The Federal Republic of Germany, a.k.a. "Bundesrepublik
Deutschland", "BRD" and "West Germany", was established from eleven states in the three
Allied Occupation Zones held by the United States, the United Kingdom,
and France. The city of Bonn was its provisional capital.
The three Allied Occupation Zones making up the
territory of the Federal Republic are shown in blue, green, and yellow
on the map at the right. The area in red would eventually become the German Democratic Republic, a.k.a "Deutsche Demokratische Republik", "DDR", and "East Germany", under Soviet influence.
The Federal
Republic was founded on May 23, 1949 and was declared "fully sovereign"
on May 5, 1955. The Western troops remained there as
part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which West Germany
joined on May 9, 1955.
The foundation for the influential position held by
Germany today was laid during the "Wirtschaftswunder" or "economic
miracle" of the 1950's, when West Germany rose from the massive
destruction inflicted up on it by World War II, to become the World's
third largest economy.
The set of stamps
shown in the scan above was the first official postage stamp issue of
the Federal Republic. They were issued on September 7, 1949 to
publicize the First Federal Assembly, and they depict an allegory of
"Reconstruction".
The postage stamps shown above were issued on September
15, 1956. The stamps depict a symbolic representation of the
Reconstruction of Europe, and they were issued to symbolize the
cooperation among the six countries comprising the Coal and Steel
Community. This organization would eventually evolve into the European
Union.
Since the
reunification of 1990, the government of the Federal Republic has moved
back to Berlin, and the parliament now meets in the Reichstag Building.
The new, unified nation is now known as "Deutschland" or "Germany".
Historical articles and reviews
of the postage stamp issues of the Federal Republic of Germany will
eventually appear in the link section at the top of the third column on this page. The content of the page links in this category will be presented, per the Michel catalog, with Scott catalog cross-references.
Link page categories are segregated by being either "Definitives" issues pages or "Commemoratives" issues pages. Charity stamps and special issues, what the Scott Catalogue refers to as Semi-Postal Stamps, will be found within the "Commemoratives" link pages at the upper right.
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Federal Republic of Germany (BRD)