German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Covers

The 10th fair of education, issued on November 15, 1967:

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, issued on April 25, 1968:

The 125th anniversary of the workshop for precision mechanics and optical instruments established by Carl Zeiss in Jena, issued on November 7, 1971:

Birds, issued on March 20, 1973:

The 750th anniversary of Berlin, issued on June 3, 1986:

The 36th congress of UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry - Union des Foires Internationales), issued on October 28, 1969:

The 550th anniversary of Rostock university, issued on November 12, 1969:

Brotherhood in arms, issued on October 1, 1970:

The 20th anniversary of DDR's olympic committee, issued on April 6, 1971:

The 50th anniversary of the Mongolian republic, issued on July 6, 1971:

Education fair, issued on November 2, 1972:

Plauen Lace, issued on June 11, 1974:

The 100th anniversary of the Gotha congress, issued on May 21, 1975:

The Communist and labour party congress in Berlin, issued on June 29, 1976:

International telecommunication day, issued on May 17, 1977:

The 60th anniversary of the October revolution, issued on September 20, 1977:

Construction of gas pipe line from Orenburg to Russian border, issued on October 3, 1978:

Youth festival, issued on July 25, 1978:

The 25th anniversary of the Labour Task Force, issued on September 19, 1978:

AGRA, agriculture exhibition, Markkleeberg, issued on June 5, 1979:

The 70th anniversary of the ferry service Sweden-DDR, issued on June 26, 1979:

National stamp exhibition, Dresden, issued on August 7, 1979:

International horse breeders of Socialist countries congress, Berlin, issued on August 21, 1979:

Rehabilitation in the DDR, issued on June 26, 1979:

International Russian language and Literature congress, issued on August 7, 1979:

The 25th anniversary of the Warsaw treaty, issued on May 13, 1980:

The 100th anniversary of the discovery of tuberculosis bacterium by Robert Koch, issued on March 23, 1982:

The 25th "Meister von morgen" central fair, issued on October 19, 1982:

OSS conference, issued on August 24, 1982:
OSS stands for an Operational Support System, a set of programs that helps a communications service provider monitor, control, analyze and manage a telephone or computer network.

World Communications Year, issued on February 8, 1983:

Junior stamp exhibition "SOZPHILEX 1983", issued on July 5, 1983:

The 100th anniversary of Jena glass, issued on January 10, 1984:

Theatre puppets, issued on June 5, 1984:

The 20th Labour festival in Gera, issued on June 19, 1984:

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph von Eichendorff, a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist, issued on March 8, 1988:

Coat of Arms of DDR cities, issued on April 9, 1985:

Leipzig spring fair, issued on March 8, 1988:

The 22th Labour festival in Berlin / Oder, issued on June 7, 1988:

The 35th anniversary of the Combat Groups of the Working Class (German: Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse), a paramilitary organization in the DDR from 1953 to 1989, issued on July 5, 1988:

Pioneer meeting in Karl-Marx-Stadt, issued on July 19, 1988:

The 70th anniversary birth of Pope Johannes Paul II, issued on May 15, 1990:

Kristallnacht - Crystal Night

Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The name Kristallnacht (literally 'Crystal Night') comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.

Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. Rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

The 25th anniversary of the Crystal Night, issued on November 8, 1963:

The 50th anniversary of the Crystal Night, issued on November 8, 1988. Stamp and FDC (Note: the postmark is not belong to this issue):


West Germany also issued a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, on October 13, 1988:

A ruined synagogue in Eisenach after Kristallnacht:

Party Congress, issued on April 7, 1987:

Flowers, issued on February 16, 1988:

Both covers were sent registered to Israel and have the swap control stamp on the back, 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 (Philatelistenverband im Kulturbund):

The German Peasants' War (German: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt, leaded by Thomas Müntzer (1489 – 1525) in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense opposition from the aristocracy, who slaughtered up to 100,000 of the 300,000 poorly armed peasants and farmers. The survivors were fined and achieved few, if any, of their goals. Like the preceding Bundschuh movement and the Hussite Wars, the war consisted of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasants and farmers, often supported by Anabaptist clergy, took the lead. The German Peasants' War was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising prior to the French Revolution of 1789. The fighting was at its height in the middle of 1525.

This set was issued by East Germany on February 11, 1975 to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the peasants' war. Stamps show battle scenes on ancient woodcuts and engravings:

Thomas Müntzer (1489–1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer was foremost amongst those reformers who took issue with Luther's compromises with feudal authority. He became a leader of the German peasant and plebeian uprising of 1525 commonly known as the German Peasants' War (see above post). He was captured after the Battle of Frankenhausen, tortured and executed.

Thomas Müntzer, 1953:

Thomas Müntzer, 1989, SS on a registered cover sent to Canada. Arrival postmarks on the back:

Leaders of the German Workers' Movement, issued on June 20, 1955:

- Karl Liebknecht
- August Bebel
- Franz Mehring
- Ernst Thälmann
- Clara Zetkin
Missing two stamps show Wilhelm Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg

German Folklore:

Folk traditional costumes, issued on November 25, 1964:

Sorbian dance costumes, issued on May 4, 1971:


Rumpelstiltskin, German fairy tale, issued on December 14, 1976:

Bird, two sets issued in 1959 and 1967 on covers;