and
Thuringia – issued different stamps. In 1946, German stamps were issued as
Deutsche Post for the American, British, and Soviet zones but not the French zone. The distinctive use of yellow to signify postal service was decreed by the
Allied Control Council in 1946. With the development of the Cold War, however, attempts to unify the postal system failed. By 1948, even before the establishment of the two German republics, the common stamps had been replaced by definitives for the Soviet zone, and different sets of stamps for the
bizone.
Saar After World War II, the
Saar territory came under French administration and issued its own stamps from 1947 to 1956. Following a
referendum it was returned to Germany in 1956, and continued its stamps series until 1959.
Deutsche Post of the GDR With the formation of the
German Democratic Republic (GDR) the
Deutsche Post of the GDR service was established as the governmental agency to provide mail services. Its first stamp was released on October 9, 1949. About 3,000 different stamps were produced during the life of the existence of the DP; relatively low, however, was the number of semipostals. Stamps were to some degree used to gain currency abroad, that is some stamps were not produced for circulation but sold directly to
stamp dealers. Also, for some sets a specific stamp was produced at an intentionally low number – called a ('blocked stamp value', or 'stamp with limited release') – to artificially increase the value and sell it for more money to stamp dealers. With the 1990 reunification, the
Deutsche Post became part of the
Deutsche Bundespost.
Deutsche Bundespost When the
Federal Republic of Germany was formed the
Deutsche Bundespost (German federal post office) became the governmental agency with the monopoly for postal services; the name was adopted in 1950, prior to that year, it was called
Deutsche Post. The issue of the FRG was released on September 7, 1949 (Scott #665–666). In 1961, the two-digit
postal code was replaced with a four-digit code; this was replaced after reunification. By the time of reunification, about 1,400 different stamps had been issued. The process of converting the governmental agency into a public company was initiated in 1989 by separating postal services from post bank and communication services. ==After reunification, 1990–present==